Victims Blast “rehab” of Controversial Preacher

SNAP
September 11, 2015

http://www.snapnetwork.org/tx_victims_blast_rehab_of_controversial_preacher

It’s heartbreaking to see that a minister facing credible allegations of ignoring or concealing suspected child sex crimes is being given a place of prominence in a church conference.

After several years of adopting a lower public profile, Rev. C.J. Mahaney of Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, Ky will speak at the biennial Together for the Gospel conference next spring in Louisville, Ky.

https://baptistnews.com/ministry/people/item/30461-controversial-preacher-returning-to-t4g-stage

Mahaney was one of several officials of Sovereign Grace Ministries, a church-planting network, named as defendants in a class-action lawsuit for allegedly not reporting alleged sexual and physical abuse of kids.

This is wrong for at least two reasons.

First, it rubs salt into the wounds of the families whose lives were devastated by dreadful child sex crimes and cover ups within Sovereign Grace.

Second, it encourages wrongdoing. Giving roles of prominence, prestige or power to those accused of hiding possible crimes encourages others to hide possible crimes.

Men like Mahaney should be ostracized, not elevated, by church colleagues and in church circles.

For the safety of kids, we call on every person who is organizing or planning to attend this conference next April to publicly denounce this move. Otherwise, cover ups of suspected crimes will be encouraged, not discouraged.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, davidgclohessy@gmail.com, SNAPclohessy@aol.com), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell,bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, bblaine@snapnetwork.org)

Controversial preacher returning to T4G stage,

By Bob Allen, Thursday, September 10, 2015

After two years of low profile amid questions about his handling of allegations of child sexual abuse, C.J. Mahaney is back on the program for the 2016 Together for the Gospel confab in Louisville, Ky.

A speaker sidelined two years ago by a sexual abuse scandal at his former church is back at center stage for an upcoming conference featuring prominent leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention.

C.J. Mahaney, senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, Ky., joins Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler and International Mission Board President David Platt as scheduled speakers at the biennial Together for the Gospel conference scheduled April 12-14 in Louisville, Ky.

Mahaney, who in 2006 along with Mohler and two others founded the confab popular among young Calvinists, sat out the last conference in 2014, saying . . .