Once Every Two Weeks for Texas Baptists, Stop Baptist Predators, November 12, 2009

Once Every Two Weeks for Texas Baptists

Stop Baptist Predators
November 12, 2009

http://stopbaptistpredators.blogspot.com/2009/11/once-every-two-weeks-for-texas-baptists.html

"Southern Baptist churches in Texas must stop hiding sexual abuse by clergy and provide outreach to victims."

That's what Phil Strickland told the delegates of the Baptist General Convention of Texas exactly 10 years ago when they gathered for their annual meeting in El Paso.

Phil Strickland, who was executive director of the BGCT's Christian Life Commission, presented a report to the 2000 Texas Baptists gathered there, and said: "There is increasing evidence that clergy sexual abuse is a significant problem among Baptist ministers."

How did Phil Strickland know this back in November 1999?

Because this sort of knowledge was part of his job.

As Strickland explained, the Baptist General Convention of Texas "gets a call about once every two weeks from someone wanting to report abuse."

"Once every two weeks."

So that would be about 26 calls per year from people wanting to report clergy sex abuse to the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Do the math.

Over the past 10 years, from 1999 to 2009, this would mean that about 260 people tried to report clergy sex abuse to the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Then consider this. Phil Strickland worked for the Baptist General Convention of Texas for nearly 40 years, and when he made those remarks, he had been at the post as executive director of their Christian Life Commission for about 19 years.

If, as Strickland said, he had been getting a call about "once every two weeks" for the 19 years prior to his remarks, then that would be 494 more people who called the Baptist General Convention of Texas to try to report clergy sexual abuse.

So, if we take Phil Strickland at his word, this would mean that about 754 people tried to report clergy sex abuse to the Baptist General Convention of Texas between 1980 and 2009.

Who are those Texas ministers whom people tried to report? Where are those ministers now? How many more kids and congregants have been hurt by those reported ministers?

And where are the records on those 754 reports of clergy sex abuse?

In response to Phil Strickland's 1999 plea, the Baptist General Convention of Texas put out a glossy brochure. It also started keeping a confidential file of ministers reported by churches "for sexual misconduct, including child molestation." Information included in the file specifically includes "sexual abuse of children."

But note the Catch-22: the file includes only those ministers who are reported by churches, and everyone knows that, in the normal scenario, the churches don't report clergy abuse. "They just try to keep it secret." So most of those 754 reports probably didn't make it into the official file. Were they placed in some unofficial file, or were they just trashed?

Even in the extremely rare case when a church actually does report a minister's sexual abuse, the Baptist General Convention of Texas simply keeps the information in a file cabinet. The minister can continue working in a different church or in a different state, and the Baptist General Convention of Texas won't undertake to warn people in the pews.

That's what happened in my own case. My perpetrator was reported to the BGCT, not only by myself, but also by a church. And his name simply sat in the BGCT's file cabinet while he continued working in children's ministry in Florida.

According to Phil Strickland, there are probably about 754 more reported cases of clergy sex abuse that the BGCT did nothing about.

Personally, I think Phil Strickland would likely turn over in his grave if he could see what became of his 1999 plea to Texas Baptists.

Phil Strickland talked about "a counseling program for victims." But as Dee Miller reported, "About the assistance to victims . . . it appears that strings are attached when one seeks assistance from the BGCT." Counseling for victims may be available if the victims grovel and if they sign a contract agreeing to never speak of it. I know from personal experience that Dee's report is exactly right.

It's the sort of system that ensures secrecy. It doesn't work to protect others.

And about that "crisis intervention" for churches that Phil Strickland talked about? In actual practice, what that means is that the Baptist General Convention of Texas may send out its own long-time attorney to "help" the church handle the crisis. And the way the attorney "helps" the church is by threatening to sue the victim if the victim doesn't shut up.

Again, it's the sort of system that ensures secrecy. It doesn't work to protect others.

Meanwhile, "once every two weeks," those people who are trying to report Baptist clergy sex abuse wind up hearing the "because there are no bishops" excuse. It's Texas Baptist leaders' self-serving rationalization for do-nothingness.

Or they hear the "go to the church" line, which almost always inflicts even greater wounds. Telling clergy abuse survivors to "go to the church" is like telling bloody sheep to go to the den of the wolf who savaged them. It's cruel to the victims, and it doesn't work to protect others.

In his last speech before his death, Phil Strickland talked about "the capacity to grieve about injustice, to quit pretending that things are all right, to imagine that things could be different, and courageously to say so . . . ." He wondered aloud about where this had all gone in Baptist life.

I wonder the same thing.

When will Texas Baptists quit pretending? When will they choose to see the people whom they prefer to remain invisible -- the people who have been sexually abused by Baptist clergy? When will they open their eyes to the consequences of the denomination's do-nothingness? When will they step beyond their fear of risk and step forward with courage toward protecting the innocent and healing the wounded?

Ten full years have passed since Phil Strickland's words, but for Baptist clergy abuse survivors, virtually nothing has changed. "Once every two weeks," their voices still fall on deaf ears at the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

The only thing that has changed is that Houston is hosting their annual hoopla this year. It convenes next week, November 16-17.