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“We’ve all heard about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, so through my story, I want to shed light on how this also happens in other faith communities.”
Pierre Chambers is a leader in his church, musician, father, and survivor of child sexual abuse.
He experienced child sexual abuse between the ages of 12 and 15. The perpetrator was the youth pastor at his church, a close family friend. As the choir director, the perpetrator was also a charismatic and important leader in the church.
“My parents were very involved in the Black Pentecostal Church community—my dad was a deacon and my mom led the Sunday school, so I was at church almost every day of the week,” Pierre says. I spent a lot of time with the youth pastor. He was like a big brother to me; he would pick me up from school and church, his wife would cook me dinner. My parents trusted him completely.”
The youth pastor gave Pierre gifts, special attention, and privileges for spending time with him one-on-one. From a young age, Pierre was dedicated to the church and knew he wanted to learn more and get more involved, so he thought these special privileges were just part of learning about the church and shadowing his mentor.
“He was someone who was always on my side. When I would get in trouble with my parents, he would tell them that I should come over to his house for the night. My parents could sense something was off—it seemed odd that I was spending so much time alone with an adult. They even asked me about it, but I told them that everything was fine. I now realize that this was all an effect of grooming.”
Pierre didn’t want to say anything because he was worried he’d get in trouble or cause an issue in his family or the church. But eventually, he was prompted to tell his parents when preparing to attend a weekend retreat with the youth pastor.
Pierre’s dad noticed that something was off and asked him about it.