ALABAMA
Associated Baptist Press
By Bob Allen
An advocate for clergy abuse victims said July 2 that police should investigate whether a Southern Baptist director of missions concealed molestation by the youth minister at a church he previously served as pastor.
Mack Allen Davis, 73, former youth pastor at Lakeside Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., faces 15 charges from three counties in a grand jury indictment handed down after two men came forward alleging Davis molested them 30 years ago.
The Birmingham News reported July 2 that one of the alleged victims claims that Mike McLemore, executive director of the Birmingham Baptist Association since 2007 and pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church from 1983 to 2007, knew about the allegations but swept it under a rug to protect the church’s reputation.
David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said ministers who cover up child sex crimes play just as much of a role in hurting innocent children as the perpetrator.
“We urgently urge law enforcement to investigate these allegations,” said Clohessy, an abuse survivor who testified before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002. “We also beg anyone who saw, suspects or suffered cover ups by McLemore to call police right away and help protect other potential victims.”
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