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Fl-
Abuse Victims Plead with Southern Baptists
By David Clohessy
Survivors Network
February
11, 2014
http://www.snapnetwork.org/fl_abuse_victims_plead_with_southern_baptists
Abuse victims plead with Southern
Baptists
They beg church officials: “Don't
appeal jury verdict”
Florida Baptist Convention should
“accept justice,” they say
“Appealing will erode Baptist
officials’ moral authority,” states SNAP
They call this a “watershed moment”
for largest US Protestant denomination
An organization that helps clergy sex abuse victims is
asking the Florida Baptist Convention to reconsider its decision
to appeal a recent and unprecedented multi-million dollar
verdict in a child molestation case.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-reaction-florida-baptist-convention-molest-20140121,0,4803103.story
Last week, a unanimous jury in Lake County, Florida,
awarded $12.5 million to a man who was sexually abused as a
child by a Southern Baptist minister in a church affiliated with
the Florida Baptist Convention.
This is believed to be the first time that a state or
national Baptist organization has been held responsible for the
crimes of a minister. For years, Baptist denominational
officials have successfully maintained that each church is
completely autonomous such that Baptist denominational
organizations can't be sued for negligently allowing clergy
child molesters to “church-hop.”
Within hours, Baptist officials announced their
intention to ask a higher court to overturn the jury's verdict.
Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused
by Priests, are writing to Florida Baptist Convention executive
director John Sullivan to urge that the statewide denominational
office reconsider that decision.
The group maintains that Baptist officials are “at a
historic crossroads” and “must choose between the familiar but
hurtful, costly, defensive, and fundamentally immoral practice
of using legal hard-ball to evade responsibility, or a more kind
and smart practice of accepting responsibility, helping victims
and taking action to deter future clergy sex crimes and
cover-ups.”
“In the long run, this denomination will protect
children, save money, prevent embarrassment, and be hailed as
doing the right thing, if you act now as compassionate shepherds
instead of cold-hearted CEOs,” said Amy Smith, a SNAP leader in
Houston who is herself a Southern Baptist.
“This first-ever jury finding – that Baptist
denominational offices should bear responsibility for harm
inflicted by a clergy child molester -- is a real 'wake-up call'
for the entire denomination,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis,
SNAP’s Director. “Denominational officials can heed or ignore
the call. We hope they'll make the tougher but smarter and more
responsible choice to accept responsibility, not appeal, and to
implement denominational safeguards for the protection of
kids.”
Clohessy compared the jury's decision to a lengthy
1985 internal Catholic Church report sent to every US bishop,
warning them that soon lawsuits involving pedophile priests
would proliferate and radically undermine their reputations.
“The report was eerily prescient. Had bishops
listened, so much pain – to victims, clergy, and parishioners –
could have been avoided,” Clohessy said. “And if Baptist
officials listen now, they have a chance to chart a different
and smarter and ultimately less devastating course for
themselves and for Baptist congregants.”
“Rather than paying huge sums to attorneys to pursue
an appeal, Baptist denominational officials would do better to
spend their dollars on outside experts who might help them
figure out how they can systematize the sharing of information
so as to prevent church-hopping predators,” said Smith. “Rather
than pretending to be powerless – a pretense that the jury saw
right through -- Baptist denominational officials should start
acting like true leaders, accept their responsibility, and take
action for the better protection of kids in the future.”
Declining to appeal would be “a radical but savvy
change” from current and past behavior by Southern Baptist
denominational officials, observed Clohessy. “But that's what
leaders do – they see emerging trends and get out in front of
them. That's what bishops refused to do. Now Baptist officials
can either learn from the Catholic horror or repeat it.”
The victim is represented by Miami attorney Ron Weil
and Mary Olszewska of Weil, Quaranta, McGovern, P.A. with
offices in Miami and Los Angeles. (305 372 5352, rpw@weillaw.net)
A copy of SNAP's letter to the Florida Baptist
Convention, sent today by email and fax, is below:
Dr. John Sullivan
Executive Director
Florida Baptist Convention
1230 Hendricks Avenue
Jacksonville, FL 32207
Dear Dr. Sullivan,
We are writing to beg you and your colleagues to
reconsider your plan to appeal the jury verdict in a child
molestation case.
We are members of a support group called SNAP (the
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). Our mission is to
protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded. We are begging you
to do this as well.
By appealing, at best you'll be postponing, at a great
moral and financial cost, an eventual day of real reckoning. At
worst, you'll be hurting not just the victim in this case, but
all other victims who have been violated and betrayed by
Southern Baptist clergy.
Even if it is successful, your appeal will only delay
the inevitable. As Martin Luther King said, “The moral arc of
the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” That's true
of our judicial system as well. Over 25 years of SNAP's history,
we have found that those responsible for injustices are
eventually held accountable, not only through the justice system
but also through the court of public opinion.
We urge you to spend the money that you would
otherwise pay to attorneys to instead use it for outside experts
– perhaps experts such as G.R.A.C.E. – who might help persuade
and help you figure out how you can systematize the cooperative
sharing of information within your denomination so as to prevent
church-hopping clergy predators. Surely if the Florida Baptist
Convention can send churches information warning about the
dangers of Calvinism, as it did in 2007, the Florida Baptist
Convention can also provide churches with information about
credibly accused clergy predators. (See “Calvinist churches
targeted by Florida Baptist Convention,” Associated Baptist
Press, 6/8/2007) This would not be an interference with the
autonomy of local churches but would instead be the provision of
valuable information for local churches.
The Florida Baptist Convention is at a historic
crossroads and you must choose between the familiar but hurtful,
costly, defensive, and fundamentally immoral practice of using
legal hard-ball to evade responsibility, or a more kind and
smart practice of accepting responsibility, helping victims and
taking action to deter future clergy sex crimes and cover-ups.
Generally, most victims file lawsuits only when they
see church officials being evasive and refusing to protect kids.
In the long run, if you use this occasion as a wake-up call to
institute effective safeguards rather than as an occasion to
double-down on the old ways, you may actually discourage more
lawsuits in the future.
By putting aside pride and reputations and by actively
working to help victims and implement safeguards, you will be
repairing your image, saving money over the long-term, and most
importantly, protecting children and signaling to victims that
justice will be served and healing can begin.
Sincerely,
David Clohessy
Contact: SNAPclohessy@aol.com
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