Two members of the governing board of an old-line Episcopal parish in Manhattan have been forced to resign because they raised questions about their pastor's decade-old conviction on charges of possessing child pornography.
The two vestry members of the Church of the Good Shepherd say that after stumbling onto their pastor's record in early March, they criticized the church's efforts to keep it concealed — especially while Roman Catholic leaders are being criticized for covering up clergy misdeeds. Within two weeks, they say, they were forced out.
Officials of the Episcopal Diocese of New York say the members were made to resign because they had "cruelly and unfairly" maligned the priest, Canon John H. Backus. They say the vestry had been informed of the pastor's background before he came to Good Shepherd in 1991 and they saw no need to share his record with members who joined the vestry subsequently or with the church's 100 parishioners.
Canon Backus did not return phone calls made over several days, but at services on Sunday he spoke publicly for the first time about what had happened while he was dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in Peoria, Ill. "It was a grave error," he said, "and something that I deeply regret."
With a blue-blood background and a history that spans a century, the Church of the Good Shepherd at East 31st Street and Second Avenue in Manhattan has recently attracted an eclectic group of new members, including Christopher J. Mossey, a professional fund-raiser, and Jamie A. Smarr, an aide to the New York City schools chancellor, the two vestry members who say they were forced to resign.
In March, Mr. Mossey prepared to go to the local community board to secure a permit for a church-sponsored street fair. Using the Internet, he gathered information about the parish and Canon Backus, now 63.
Mr. Mossey and Mr. Smarr then confronted Canon Backus with what they had found in a Peoria newspaper: front-page articles about how cleaning women who had come across child pornography in Canon Backus's bedroom notified the Peoria police. According to articles and police reports, investigators turned up several pornographic photographs of young boys. Written on the back of one was, " I live in Peoria and Father John taught me how to play this game."
The photos were slipped into a book on gay sex lying on the top of Canon Backus's dresser. The police also found gay pornographic magazines and pornographic videotapes, including at least two involving boys.
When questioned by the police, Canon Backus said that he had been counseling two priests who had sent him the photos and tapes. He kept them for two years because he was afraid someone would find them if he threw them out, he said. The inscription on the back of the photo was a joke, he said. The priest pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempting to possess child pornography and was sentenced to 45 days in the Peoria jail's work release program. No ecclesiastical charges were brought against him.
When Canon Backus was presented to Good Shepherd's vestry in 1991, the diocese said that it had done its own investigation, but Kevin W. Lyons, the state's attorney in Peoria, said that no one from the diocese ever reached his office.
Some members of the Good Shepherd vestry, including Peg Helmholz, said they were fully informed of what had happened in Peoria. But Margaret Raven Knox, who joined the vestry just weeks after Mr. Backus's arrival, said she had been given few details and had not been told that Canon Backus had served time in jail. "They didn't tell us any of that," she said.
In his statement in church on Sunday, Canon Backus denied there had been any attempt at a cover-up. "I have shared this story with anyone who asked," he said.
Mr. Smarr, who was a parishioner at Good Shepherd for two and a half years, and a member of the vestry for three months before resigning, said that Canon Backus's statement came about 11 years too late.
"What this confirms," he said, "is that the church still has not learned it is better to be straight with people in these matters than try to cover up things."