Former PCA Pastor Liam Goligher Suspended Indefinitely After Pleading Guilty to ‘Adult Clergy Sexual Abuse’
In late 2023, Tenth Presbyterian Church minister Liam Goligher resigned from his position after he was accused of being involved in an adulterous affair with deaconess Susan Elzey after police reports surfaced showing the two of them were arrested and cited for being sexually intimate in a park some years earlier.
Goligher previously led the 1600-member PCA Church in Philadelphia, PA, and was known for his preaching prowess, where he could frequently be seen speaking at reformed conferences and was listed as a contributor to the Gospel Coalition.
In the months following his resignation, Goligher was suspended indefinitely for contumacy, which the Presbyterian Church in America defines as refusing to cooperate in church disciplinary proceedings. This resulted in him being “suspended indefinitely from both the exercise of his office as a teaching elder and from the Lord’s Supper until he repents of his contumacy and gives a satisfactory response to the charges against him.“
Thankfully, following his suspension, he re-engaged with PCA’s Philadelphia Presbytery and began cooperating, confessing his sin and pleading guilty to the charges. According to the Presbyterian Pew, at its January 18, 2025 meeting, the Philadelphia Presbytery approved the following statement:
In the case of the Presbyterian Church in America v Liam Goligher, Liam Goligher pleaded guilty to the charges of Lying, Conduct Unbecoming of a Pastor and Elder, Harsh and Uncharitable Treatment of Colleagues and Subordinates and Spiritual Abuse and Adult Clergy Sexual Abuse.
After considering the nature of Liam Goligher’s confession and indications of repentance, the Ad Hoc Judicial Commission ruling on this case inflicted the censures of deposition from office and indefinite suspension from the Lord’s Supper.The Presbytery appointed a pastoral care team to guide Liam Goligher in seeking full repentance and restoration to the Lord’s Supper. In consideration of the nature of the charge of Adult Sexual Clergy Abuse to which Liam Goligher has pleaded guilty, the censures inflicted upon him and their consequences, and the clarification of evidence over time, the Presbytery decided to drop the charge of Adultery against him.
We encourage prayer for the victims and Liam Goligher’s restoration.
Notably, the PCA dropped charges of adultery against Goligher, arguing that the woman in question could not have meaningfully consented, even if she was 45 years old at the time and believed she did. The statement links to Clergy Sexual Misconduct, an online resource recommended by the PCA’s DASA (Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault) Committee, which clarifies that it is impossible for her to enter into a relationship with a pastor without being victimized.
What is CSM not? An affair. Clergy sexual misconduct is often mislabeled as an “affair” if either the pastor or the victim is married. Many people view clergy sexual abuse as merely a pastor cheating on his wife with a church member. However, an affair is a relationship between two people who have mutually consented and are participating without any form of manipulation. This is not the case with CSM. The sexualized so-called “relationship” has arisen within asymmetrical power dynamics, where the spiritual leader occupies a more powerful and dominant position in relation to the victim.
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