More threats and crocodile tears

Madeleine Manning, whose fully-alive words of truth I posted a couple days ago, sends out to clergy abuse survivors this favorite quote from a Hopi elder: “WE are the ONES we have been waiting for.”

I like that. And I've been thinking about some of Madeleine’s other words. She said this: "They undercut, demeaned, twisted every word exchanged - and that was when they weren't downright lying. All, of course, with apologies and even crocodile tears in their eyes.”

Those words sure call to mind my own experience in dealing with Baptist leaders. The Baptist General Convention of Texas is particularly good at that “crocodile tears” thing.

Not long ago, they put out still another public statement saying “we care about clergy abuse victims.” Yeah, uh-huh. They made that statement right about the same time their long-time lawyer was calling up an attorney friend of mine to suggest that, if I didn’t rein it in, I might find myself facing a lawsuit or a state bar disciplinary proceeding. He didn’t like a couple of my blog postings. Poor baby.

This is the same guy who responded to my initial report of abuse by threatening to seek recourse against me - i.e., he threatened to sue me. He made that threat even though he had already talked with the music minister in the church who KNEW about the abuse when I was a kid. He made that threat even though what I asked for was the sort of help that the BGCT’s own published booklet says is appropriate. (Obviously, the booklet is nothing but words on paper.) He made that threat even though the only monetary help I asked for was a stipend for 2 years’ worth of counseling. (Back in 1990, the BGCT started providing a 2-year counseling program to “restore” clergy who commit “sexual misconduct” (and they lump child molestation in with “sexual misconduct”), and so it seemed reasonable to me that they should also support 2 years of counseling for clergy abuse victims … but obviously they saw it differently.)

So, after having started out by threatening me 3 years ago, this same long-time BGCT lawyer recently decided to threaten me again. (I guess when you get in the habit of bullying wounded people, it winds up being a hard habit to break. Has no one at the BGCT realized that threatening victims who talk isn’t exactly conducive to finding out about child molesters who are still in the pulpit?)

My friend Elana tells me I need to work at accessing my “Buddha-nature” so that I can let Baptist rubbish like this roll off my shoulders. She’s right, of course, but I’ve probably got too much Irish in me. I’m ticked off and fed up with these hypocritical Pharisee-like eejits.

I don’t know whether, on this particular occasion, this jerk was acting at the behest of someone at the BGCT or whether he was acting at his own behest. (As pastor Ben Cole pointed out, Baptists have a sort of “Cosa Nostra-style” organization, which makes it easy for leaders to pretend ignorance, wash their hands of misdeeds, and shift responsibility.) What I know (from having talked with other Baptist survivors) is that this same jerk has been the BGCT’s lawyer on clergy abuse issues for over a decade.

So here's what I've got to say to this wonder-worm: Don’t use my friends as intermediaries to pass on your low-life cowardly threats. If you’re determined to threaten me (for whatever ridiculous reason you come up with), put it in writing and send it to ME, and then I'll let you know who my attorney is.

Well…I’ve got a lot more I could say about the BGCT and their “crocodile tears” but that’s enough for today.