A 2026 lawsuit alleges that a former pastor at a Delaware County, Ohio church groomed and sexually abused women he was counseling. The allegations describe a painful and increasingly recognized pattern: a religious leader using a pastoral counseling role to gain trust and then exploit it.
The case is a reminder that abuse by clergy is not limited to the abuse of children, and that being harmed in a counseling relationship is not your fault. Here is how the law treats this kind of abuse and what options survivors have.
What the Lawsuit Alleges
According to the lawsuit, the pastor offered counseling to women in the congregation and used those sessions to build closeness, isolate them, and ultimately abuse them. These are allegations that will be tested in court, and the former pastor is entitled to a defense.
What makes the claims significant is the setting. Pastoral counseling is offered as spiritual care, often to people who are already vulnerable, grieving, or in crisis. When a leader exploits that role, the harm is compounded by a deep sense of spiritual betrayal.
How Grooming Works in a Counseling Relationship
Grooming in a counseling setting often does not look like an obvious assault at first. It can begin with extra attention, special time, and confidences shared, which gradually blur the line between care and control.
Because the person seeking counseling has come for help, they may interpret the attention as genuine concern and may blame themselves when boundaries are crossed. This is precisely how grooming is designed to work, and it is a tactic, not a sign of the survivor's consent or fault.
Why 'Consent' Doesn't Apply
A pastor acting as a counselor holds a position of trust and authority, much like a therapist. That power imbalance is why the idea of mutual consent does not hold up. The relationship itself makes true, free consent impossible.
Courts increasingly recognize that when a person in a counseling or spiritual-care role engages in sexual contact with someone under their care, it is an abuse of that role, regardless of how the conduct is later characterized.
Who Can Be Held Responsible Besides the Pastor
Survivors are often surprised to learn that the church or denomination may also bear legal responsibility. If leaders ignored warning signs, failed to supervise the pastor, or kept him in a position of trust after concerns were raised, the institution itself can be liable.
Theories such as negligent hiring, supervision, and retention focus on what the organization knew and what it failed to do. Holding the institution accountable can also be a way to push for the kind of changes that protect others.
The Lasting Harm of Spiritual Abuse
Abuse by a religious leader carries a layer of harm that other abuse may not. When the person who caused the harm represented faith, community, and moral authority, survivors can be left questioning not only their trust in people but their relationship with their faith itself.
This is sometimes called spiritual abuse, and its effects can be profound. Survivors may struggle with guilt, isolation, and a sense that the institution that should have protected them instead protected the abuser. Recognizing this dimension is part of understanding why these cases matter so much.
What Evidence Can Support a Claim
Survivors often worry that without a witness, their account will not be enough. In civil cases, a survivor's own testimony is evidence, and it can be powerful. Beyond that, courts consider corroborating details such as communications, counseling records, the accounts of others, and any prior complaints about the same person.
Institutions also generate records. What a church knew, when it knew it, and how it responded can become central to a case. An attorney can help identify and preserve the evidence that strengthens a claim, including information the institution may prefer to keep quiet.
Why Survivors Often Blame Themselves
One of the cruelest effects of grooming is that survivors frequently turn the blame inward. Because the abuse was wrapped in attention, trust, and what felt like care, many survivors later ask whether they somehow allowed or invited it. They did not.
Grooming is a deliberate process designed to manufacture compliance and silence. When the person responsible holds spiritual authority, that manipulation is even more powerful, and self-blame is a predictable result, not evidence of fault.
Naming this dynamic is important, because shame is exactly what keeps survivors from coming forward and what allows abusers to continue. Understanding that responsibility lies entirely with the person who abused their role can be a first step toward both healing and accountability.
Options for Survivors of Pastoral-Care Abuse
Survivors generally have more than one path. Reporting to the denomination may lead to internal discipline, while a civil claim can seek compensation and accountability through the courts. These paths are separate, and you can pursue civil options even if a church investigation goes nowhere.
Civil claims can recover the costs of therapy and treatment, lost income, and compensation for the profound emotional harm this kind of betrayal causes.
If you were harmed by a pastor or other religious leader during counseling, Help Law Group offers free, confidential consultations. You will not be judged, and you are not alone in what you experienced.