MISSISSIPPI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014
For more information: Amy Smith, SNAP Dallas Leader (281)748-4050, spacecitysnap@gmail.com and David Clohessy, SNAP Executive Director (314) 566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com
Victims applaud abuse seminar
But they urge use of “outside experts”
Church protected predator just two years ago
Aggressive outreach to find victims, witnesses vital to child safety
Convicted minister may have more victims, they fear
A support group for child sex abuse victims is applauding a Mississippi Baptist church—that just recently protected and embraced a now-convicted child predator—for holding an abuse awareness and prevention seminar. But the group wants church officials to do “aggressive outreach” to encourage victims to report to police and to add at least one “outside” secular expert to the panel.
Officials at Morrison Heights Baptist Church are planning a sex abuse awareness training conference with a goal “to equip church leaders with the skills and resources they need to keep children safe.” The conference focuses on reporting crimes, creating a safe environment, and a victim’s story of abuse and recovery.
“Outside” secular experts are essential if this seminar is to be successful at creating a safer environment for children. “Secular experts have no bias when it comes to helping institutions and officials adopt child and victim friendly policies. They are able to put the needs of children before the reputations of institutions,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP.
But SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), wants church leaders to go a step further by aggressively seeking out more victims and witnesses of abuse. In 2011, a former music minister at the church, John Langworthy, admitted from the pulpit that he had molested kids in two states. A Dallas news investigation showed that accusations against Langworthy date back to 1989, when Prestonwood Baptist Church leaders quietly investigated the allegations and fired him but failed to report him to the police, allowing him to move back to MS where he continued to work with kids as a minister and public school choir teacher for the next 22 years.
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