(RNS) — The Rev. Richard Killmer was a powerbroker in the national offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). But as he rose through the ranks of the national staff he harbored a dark secret — he was an adulterer.

As Killmer was about to rise yet one more rank, two women filed charges against him with the church. A disciplinary committee in New Brunswick, N.J., speedily investigated, Killmer pleaded guilty to one count of sexual misconduct and was suspended from the ministry for a minimum of one year.

Experts say the case of Killmer is an example of how seriously churches have begun to deal with all forms of sexual misconduct — from affairs between consenting adults to pedophilia.

Some leaders say churches are simply practicing their teachings, but others concede it is more a matter of money and note in the past such cases would have been dealt with quietly and far from the public eye.

But a flurry of lawsuits beginning in the mid-1980s has forced organized religion to recognize sexual misconduct by clergy can have dire financial consequences. Last July, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas was ordered to pay $110 million for negligent reaction to a priest who allegedly abused 11 children.

“We are very concerned about increasing litigation in the church,” said Thomas McAnally, a spokesman for the United Methodist Church. “Cases like the one in Dallas scare the bejesus out of church leaders.”

Most major religious denominations in America have formed committees with full-time staff charged with educating clergy about sexual misconduct, a broadly defined category that can include harassment, improper relationships between married clergy and members of their flock, rape and sexual abuse of children. Denominations also have become more organized about acting against clergy in potential cases of abuse.

The days when a sexual predator or adulterer was slapped on the hand and sent elsewhere to preach are fading, religious leaders say.

“In the past, bishops would just pass them on and it would happen again,” said the Rev. Gray Temple, an Episcopal rector in Atlanta. “These days, the church is dealing more directly with infidelity, but for all the wrong reasons. We are all vulnerable to lawsuits.”

Stephanie Hixon, an official with the United Methodist Church’s General Commission on the Status and Role of Women, said the new action by the churches comes in part from their “coming to an understanding of the grievous nature of these cases both by the church and society at large. A lot of that understanding comes from the courageous actions of victim survivors.”

John Cleary, general counsel of Church Mutual Insurance Co., one of the nation’s leading insurers of religious organizations, said every week he learns of five incidents of clergy sexual misconduct from among the 70,000 houses of worship his Wisconsin-based company covers.

Not all lead to lawsuits, Cleary said, and insurers now offer help and counseling for victims as a means of heading off lawsuits like the one in Dallas.

The first clergy misconduct suits appeared in 1984, and the numbers grew dramatically before leveling off in the mid-1990s, he said. No official compiles figures on the number of cases, but experts estimate they number in the thousands.

Cleary said his company at one time considered dropping sexual misconduct insurance for churches but decided instead to cap the coverage at $300,000. In cases of adultery, Cleary said, juries tend to be more sympathetic to employers, since the plaintiffs are consenting adults.

“The church has always been opposed to adultery and has to be,” said the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches. “It is disruptive of families and relationships, certainly of congregations.”

But she said the”connection between power and sex”is changing in the church. “There is an assumption that a person of privilege and power is automatically the guilty party, and there is a new understanding of what sexual abuse is.”

Church officials said that ministers placed in a position of trust can use that authority to take advantage of vulnerable members of their flock or church employees. Even in a completely consensual situation, however, there is an issue of credibility.

“If the adultery is a one-time violation of trust, and the pastor’s wife is the only other person who knows and is willing to forgive, it’s one thing,” said Zane Buxton, the manager of the judicial process for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). “It’s very different, though, if it’s semi-common knowledge and the pastor is standing in the pulpit talking about faithfulness. That brings the ministry into disrepute. That needs to be dealt with.”