RICHMOND, June 26 - The General Assembly Council (GAC) has unanimously approved a letter of apology to a group of young males who were sexually abused by a former Presbyterian minister in San Francisco's Chinatown.

An investigative committee concluded that F.S. Dick Wichman sexually abused at least 18 children between 1947 and 1977 while he was executive director of Cameron House, a ministry to Chinese families, a mission of the Presbyterian Church.

The Presbytery of San Francisco, of which Wichman was a member, appointed the investigative committee that looked into the allegations.

"Reading the stories now, we are overwhelmed with remorse for what happened to God's children entrusted to Wichman's care," the GAC said in a letter approved Thursday during a regular GAC meeting here. "We express our humble apology for the abuse that continued there for many years."

The abuse allegations began surfacing in 1987, about 10 years after Wichman's retirement.

In November 1988, when the presbytery was about to bring charges against Wichman, he denied the allegations and removed himself from ordination as a Presbyterian minister.

Because Wichman was no longer an ordained minister, the PC(USA) judicial process was terminated without a trial or formal judgment of his guilt or innocence.

The presbytery consulted with the San Francisco District Attorney's office, which determined in 1988 that it could not bring criminal charges against Wichman because of statute-of-limitation provisions.

In 2002, Cameron House's board of directors appointed a "Healing Task Force" to recommend what the institution could do to help the abuse victims recover.

Some of the task force's recommendations are included in a package of 11 proposed Book of Order amendments intended to help the Presbyterian Church (USA) respond more quickly to charges that Presbyterian ministers have abused or sexually molested people in their care. The amendments will be considered by the denomination's 216th General Assembly, which opens here Saturday.

The GAC's executive committee also voted to send a small delegation to meet with the survivors. Cameron House officials have also written a letter of apology and asked the presbytery to do the same.

In other business, the GAC:

• Approved a "Call to Confession of Prison Abuse in Iraq," urging commissioners to the Assembly and the entire PC(USA) to "reaffirm our support for human rights and the Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war; explicitly reject torture and abuse as methods of interrogation and treatment of prisoners, for they are inconsistent with the Gospel; and acknowledge we are inescapably part of our culture and offer our confession in repentance."


• Approved a "Vision and Mission Statement (for) Young Adult Ministry" and conveyed it to the denomination's Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries.

  It reads: "Jesus loves me, this I know: Embracing the story. Daring to share our lives: Telling our stories. Authentic, purposeful, real: Living the story. This is our prayer."

  The statement elaborates:

" Embracing the story: We seek to understand what it means to be Christ-centered and rooted in the Reformed tradition, recognizing that we are the beloved community of God. Telling our stories: We seek to embody a fresh model of community that embraces our identity as young adults, emerges out of our shared stories and is united by our common story. Living the story: We seek to unearth new forms, new language and new approaches to reach young adults for the sake of Christ in the church and culture."

The Young Adult Ministry Coordinating Team, which authored the statement, advises the PC(USA)'s coordinator for Youth and Young Adult Ministries. The team, formed in May 2002, is made up of people involved in young adult ministry. It meets once a year.

• Was informed that Congregational Ministries Publishing had a combined net loss of $122,685 for 2004, down from $166,686 last year. The net loss on curriculum was $250,115, including a write-off of inventory worth $129,312, compared to a budgeted loss of $369,739. Mission Education and Promotion netted $127,430.