THOMAS P. DOYLE, J.C.D., C.A.D.C. MaIch 30. 2007 Dr. Frank Page, President. Southern Baptist Convention Tailors First Baili Si Church. Dr. Morris Chapman President. Executive Committee Southern Baptist Convention Dear Dr. Page and Dr. Chapman, in the midrl9805. 1 held a very itnportant position with the Catholic Church as an official at the Vatican embassy in Washington DC. in the course of tny duties 1 was assigned to handle cases of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. I attempted to warn Catholic bishops about the looming clergy sex abuse nightmare. My warning went largely unheeded until 2002. when the us. Conference ofCatholic Bishops finally established the Office of Child and Youth Protection. By then. countless tnore kids had been severely wounded. fatnilies devastated and the Church itself was reeling frotn the extensive scandal. 1 am concerned by what 1 fear may be developing as a similar pattern in the nation's largest Protestant denomination. Clergy sex abuse is a scourge that knows no bounds of theology, denomination. or institutional structure. To effectively address this scourge requires a strong cooperative effort. Yet. in recent Baptist Press statements. lhave seen that Southern Baptist leaders disclaim that possibility on the ground that the Southern Baptist Convention has "no authority" over auionomous churches. While the hierarchical of the Catholic Church is undeniably different from the congregational structure of Bapiisls, you should nevertheless realize that your "no authority" argument is actually quite analogous to what Catholic bishops were espousing prior to 2002. Please know that I have the highest respect for your denomination and its strucmre and do not make these siaiemems in a critical manner. To a large degree. a bishop considers himself as having dominion over his own diocese i. essentially being autonotnous. in 2002, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops described it as an "extraordinary and unprecedented" step when they created the Office of Child and Youth Protection. Here are sotne of their published remarks: "Much misunderstanding exists about the structure of the Catholic Church and the way in which it functions both nationally and internationally. The USCCB has no direct authority over any bishop or eparch in the United States, nor does it have an infrastructure that is interconnected with the management or operations of the country’s 194 dioceses and eparchies, each of which is civilly and canonically independent. In developing the Charter, the members of the USCCB recognized that without traditional oversight mechanisms, the accountability called for in the Charter would have to be established in a new way. Thus, the USCCB Office of Child and Youth Protection, created as part of the Charter and monitored by a National Review Board of lay Catholics, was charged with the task of developing appropriate audit mechanisms to ensure that all bishops and eparchs comply with the provisions of the Charter." Thus, it would be a mistake to think that the structure of the Catholic Church inherently allowed for the creation of an oversight mechanism. Rather, it was the desperate need for a system of accountability that drove the creation of an oversight mechanism, and that mechanism was created outside the usual structure. I have worked with a great many clergy abuse victims, and I know the horrible harm that it causes in their lives. I hope you will consider the possibility that, if children in Southern Baptist churches are to be made safer, accountability for Southern Baptist clergy may also need to be established "in a new way." I was a military chaplain for many years and had the privilege of working side-by-side with many devoted chaplains from your denomination. I learned much from them about the Lord's love and was consistently edified by their dedication to Christ and their zeal for his Gospel message. I hope they and other good ministers of the Lord in your denomination never have to endure the nightmare the Catholic Church finds itself in because of its institutional neglect of the Lord's message. I am writing not in a spirit of criticism but in a spirit of fraternal hope that you take pains to avoid the incredible harm to your Church that the Catholic Church did not avoid because of its arrogance and obsession with power and image. I pray that the Lord Jesus guide your hearts that you may find a way to better protect children in the future and to help with healing for those wounded in the past. Sincerely, Rev. Thomas Doyle 2 OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION April 4, 2007 Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, J.C.D., -- Vienna, VA 22182 Dear Rev, Doyle, Thank you for your kind letter oi March 30. 2007 I appreciate the spirit in which you wrote the letter. Please know that we are taking this issue seriously. We do have some serious limitations due to the polity of our Convention. However, despite what press reports may show, we are involved in reviewing how we might better encourage and inform our churches to protect precious children and young adults It is true that the difference is that while Catholic bishops did claim to have "no authority," Southern Baptist leaders truly have no authority over the local church. We do have influenoe and we are attempting to utilize that influence to the fullest extent to provide this protection. Thank you for your letter. it is an encouragement to me. In Christ, Frank S. Page FRANK S. PAGE, PH. D. -- oks. SOUTH CKROLNA 29687 THOMAS P. DOYLE, J.C.D., C.A.D.C. -- 22122 April 12, 2007 Rev. Dr. Frank s. Page Dear Rev. Dr. Page. 1 am indeed grateful for you kind response to my lerter of March 30. 2007. I join you in prayer thar rhe Lord will continue to give you strength and wisdom as you face rhis problem. lcertainly appreciate rhar rhe media description may fall short of adequately describing the rotal response of your Convention. I suspect thar much of the general public's comprehension of clergy sexual abuse is significantly conditioned by rhe experience of the Roman Carholic Church. 1 also suspect that in the minds of many. the political stnicture of one church is the same as any orher and rhis of course. is far short of the reality. 1 cerrainly undersrand the serious limitations you are facing. I recall some of my fellow Air Force chaplains who were Baprist. explaining ro me the governing structure of your denomination. 1 also recall some very respectful and at the same rime enlightening discussions about the advantages and disadvantages of trying to preach the Gospel message from within a hierarchical Church as opposed to a Church without such a polirical structure. Several years ago a sociologist of religion named Anson Shupe published a very insightful book entitled In The Name of All That's Holy in which he studied clergy malfeasance wirhin the context of the structures of various denominations. lrecall one salient point was thar the covefrup and rhe tendency ro self: destructive responses to clergy abuse is much higher with hierarchical churches. My own experience cerrainly confirms this theory. Again, thank you for your gracious letter. Know that my hopes and prayers are wirh you in this very frying timel Sincerely in Our Lord (Rein) Thomas P. Doyle