Three men who went to a Presbyterian minister for counseling say he sexually abused them during what he said was a Native American exorcism ritual, a MyCentralJersey report said.
The Rev. Dr. William Weaver, who spent nearly 40 years as pastor of Linden Presbyterian Church, allegedly performed oral sex on the men as part of a ritual he said would free them from evil spirits, the report said. He used gemstones, feathers, metal strips, an angel coin and plastic bags in elaborate “exorcism” he said was taught to him by Native Americans.
The men said they reported the sexual abuse allegations to the police and the state attorney general’s clergy abuse hotline, but Weaver is not facing any charges, the report said.
He was scheduled to appear at an internal church trial in January, but he renounced the authority of the Presbytery of Elizabeth, the church body that oversees his church, the day before the hearing.
Reached by phone by MyCentralJersey, Weaver said, “I am not able to respond. Thank you.”
A Presbyterian minister with deep ties to Union County stands accused of using oral sex in exorcism rituals on victims seeking his counseling.
He has given up his ordination and membership in the Presbyterian Church and moved to a gated retirement community in Lakewood, the report said.
The men who said Weaver sexually abused them gave similar accounts, dating back to 1999, the report said. He cited a passage in the Bible calling on people to use the “full armor of God” to fight the Devil.
They said the minister would ask them to undress completely, then he would place gemstones, the coin and magnetic strip on their bodies and use a feather to scan them from head to toe. The minister would perform oral sex on them, then spit metal or plastic into a plastic bag that he said came from the men’s bodies, the report said.
The Presbytery of Elizabeth said they have received multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by Weaver.
“They Presbytery of Elizabeth, a regional body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), takes seriously any allegation of misconduct,” the Rev. Leslie Dobbs-Allsopp, interim leader of the Elizabeth Presbytery, said in a statement to MyCentralJersey.
Weaver, 69, is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, a former chaplain of the Union County Police Department and previously worked in the hospice division of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the report said.
