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	'Address Clergy Child Sex Abuse,' Victims Tell Attorney General Yahoo! [Austin TX] February 18, 2007 http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070218/clsu002.html?.v=7 Gonzales Speaks to Nation's Largest Denomination Tuesday SNAP Wants Him to Prod Baptists to Take Steps to Protect Kids On Monday, Self Help Group will Leaflet Key Baptist Officials AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Victims of childhood clergy sex abuse are asking US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to prod top Southern Baptist officials to work harder to protect kids from child-molesting clergy. On Tuesday, Gonzales will speak to the highest decision-making body of the nation's largest Protestant denomination in Nashville. Leaders of a support group called SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, want Gonzales to urge Baptists to move more quickly to oust clergy predators and set up an independent review panel to handle molestation charges. "No one wants to see a repeat of the Catholic sex abuse and cover-up scandal, but unless Southern Baptists start dealing with the problem effectively and compassionately, that may happen," said Christa Brown of Austin, TX. She was sexually assaulted as a child by a Baptist minister and runs a website called StopBaptistPredators.org. "We hope that Attorney General Gonzales will convey this message to Baptist officials." For months, clergy sex abuse victims have been frustrated by the refusal of key Baptist officials to respond to their requests for action to make churches safer. They want an independent panel for reviewing reports of clergy sex abuse and the implementation of a tough, nationwide zero-tolerance policy. Denominational officers, however, have ignored SNAP's requests. "It's discouraging when men who profess to follow Jesus Christ don't even answer their mail from deeply wounded victims of horrific child sex crimes," said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP's National Director. "If they won't respond to actual victims, who can believe they'll protect potential child victims?" On Monday Feb. 19, a handful of SNAP members plan to hand out flyers at Nashville's Renaissance Hotel and Southern Baptist headquarters where the Executive Committee is meeting.
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