Father Thomas Doyle (pic'd here) of Vienna, Virginia is prodding Southern Baptist officials to consider that, to make children safer, they may need to find "a new way" to institute accountability for Baptist clergy.
A self-help group for victims of clergy sex abuse has been urging Southern Baptists to do what Catholics and other faith groups have done by establishing a review board to hear molestation reports and instituting a 'zero-tolerance' policy.
The Chicago-based support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and other Clergy (SNAPnetwork.org), delivered those requests to Southern Baptist officials last September. They took no action on SNAP's requests, and said they have "no authority" over autonomous Baptist churches.
Doyle points out that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also claimed to have "no direct authority" over any diocese, "each of which is civilly and canonically independent."
Yet in 2002, after hundreds of victims spoke up and the scandal reached national proportions, an oversight mechanism was nevertheless finally created.
Southern Baptist president Frank Page responded to Doyle that, while Catholic bishops claimed to have "no authority," Baptist officials "truly have no authority."
"Where there's a will, there's a way," said David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP's national director.
"If Baptist officials genuinely cared about this problem, they would find a way to effectively address it."
"Whether religious leaders claim 'no authority' or 'truly no authority,' it's still kids who are left at risk," said SNAP-Baptist coordinator, Christa Brown of Austin, who maintains the StopBaptistPredators.org website.
"If kids are going to be made safer, Southern Baptists must find a way to rid their ranks of clergy predators and to hold accountable leaders who turn a blind eye. How many more wounded kids will it take before Baptist officials take action?"
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