New Role for Amy Coney Barrett’s Father Inside Christian Sect Sparks Controversy<\/h1>Stephanie Kirchgaessner<\/span>\/<\/span>Guardian UK<\/span><\/span><\/header>![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.rsn.org\/images\/001\/054280-amy-coney-barrett-062423.jpg\")
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. (photos: Carlos Barria\/Reuters)<\/span><\/span>- <\/span><\/a><\/li>
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Alleged abuse survivors at People of Praise worry Michael Coney may block group\u2019s handling of sexual abuse from becoming public<\/em><\/strong><\/blockquote>S<\/dropcap>urvivors of alleged childhood abuse inside the People of Praise, a secretive Christian sect that counts Amy Coney Barrett as a member, are voicing concerns that the supreme court justice\u2019s father, who was recently promoted to a new role, may seek to block information about the group\u2019s historic handling of sexual abuse becoming public.<\/p>Barrett, a conservative justice who was appointed by former US president Donald Trump, has never publicly disclosed her participation in the covenant Christian community, which some former members have compared to a cult.<\/p>
Her father, Michael Coney, a Louisiana-based lawyer who worked for Shell and has been a longtime member of the PoP, was this month appointed to serve as the group\u2019s new legal counsel. Coney is also taking the helm of a \u201cconsultation team\u201d that, internal correspondence seen by the Guardian shows, has been dealing with \u201cissues of concern\u201d to the group\u2019s 1,100 members, including \u201cmisuse of authority\u201d inside the PoP, \u201clack of accountable leadership\u201d, and \u201cmistrust of the board\u201d.<\/p>
Coney\u2019s appointment is part of a broader shake-up inside the PoP, whose leadership has been consumed by a contentious debate over the legitimacy of the 2021 election of its current leader, Charlie Fraga. Known as the \u201coverall coordinator\u201d, Fraga has said the bitter fight has emerged as an \u201curgent threat to the unity of the community\u201d.<\/p>
For\u00a0survivors of alleged childhood sexual and physical abuse<\/a>\u00a0inside the PoP, Coney\u2019s elevation is deeply troubling. PoP Survivors \u2013 as the group is known \u2013 has for years called for the PoP to be investigated and held accountable for its handling of historic claims of abuse. The Guardian\u00a0reported last year that the FBI had interviewed several individuals<\/a>\u00a0who have alleged they were abused by members of the PoP, but it is not clear whether the FBI opened a formal investigation.<\/p>In 2020, as\u00a0allegations of abuse and emotional trauma<\/a>\u00a0began to emerge in press reports in the Guardian and other media outlets, the PoP hired the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart \u2026 Sullivan to conduct an \u201cindependent investigation\u201d into sexual abuse claims on behalf of the PoP. The results of the investigation were never made public.<\/p>PoP Survivors say the lack of transparency is unusual given how many\u00a0organizations<\/a>\u00a0and institutions have \u2013 however reluctantly \u2013 released the results of such investigations in the past, including some\u00a0Catholic Church<\/a>\u00a0dioceses. They worry that Coney could now have an outsized role in determining what may be released in the future.<\/p>\u201cElevating Amy Coney Barrett\u2019s father to a position where he can influence what goes public is a huge conflict of interest. It gives him the power to block information that might be embarrassing to her. Yet public scrutiny is exactly what\u2019s needed in order to protect children in the group,\u201d said a spokesperson for PoP Survivors, which has 55 members and is comprised of adults who grew up in the sect and are no longer affiliated with the group.<\/p>
Barrett has not been accused of wrongdoing. But at the time of her nomination to the supreme court, it was reported by the AP that the PoP had sought to erase all mentions and photos of her from its website before her meetings with lawmakers. It may have been an effort to shield Barrett from questions about the PoP\u2019s extreme beliefs.<\/p>
The Guardian asked Fraga, the PoP overall coordinator, for a comment on the leadership controversy and survivors\u2019 concerns over Coney\u2019s promotion, but he did not respond to the request for comment.<\/p>
Barrett\u2019s supreme court chambers did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>
It is not only the survivor group that has challenged Michael Coney\u2019s appointment.<\/p>
Nano Farabaugh, an active member of the PoP, sent a letter to the all-male board of governors on 9 January in which she called on the board to reject Coney\u2019s appointment to replace PoP co-founder Paul DeCelles as the leader of the consultation team.<\/p>
In her letter, which was obtained by the Guardian, Farabaugh said the team had recently submitted its suggestions to the board about PoP\u2019s \u201cfuture direction\u201d. It is not clear what the consultation group has proposed or whether those suggests are now being scrapped.<\/p>
