An examining court in the Catalan town of Terassa is investigating a case of alleged sexual abuse committed in the evangelical church Comunidad Samaria.

Two complaints have been filed by two victims, against a group leader in charge of organising the church's artistic performances and against a member of the community who was a minor at the time of the incidents.

According to the first complaint, the group leader “took advantage of his position to take young people to his house, where he forced them to perform sexual acts, threatening to expel them from the community if they reported him and accusing them that the minor was the aggressor”.

One of the victims suffered “touching, fellatio and sexual harassment since 2013”, when he was 15 years old.

In the second case, the victim was repeatedly sexually abused on church premises in 2004, when he was eight years old, by another minor who lived in the congregation and was 16 at that time.

Catalan evangelicals: ‘Zero tolerance’

The Consell Evangèlic de Catalunya (Evangelical Council of Catalonia CEC) expressed its “zero tolerance” for the alleged abuses committed in the church Comunidad Samaria.

The CEC “is going to join the legal proceedings as a private prosecution, in defence of the people affected”, says the organisation that represents the evangelical churches in Catalonia.

“Apart from condemning the reported facts, we express our strongest condemnation of any form of abuse, whatever it may be”, adds the CEC.

The evangelical entity underlines that “the so-called Comunidad Samaria does not represent the Protestant community, with a century of active and positive presence in the cit”, where “they have always worked to promote the values of respect, justice and care for people”.

The CEC has offered “to those affected, personal support, accompaniment, listening and hope in these difficult times. We want to stress that the CEC firmly dissociates itself from any action that is not in line with the Christian values of love and respect for people”.

“We reaffirm our commitment to truth, transparency, and the defence of the rights of all, and we will continue to work to be a point of light and hope in our country”, concludes the CEC.

United Church of Terrassa statement

The Iglesia Unida de Terrassa (United Church of Terrassa), one of the evangelical communities with a historical presence in the city, also ‘roundly condemns any form of abuse”.

They agree with the CEC that “the events that took place in the Comunidad Samaria do not represent the Protestant community, which has a century-long history of commitment to the city”.

“Given the seriousness of the facts, we sympathise with the people affected and reject any action that violates the Christian principles of love, respect and dignity”, they say in a statement published on their website.

‘As part of the social fabric of Terrassa, we will continue to work with transparency and commitment to defend the rights and integrity of all, and we will continue to promote initiatives for the benefit of society as a whole,’ they add.

The United Church of Terrassa will also participate in the court case as a private prosecution, through the CEC.

FEREDE

The Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain (FEREDE) has also issued a statement expressing its solidarity with the victims of abuse and reaffirming its “zero tolerance” policy. It also gives specific details of the case and what they have done so far.

“In 2022, as soon as we became aware of the first accusations pointing to the Samaria church, the accreditation as minister of worship of the pastor involved was cautiously withdrawn and the church was removed as a member of this Federation”, they explain.

Furthermore, “the Samaria church did not have any communication and relationship with the rest of the evangelical churches in the region and that FEREDE does not have a hierarchical structure with competences to intervene in the internal affairs of the member churches and entities, which are juridically independent”, states FEREDE.

The measures taken are included in its Regulatory Compliance and Crime Prevention Plan, in the specific section on ‘Sexual assaults and sexual harassment’.

“Although this situation is exceptional and by no means typical or representative of the testimony and practices of the almost 3,500 churches in our Federation, we are nevertheless concerned and ashamed that ‘one’ evangelical church could have been the scene of incidents so contrary to the faith and ethics that Protestant and evangelical Christians profess”, they conclude.

Preventive measures

Spanish evangelical churches and entities work for the protection of all people and the creation of safe environments for all their activities.

The Protestant federation points out that for the accreditation of their pastors, it is mandatory to present the certificate of crimes of a sexual nature issued by the Ministry of Justice.

FEREDE's legal department has been advising its member churches and entities through specific training sessions in which they receive specific recommendations, and it has established internal protocols to prevent sexual abuse and other crimes within the churches.

In addition to preventive measures, the entity recommends that “when a church becomes aware of a of a sexual abuse crime, it should report the facts to the police and support the victims with the utmost sensitivity, especially when minors are involved”.

The Infancy Working Group of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance published a protocol for child protection in 2021, which includes information and recommendations for activities in churches involving children.