The Sentencing of a United Church Minister

                                                                             Timothy Milley 

 Yesterday I happened upon the news that convicted child rapist, Tim Milley, has been sentenced to ten years in a US prison. Milley is a Canadian and was arrested in Peel Region but his victim was in Michigan when the incident occurred a decade ago. Milley lived in Deseronto and served a United Church congregation in Kingston. Here is an excerpt from the Kingston Whig Standard article:

“This defendant groomed the vulnerable minor victim and preyed upon her youth and inexperience,” U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in a United States Attorney’s Office news release. “Thanks to her bravery in coming forward years later, we were able to arrest him and prevent further victimization of other minors.” The release states that the investigation into Milley’s actions revealed he started messaging the 15-year-old over the internet in the spring of 2013.

If you want to read more of the grim details you can do an internet search.

For me the fact that Milley was in a position of trust and acting as a Christian pastor makes what transpired even more disgusting. His Twitter feed includes the self-description "family man." 

I actually worked on a project with Tim for a year, as part of a team of clergy who trained other ministers to be supervisors was ministry students who would be doing internships. Oh, the irony. Milley, at that time in his fifties, had just remarried to a woman who was not much different in age than his adult children and he was gushy about it all. Not that long after it was discovered that he was in an online relationship with another woman, or maybe more than one, and the marriage ended. The situation was a mess and a moral nightmare but somehow he came through it all without being defrocked. 

Shortly after Milley was charged in 2019 I attended a clergy lunch and colleagues were shaken by the news. Our son, Isaac, and nephew Michael, are both United Church ministers and knew Milley as well.

I am relieved to know that Tim Milley, now 69, will be in prison for years to come. In the United States eligibility for parole doesn't necessarily occur after a third of the sentence. 

I am disturbed that somehow he was able to continue in ministry after reprehensible behaviour and that his offence occurred while he was a serving in the United Church. Of course pastors and priests are human, sinners who "fall short of the glory of God." Yet we have become increasingly cautious about discipline of clergy because of human rights legislation. Surely we have to maintain our moral obligations and standards?