Farabaugh said Fraga\u2019s decision illustrated many of the concerns that were being aired by PoP members, including: \u201cMisuse of authority, mistrust of the board, not being consulted on matters that directly affect women, not listening to men and especially the voice of women, lack of transparency, [and] lack of accountable leadership.\u201d<\/p>
The PoP was founded in the 1970s as part of a Christian charismatic movement. In meetings, members are encouraged to share prophecies and\u00a0speak in tongues<\/a>. One former member said adherents believe God can speak through members to deliver messages, sometimes about their future.<\/p>A PoP handbook states that members are expected to be obedient to male authorities, or group heads, and are expected to give 5% of their earnings to the group. Heads are influential decision-makers in members\u2019 lives, weighing in on issues ranging from dating to marriage and determining where members should live.<\/p>
After a waiting period, members agree to a covenant \u2013 a lifelong vow \u2013 to support each other \u201cfinancially and materially and spiritually\u201d.<\/p>
The group has been criticized for endorsing discriminatory practices. Members who\u00a0engage in gay sex are expelled<\/a>, and private schools closely affiliated with the group \u2013 the Trinity Schools \u2013 have admission policies that in effect ban the children of gay parents from attending. Barrett has previously served on Trinity\u2019s board of trustees.<\/p>Single members are encouraged to live with other members of the community, including families with children, a practice that former members and adults who grew up in the sect say created opportunities for sexual abuse.<\/p>
Justice Barrett\u2019s membership in PoP was first widely publicized in a\u00a02017 New York Times report<\/a>, which noted that Barrett\u2019s membership in the \u201ctightly knit Christian group\u201d never came up in a Senate hearing to confirm her as an appeals court judge.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n(RSN.org)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Role for Amy Coney Barrett’s Father Inside Christian Sect Sparks Controversy Stephanie Kirchgaessner\/Guardian UK Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. (photos: Carlos Barria\/Reuters) go to original\u00a0\/\u00a0print version\u00a0\/\u00a0subscribe\u00a0\/\u00a0donate 30 january 24 Alleged abuse survivors at People of Praise worry Michael Coney may block group\u2019s handling of sexual abuse from becoming… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1774],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31420,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31419\/revisions\/31420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Alleged abuse survivors at People of Praise worry Michael Coney may block group\u2019s handling of sexual abuse from becoming public<\/em><\/strong><\/blockquote>
S<\/dropcap>urvivors of alleged childhood abuse inside the People of Praise, a secretive Christian sect that counts Amy Coney Barrett as a member, are voicing concerns that the supreme court justice\u2019s father, who was recently promoted to a new role, may seek to block information about the group\u2019s historic handling of sexual abuse becoming public.<\/p> Barrett, a conservative justice who was appointed by former US president Donald Trump, has never publicly disclosed her participation in the covenant Christian community, which some former members have compared to a cult.<\/p>
Her father, Michael Coney, a Louisiana-based lawyer who worked for Shell and has been a longtime member of the PoP, was this month appointed to serve as the group\u2019s new legal counsel. Coney is also taking the helm of a \u201cconsultation team\u201d that, internal correspondence seen by the Guardian shows, has been dealing with \u201cissues of concern\u201d to the group\u2019s 1,100 members, including \u201cmisuse of authority\u201d inside the PoP, \u201clack of accountable leadership\u201d, and \u201cmistrust of the board\u201d.<\/p>
Coney\u2019s appointment is part of a broader shake-up inside the PoP, whose leadership has been consumed by a contentious debate over the legitimacy of the 2021 election of its current leader, Charlie Fraga. Known as the \u201coverall coordinator\u201d, Fraga has said the bitter fight has emerged as an \u201curgent threat to the unity of the community\u201d.<\/p>
For\u00a0survivors of alleged childhood sexual and physical abuse<\/a>\u00a0inside the PoP, Coney\u2019s elevation is deeply troubling. PoP Survivors \u2013 as the group is known \u2013 has for years called for the PoP to be investigated and held accountable for its handling of historic claims of abuse. The Guardian\u00a0reported last year that the FBI had interviewed several individuals<\/a>\u00a0who have alleged they were abused by members of the PoP, but it is not clear whether the FBI opened a formal investigation.<\/p>
