Church Hides Wade Christofferson’s Abuse Enabling More Abuse - Ed Nachel | Ep. 2117

How Church Secrecy in a 1996 Disciplinary Council May Have Enabled Decades of Child Abuse

When a high-ranking member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faces allegations of harming children, how the institution responds, or fails to respond, matters enormously. The case of Wade Christofferson, as documented in recent Mormon Stories podcast interviews, raises urgent questions about whether institutional confidentiality practices inadvertently shield predators and expose new victims to harm. According to Ed Nachel, a former stake high councilman in the Chicago area, the church's handling of Christofferson's 1996 disciplinary council reveals a troubling pattern: secrecy that may have protected the institution's reputation at the cost of public safety.

Understanding the 1996 Disciplinary Council and Its Secrecy

The disciplinary council that addressed Christofferson's conduct was convened in the Buffalo Grove, Illinois stake during the mid-1990s. Nachel, newly called to the stake high council at the time, participated in proceedings that were conducted entirely under a vow of secrecy. Church members in leadership roles at disciplinary councils are bound by strict confidentiality agreements, a practice intended to protect privacy and prevent public humiliation.

However, this confidentiality created an information vacuum. According to Nachel's account in the Mormon Stories podcast, what became public was a sanitized version of events: rumors circulated that Christofferson had been excommunicated for an extramarital affair. The actual nature of his conduct, allegations involving the sexual abuse of minors, remained hidden not only from the broader congregation but from many of Christofferson's own family members.

The Documented Record: What the Case Reveals