A victim of sexual abuse filed a lawsuit on Monday against the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). Sean Coppedge claims the denomination failed to protect him and other children during their stay at a boarding house in Congo, where his parents were serving as missionaries.

“On the night I was sexually abused I immediately informed the Presbyterian authorities, but little was done, even though they knew the perpetrator had abused at least one other person prior to me,” Coppedge said of his 1988 experience on Monday, according to The Courier-Journal.

The PC(USA) – the country’s largest Presbyterian denomination – acknowledged in a report this year that dozens had endured sexual and physical abuse on the mission field. After years of collecting reports from abuse victims and witnesses, the denomination’s Independent Abuse Review Panel detailed the findings and expressed regret in more than 500 pages.

The report, released in October, records incidents of abuse spanning a 40-year period. After extensive investigation into the 85 allegations of abuse it received, the panel concluded that abuse did occur in 30 instances on eight different mission fields, including Congo, Egypt, India and Thailand.

According to the comprehensive report, many of the alleged offenders were teachers, houseparents and peers, and most of the victims were children of missionaries. Many of the abuses occurred at schools and boarding facilities, where children were separated from their missionary parents.

While some victims chose to remain silent, others who did report abuse said they were not protected from further harm.

Read More: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20101214/pc-usafaces-lawsuit-over-sexual-abuse-on-mission-field/