Letter to the Pope

[Joanne98]

Yesterday, the Vatican issued a statement, defending its failure to conduct an ecclesiastical trial to defrock a Wisconsin priest who sexually abused kids. In responding to a New York Times article, Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, pointed out “that civil authorities had dropped their investigation without filing charges.”

Lombardi’s comment reminded me of what a Southern Baptist spokesman said. In defending the failure of the Southern Baptist Convention to provide any sort of review process for clergy abuse reports, Augie Boto said this: “The proper investigatory panel for Baptists should be law enforcement officials.” (Baptist Press, 2/22/07)

Almost no one even blinked when Augie Boto said it. People just accept that this is how it is in Baptistland: If law enforcement doesn’t throw a pastor in prison, the man is free to stand in a Baptist pulpit. Baptists don’t even keep any systematic records on clergy abuse reports, much less do anything about them.

Thinking about how easily Baptist honchos get away with such a cowardly justification of do-nothingness, I figured the Pope could use a pointer or two. So I decided to write this letter.
______________________

To His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI:

I know it must have hurt to see that front page story in the New York Times. And such ugly documents! Those pieces of paper sure came back to bite you, didn’t they?

That’s why I’m writing. If you want to better protect your image, I figure you could learn a thing or two from Baptist officials.

For starters, take a lesson from the Baptists and quit keeping so many records on your clergy. I know you’ve got that pesky little problem of Catholic canon law, which requires record-keeping. But since you’re the top-dog, why don’t you just issue some sort of edict?

You could just say, “No more record-keeping.”

That’s how it works in Baptistland. No records -- no trace -- no trouble.

Continued>>>
http://stopbaptistpredators.blogspot.com/2010/03/letter-to-pope.html