History: Reverend Michael R Miller (1974-1985)

Michael R Miller was born 26 Feb 1935 in East Liverpool, Ohio and died 2 Mar 1997 in Riverton, NJ. Rev Miller's tenure at the First Presbyterian Church of Matawan (1974 - 1985) began with great promise and proceeded with considerable church growth, but it ended in his arrest and eventual conviction for sexual abuse against church youth. It was the most painful chapter in the church's history.

As a young child, Rev Miller lived in Pittsburgh, where his father studied at Western Theological Seminary. (Sources: 1940 Federal Census; Independent, pg 3, 18 Jun 1980; Rudolph Miller's obituary, the Genealogy Pit Stop Blog, 14 Jul 2009.)

According to the 1940 Federal Census for Ohio, Michael R Miller, age 5, born in Ohio, was living at 1115 Vine Street, East Liverpool, Ohio, in the household of his parents, M Rudolph and Miriam Miller. Living in the household were a younger brother, Stephen K Miller, age 1, born in Pennsylvania, and a 17-year-old maid named Grace Serafy. Rudolph and Miriam were each 36 years old and born in Pennsylvania to Austrian fathers and Pennsylvanian mothers.  Rudolph's occupation was listed as minister. Rudolph had 5 years of college and his wife had 2 years of college.

Rev Miler's father, Rudolph Miller, served as minister at Trinity Presbyterian Church in East Liverpool, Ohio from Apr 1939 until Jan 1968, with a 46-month break while he served as a chaplain in the US Army during World War II. He lived nearly 102 years. (Source: Rev Miller's father's obituary, which can be found at the Genealogy Pit Stop Blog, 14 Jul 2009.

Rev Miller spent his teenaged years living with his parents in East Liverpool, Ohio.He lived with his parents in New Jersey while his father served as Post Chaplain at Fort Hancock on Sandy Hook. He attended Yale University in Connecticut, graduating with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1956. He then attended Union Theological Seminary in New York, earning a masters of divinity in 1960. He was ordained at East Liverpool, Ohio on 8 Jun 1960. (Source: Independent, pg 3, 18 Jun 1980)

Rev Miller served as assistant minister at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church from 1960 to 1964. He then served as pastor of the Lakeside Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York from 1964 to 1974. (Source: Independent, pg 3, 18 Jun 1980)

"[He] found himself in the midst of a riot-torn city experiencing all the social and economic problems
of the Sixties. As pastor of a large urban congregation, he dealt with problems of busing to achieve racial balance, riots in the ghettos, anti-war demonstratilons, and confrontations with black militants." (Source: Independent, pg 3, 18 Jun 1980)

Rev Miller then answered the call to serve at First Presbyterian Church of Matawan in 1974. The church was the second-largest church in the Monmouth Presbytery with 780 parishioners. (Source: Independent, pg 3, 18 Jun 1980)

The 26 Oct 1977 edition of The Independent (pp 4, 8) carried a letter from area clergy encouraging the end of a protracted teachers strike in the local school district. (The same paper, pg 4, included a request for funds so a letter could be sent to the community explaining a committee's interest in changing the name of the township from Matawan to Aberdeen.)

Rev and Mrs Miller presented a scroll marking Rev Miller's 20th year of ministry.

The 18 Jun 1980 edition of The Independent (pg 3) covered the 8 Jun 1980 celebration of the 20th anniversaryof Rev Miller's ordination as a Presbyterian minister. The congregation gave the couple a gift of a trip to Israel.

The 29 Oct 1980 edition of The Independent (pg 8) told of the previous Sunday's festivities related to the 260th anniversary of the founding of the First Presbyterian Church of Matawan. Performances included "Leaves from a Church History Book," written and directed by Sandy Campbell, Barbara DeVilbiss, and Louise Ginesi, and "The Body of Christ," an anthem commissioned by the church specifically for the occasion and written by Eugene Butler, a prominent church music composer and seminary classmate of Reverend Miller. The anthem was dedicated to Timothy Carter Smith, a young church elder who was killed in an automobile accident three years earlier..

The Style section of the 14 Oct 1984 edition of The New York Times reported the society wedding of Martha Miller, the daughter of Rev Miller and his wife, Debbie, who was serving as an educational consultant for the Monmouth Presbytery. Rev Miller helped in the officiating at this wedding, which took place at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC.

Charges of sexual abuse were leveled against Rev Miller and he resigned in 1985.

The 27 Aug 1986 edition of The Independent (pg 23) reported that former Presbyterian minister Michael Miller had pleaded guilty to sexually molesting two teenage members of the congregation and was awaiting sentencing. He faced a ten-year sentence and possible fines. The former pastor renounced the authority of the Presbytery to discipline him, according to Rev Harlan Durfee, clerk of the Presbytery of Monmouth.

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The awful legacy of the Miller ministry is that not only had there been a sexual predator in the pulpit, but the leadership had left him in the pulpit and at the head of the Session long after accusations against him had surfaced. They accepted his pleas of innocence and effectively refused to believe the charges made against him by his victims. They even launched a legal defense fund for Rev Miller and in other ways supported him while outside the church the wheels of justice persisted against him. When Rev Miller eventually pleaded guilty, it was a surprise to most. As overwhelming as the shame and betrayal were that the leadership felt, it was nothing compared to the betrayals and shame experienced by the victims. Some families left the church but the church survived with the help of the Presbytery.

The General Assembly would eventually fix the rules so that a minister under such charges would no longer be able to remain in office while sexual abuse charges were pending against him/her. The Rules of Discipline in the PCUSA Book of Order included D-10-0106 (below), which compels a Session to put their minister ("teaching elder) on administrative leave.

When a written statement of an alleged offense of sexual abuse toward any person under the age of eighteen, or who it is alleged lacked the mental capacity to consent, has been received against a teaching elder, the stated clerk receiving the allegation shall immediately communicate the allegation to the permanent judicial commission. The moderator of the permanent judicial commission shall within three days designate two members, who may be from the roster of former members of the permanent judicial commission, to determine whether the accused shall be placed on a paid administrative leave during the resolution of the matter. The cost of such shall be borne by the employing entity whenever possible or be shared by the presbytery as necessary. While administrative leave is in effect, a teaching elder may not perform any pastoral, administrative, educational, or supervisory duties, and may not officiate at any functions such as Baptism, funerals, or weddings.