In 2020, as\u00a0allegations of abuse and emotional trauma<\/a>\u00a0began to emerge in press reports in the Guardian and other media outlets, the PoP hired the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart \u2026 Sullivan to conduct an \u201cindependent investigation\u201d into sexual abuse claims on behalf of the PoP. The results of the investigation were never made public.<\/p>
PoP Survivors say the lack of transparency is unusual given how many\u00a0organizations<\/a>\u00a0and institutions have \u2013 however reluctantly \u2013 released the results of such investigations in the past, including some\u00a0Catholic Church<\/a>\u00a0dioceses. They worry that Coney could now have an outsized role in determining what may be released in the future.<\/p>
\u201cElevating Amy Coney Barrett\u2019s father to a position where he can influence what goes public is a huge conflict of interest. It gives him the power to block information that might be embarrassing to her. Yet public scrutiny is exactly what\u2019s needed in order to protect children in the group,\u201d said a spokesperson for PoP Survivors, which has 55 members and is comprised of adults who grew up in the sect and are no longer affiliated with the group.<\/p>
Barrett has not been accused of wrongdoing. But at the time of her nomination to the supreme court, it was reported by the AP that the PoP had sought to erase all mentions and photos of her from its website before her meetings with lawmakers. It may have been an effort to shield Barrett from questions about the PoP\u2019s extreme beliefs.<\/p>
The Guardian asked Fraga, the PoP overall coordinator, for a comment on the leadership controversy and survivors\u2019 concerns over Coney\u2019s promotion, but he did not respond to the request for comment.<\/p>
Barrett\u2019s supreme court chambers did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>
It is not only the survivor group that has challenged Michael Coney\u2019s appointment.<\/p>
Nano Farabaugh, an active member of the PoP, sent a letter to the all-male board of governors on 9 January in which she called on the board to reject Coney\u2019s appointment to replace PoP co-founder Paul DeCelles as the leader of the consultation team.<\/p>
In her letter, which was obtained by the Guardian, Farabaugh said the team had recently submitted its suggestions to the board about PoP\u2019s \u201cfuture direction\u201d. It is not clear what the consultation group has proposed or whether those suggests are now being scrapped.<\/p>
Farabaugh said Fraga\u2019s decision illustrated many of the concerns that were being aired by PoP members, including: \u201cMisuse of authority, mistrust of the board, not being consulted on matters that directly affect women, not listening to men and especially the voice of women, lack of transparency, [and] lack of accountable leadership.\u201d<\/p>
The PoP was founded in the 1970s as part of a Christian charismatic movement. In meetings, members are encouraged to share prophecies and\u00a0speak in tongues<\/a>. One former member said adherents believe God can speak through members to deliver messages, sometimes about their future.<\/p>
A PoP handbook states that members are expected to be obedient to male authorities, or group heads, and are expected to give 5% of their earnings to the group. Heads are influential decision-makers in members\u2019 lives, weighing in on issues ranging from dating to marriage and determining where members should live.<\/p>
After a waiting period, members agree to a covenant \u2013 a lifelong vow \u2013 to support each other \u201cfinancially and materially and spiritually\u201d.<\/p>
The group has been criticized for endorsing discriminatory practices. Members who\u00a0engage in gay sex are expelled<\/a>, and private schools closely affiliated with the group \u2013 the Trinity Schools \u2013 have admission policies that in effect ban the children of gay parents from attending. Barrett has previously served on Trinity\u2019s board of trustees.<\/p>
Single members are encouraged to live with other members of the community, including families with children, a practice that former members and adults who grew up in the sect say created opportunities for sexual abuse.<\/p>
Justice Barrett\u2019s membership in PoP was first widely publicized in a\u00a02017 New York Times report<\/a>, which noted that Barrett\u2019s membership in the \u201ctightly knit Christian group\u201d never came up in a Senate hearing to confirm her as an appeals court judge.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n
(RSN.org)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Role for Amy Coney Barrett’s Father Inside Christian Sect Sparks Controversy Stephanie Kirchgaessner\/Guardian UK Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. (photos: Carlos Barria\/Reuters) go to original\u00a0\/\u00a0print version\u00a0\/\u00a0subscribe\u00a0\/\u00a0donate 30 january 24 Alleged abuse survivors at People of Praise worry Michael Coney may block group\u2019s handling of sexual abuse from becoming… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1774],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31420,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31419\/revisions\/31420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}