The First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, North Carolina has dismissed its senior pastor after an investigation showed a five-year history of committing adultery, then trying to cover it up.
The Christian Post reported that Pendleton Barnes Peery, a sixth-generation Presbyterian minister, was recently dismissed as senior pastor for breaking his marriage and ordination vows.
According to WCCB-TV, an independent Charlotte station, Peery admitted to breaking his marriage vows in a letter to the congregation.
A church investigative committee reported Peery faces two charges of adultery and two charges of wrongful concealment of inappropriate conduct, WCCB reported.
The Christian Post said that the Charlotte Presbytery was tipped off to Peery’s behavior by an informant. It then conducted an investigation without the knowledge of First Presbyterian leaders.
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First Presbyterian has sent an email to its congregants saying the investigation found Peery had “inappropriate online behavior and extramarital affairs,” the Charlotte Observer reported.
The newspaper reported that the church said Peery had been engaged in moral wrongdoing for five years, and the wrongdoing did not involve church members or children.
en un letter to the church published by The Charlotte Observer, Peery said, “What started as a curiosity turned into a secret life hidden from the family who loved me and from you.”
The letter continues, what began as a “destructive pattern of anonymous but inappropriate activity online, ultimately leading to multiple instances of consensual physical infidelity.”
Peery said he was ashamed, acknowledged those he had hurt, and quoted Psalm 51, which refers to needing “God’s mercy.”
Peery’s name has been scrubbed from the First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte’s website, but a library of his sermons remains there.
The church posted a statement, saying, “With support and guidance from the Presbytery of Charlotte, First Presbyterian Church, its leaders, and congregation are navigating this time prayerfully, with care and transparency. The church will continue all regularly scheduled worship services and ministries. For church members in need of pastoral support, please contact Rev. Anna Dickson. We ask that you keep our community in your prayers as we cope with recent news.”
“It has been a real difficult week around here; there is no way around that. As news of Pen’s departure broke this week, so too did a full range of emotions,” Dickson said during her Sept. 7 sermon.
Dickson said she received hundreds of messages from congregation members praying for those hurt by Peery’s departure.
On its website, First Presbyterian describes itself as “an inclusive, urban city church in the center of Uptown Charlotte,” with a “large congregation of 2,000 members” that offers many opportunities to connect.
Peery has been removed from the ministry for at least three years, WCCB reported.
Sheila Stogsdill is a freelance print journalist and digital reporter, primarily covering crime issues for KSN/KODE.
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3 Responses
For the uninitiated, this is not another story about evangelicals behaving badly. This is about a mainline protestant preacher being held to minimal account (suspended “for at least three years”!?) for, he admits, “multiple instances” of one of the few things that two consenting adults apparently still can’t do with each other in the theologically liberal and socially progressive PCUSA. It also might be about whoever’s in charge of ordination over there not having the guts to just pull this guy’s ticket right now and permanently bar him from pulpit ministry or church leadership.
I point this out because this publication and its contributors so often focus on pointing out the bad behavior of traditionalists and the inadequate responses of their named institutions. And rightly so; there’s plenty of all that going on. But ICYMI: “inclusive, urban” mainline protestants have their bad actors and institutional rot, too. This is why, the rare large congregation aside, they’ve been bleeding members, disbanding congregations and selling empty buildings for decades now.
I find it odd that in this case, neither the headline nor the article make any direct mention of the denomination currently in question. We only get a few descriptive hints about what kind of Presbyterians we’re talking about, and only for those with eyes to see. Intentional or not, that’s incomplete reporting, and given the context of this site, it is misleading.
I would like to ask one question..when did Jesus .or any of his deciples.ever dress up in costumes like these people do. the only ones who wore religious apparal . were the pharasies
My word. The only two, previous comments I see on here express neither sorrow about nor prayer for the inevitably brokenhearted members of this church community. In fact, these two previous comments seem rather gleeful in their condemnation of this church (and its vestments, for goodness’ sake!). Not exactly the type of responses one would hope to hear from people who (I assume) purport to be Christians. Sigh.
And for the record, I have absolutely zero connection to this particular church or to the PCUSA.