Liam Goligher is out as pastor at Philadelphia’s historic Tenth Presbyterian Church, an influential congregation in the Presbyterian Church in America, but critics are asking what took so long.
Goligher, who arrived at Tenth in 2011, was arrested and pleaded guilty in July 2014 to “personal conduct” charges in a city park in Lancaster, Penn., with Susan Elzey. The Lancaster Parks and Recreation Department confirmed to MinistryWatch that “personal conduct” is language often used to identify lewd or sexual behavior.
Though the incident took place nearly a decade ago, it was made public this week by a watchdog group called Anglican Watch.
But both Goligher and Elzey maintained their leadership positions in the church for nine years since the incident.
Elzey is still listed on the church’s website as a deacon and leader of a church small group. She pleaded guilty to the same charge on the same day.
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Anglican Watch is a volunteer-run nonprofit publication that advocates on behalf of “those hurt or abused by the church” in Episcopalian and “other faith traditions.” It published a series of posts, including one detailing the nine-year-old criminal dockets that included the guilty pleas of the couple.
The administrator of Tenth Presbyterian Church, Jim Hess, provided the following statement to MinistryWatch:
Dr. Liam Goligher resigned as Senior Minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church on Friday, December 1, 2023. This has been difficult news for the Tenth community. The formal dissolution of the pastoral relationship will be conducted according to the polity of the Presbyterian Church in America. Tenth Church has no further information regarding the 2014 citations of Dr. Goligher and Susan Elzey other than what is publicly available. Our denomination also has a process for addressing questions which the citations could raise. Concerns related to Dr. Goligher will be referred to the Philadelphia Presbytery and those pertaining to Susan Elzey to Tenth’s Session.
Goligher has disappeared from the church’s staff page, but you can still access hundreds of his sermons. It appears he last preached there on Nov. 26, delivering a sermon on Ephesians 1. Goligher has also had a long association with Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) and The Gospel Coalition. Both organizations have removed content by Goligher.
Tenth Presbyterian Church was founded in 1829, and a number of its pastors have been esteemed evangelical leaders, including Donald Grey Barnhouse (1927-1960), James Montgomery Boice (1968-2000), and Goligher’s predecessor, Philip Graham Ryken, now president of Wheaton College.
In 1982, Tenth Presbyterian joined the Presbyterian Church in America, a denomination that is celebrating its 50th anniversary while facing an “abuse crisis,” according to a June Christianity Today article.
At its June general assembly, PCA leaders announced they had exonerated Daniel Herron, pastor of Hope Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, Indiana. Herron had sued female church members who accused him of abuse, accusing the women of defamation.
CT reported, “The denomination has the structure for abuse accountability in theory, PCA elders say, but not in practice.”
Tenth Presbyterian has faced abuse issues of its own in recent years. Church members-turned-whistleblowers protested outside services and GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) subsequently conducted an investigation into abuse at the church. It released a 144-page report on Nov. 21 that included allegations from more than 20 current and former church members against six current and former leaders at the church.
Anglican Watch has pursued its campaign against Goligher for years, and even filed a church disciplinary complaint against him with the Philadelphia Presbytery of the PCA. The clerk of the Philadelphia Presbytery attends Tenth Presbyterian.
Anglican Watch claims Goligher manipulated and restricted the GRACE investigation so that it didn’t implicate him and says he has perjured himself by lying during the investigation.
“The Romans had lions,” wrote Anglican Watch in an undated post. “Tenth Presbyterian has lawyers. Lots of ‘em. Expensive lawyers. So, as active participants in this situation, which we believe to be a sham, we are calling BS on the church’s attorneys.”
The group has also asked the church to discipline Susan Elzey, the church deacon and small group leader who pleaded guilty to having sex in the city park.
“Avoid this church like the plague,” said the group.
Warren Cole Smith contributed to this article, which originally appeared at MinistryWatch. It has been reprinted with permission.
Steve Rabey is a veteran author and journalist who has published more than 50 books and 2,000 articles about religion, spirituality, and culture. He was an instructor at Fuller and Denver seminaries and the U.S. Air Force Academy.
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5 Responses
What a mess. With all that drama going on behind the scenes, how can Pastor Goligher honestly stand before his congregation and speak the truth? And now the congregants of his church have to wonder if what they’ve heard all these years actually IS truth, since that “truth” clearly didn’t transform or change the man who was delivering it to them.
I have come to believe that the only actually evidence of God being real in the universe is the transformation of His followers. And from what I can see, an enormous population of his followers show no evidence of any Divine transformation.
I feel for you, Mr. Wolfe! But I think you overstate the matter. I would submit: for every pastor or elder found guilty of abuse or malfeasance, there remain a hundred–or a thousand! men, women, and children following the Lord Jesus Christ as best they can. These we never hear about. But they’re there! Showing in their words, their deeds, their lives the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. So, despite this rash of scandals–dreadful stuff! don’t lose heart. Christ has not abandoned His church. He never will. Never!
Same handling of these stories. His face plastered all over the news and print, as it should be, but not one photo of the deacon, anywhere. Nothing about her pledge, to serve faithfully, or her adultery. I think this will devolve into another meetoo, with her claiming being victimized. Social engineering at its finest.
Oh dear.
Tragic from every perspective you look at this.
Boyce and Barnhouse must be spinning in their graves.