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	Concern about Ordination By Rochelle Fournier and David Clohessy The Courier-Journal September 23, 2009 http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200909220300/OPINION04/909220309 Some want to depict the controversy over the recent ordination of a convicted child molester clergyman as a matter of the past. But it's not. It's about the present and the future. It's about adults in pain, right now, who were molested as kids and feel as though salt has been rubbed into their already deep and often still fresh wounds. And, more important, it's about vulnerable kids, right now, who will be around a sexual abuser who may abuse again. Here's what the facts tell us: Ten years ago, Mark Hourigan was part of the Beechfork Baptist Church in Gravel Switch, Ky. He was arrested, charged and convicted of repeatedly sodomizing an 11-year-old boy. Three years ago, he was released from prison. And on Sept. 13, City of Refuge Worship Center, an independent church in Germantown, officially made him a minister. And here's what history, psychology and common sense tell us: Adults who sexually target kids are almost always compulsively driven to violate children. (That's why state officials have put Hourigan on the sex-offender registry for life.) We in Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) wrote church leaders, urging them to postpone the decision and hold an open meeting to discuss the controversy. We also asked the Kentucky Council of Churches to join us in these simple requests. We were rebuffed. What we want is simple. We want kids to be safe. We want decision-makers to be careful, not reckless. We want authorities to err on the side of safeguarding the physical, emotional and spiritual safety of many children, over boosting the self-esteem of one criminal adult. And, now, we want responsible clergy, from any and all churches, to speak out. According to a data base firm, in greater Louisville there are 1,844 churches. As best we can tell, not one of them has spoken up about this recklessness and callousness that reflect poorly on all faith groups. It feels trite to quote Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Maybe it's more apt to quote Martin Luther King Jr.: “All too many (churches) have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.” If kids aren't “the least of my brethren” and if religious figures won't speak up for them, who will? No one's advocating that we should ban child molesters from churches or be punitive toward them in any way. They need and deserve prayers and love and support. But likewise, we should not give them opportunities to hurt other kids. The school bus driver whose drunkenness causes a terrible accident can and should be forgiven. He should be able to get and keep a job, maybe even in a school district. But it's just crazy to give him the keys to another bus and say, “We believe you when you say ‘God has touched you.' You can drive a busload of kids again.” But that's what City of Refuge has done, and thus far, Louisville ministers are, by their silence, endorsing this irresponsible move. So what's next? Many abuse victims and their loved ones will keep feeling sad and powerless, knowing that well-intentioned but misguided church figures have deliberately given a powerful title to a potentially dangerous man. Others — adults who have been molested and kids who are being molested — will likely feel so hopeless they'll keep silent instead of reporting the crimes to police, prosecutors or others who can expose and stop child molesters. We in SNAP will keep begging anyone who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes, by any minister, to get help and call police. We'll keep consoling everyone who seeks solace for their pain. And we'll pray we don't hear from a grieving mom or dad who says, “My son was sexually assaulted. Rochelle Fournier of Louisville and David Clohessy of St. Louis are with a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (www.SNAPnetwork.org).
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