He was a celebrity pastor at one of Canada’s biggest megachurches. Inside the sexual abuse allegations that brought down Bruxy Cavey were hidden allegations by other ministers and church staff.
A little over a year ago, Dr. Bruxy Cavey stepped down as a senior pastor in Toronto’s largest church for reasons that were never made public. The announcement by his former boss, pastor and current church leader Mark Driscoll, included the following:
“As Dr. Cavey’s leadership has become more and more divisive and negative, he has lost my full trust and confidence.”
And that was the announcement that Driscoll made at the same church where, over the past 40 years, Bruxy met and befriended many of the men and women who were later accused of abusive behavior, from sexual harassment to assault.
The truth was revealed in a lawsuit filed by former employee Kristine Parlee that names the church, its leaders and Driscoll, as well as the victims of abuse. There was a second lawsuit filed against the church by former employee Ryan MacEwen.
Both lawsuits are still pending in the courts. The stories of these two, as well as others, have changed the landscape of Canadian Christianity.
Now, instead of being a leader whose church was the most respected and influential in its community, Driscoll is facing an investigation into a possible criminal negligence charge for allegedly failing to protect the men who were victims of sexual abuse by his former pastor, and for allegedly failing to protect those accused.
All of this comes after the church has been sued by hundreds of victims of sexual abuse and a court ordered the church to pay out $60 million after it was found to have failed to protect the alleged victims. And all of that after a lawsuit was filed naming the church, its leaders and Driscoll for allegedly failing to protect the alleged victims.
For Driscoll, it’s quite another thing to discover that he has been accused of the very things he once stood accused of