As a church that supports ABWE, one thing that nags me is the way ABWE let Loftis go. When they let him go they released this letter that made no mention that his firing was related to the Ketchum matter:
Why didn’t they put this in the letter sent out to churches that announced Loftis’ firing? And if they weren’t transparent on that, how can our church trust them to be transparent on other issues?
For those interested in looking a little deeper into the whole question of how to handle alleged institutional guilt in handling of sex offense cases…. and the role of third party ivestigators, etc.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
My recollection of the firing was that there were a number of issues that ‘fell through the cracks,’ this being the most significant. He was fired for the combination of those issues.
The ABWE letter posted at link above made no mention of anything falling between the cracks, nor did it make any connection between Loftis’ firing and the Ketchum affair.
Yet their website page on the scandal now says that he was fired for not informing the board about the scandal when he knew about it for 9 years.
I’m sure Loftis is a good man who made a bad judgment call in 2002. But why didn’t ABWE send out a letter that drew the connection between Loftis’ dismissal and the Ketchum affair? Why didn’t they owe it to churches that supported them to tell them why Loftis was being let go? And if they weren’t transparent about that, how can people trust them to be transparent about anything else?
Discussion
NewTransparency?
As a church that supports ABWE, one thing that nags me is the way ABWE let Loftis go. When they let him go they released this letter that made no mention that his firing was related to the Ketchum matter:
http://bangladeshmksspeak.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/abwe-announces-change-of-leadership/
But, now, on their website, they say that he was let go for not informing the board for 9 years about the abuse that he learned of in 2002:
http://www.abwe.org/news/article/ABWE-scandal-ABWE-announces-leadership-changes
Why didn’t they put this in the letter sent out to churches that announced Loftis’ firing? And if they weren’t transparent on that, how can our church trust them to be transparent on other issues?
NewInteresting report
For those interested in looking a little deeper into the whole question of how to handle alleged institutional guilt in handling of sex offense cases…. and the role of third party ivestigators, etc.
http://telioslaw.com/religious-law-articles/item/28-are-protestant-mini…
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
NewLoftis firing
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NewThe ABWE letter posted at
The ABWE letter posted at link above made no mention of anything falling between the cracks, nor did it make any connection between Loftis’ firing and the Ketchum affair.
Yet their website page on the scandal now says that he was fired for not informing the board about the scandal when he knew about it for 9 years.
I’m sure Loftis is a good man who made a bad judgment call in 2002. But why didn’t ABWE send out a letter that drew the connection between Loftis’ dismissal and the Ketchum affair? Why didn’t they owe it to churches that supported them to tell them why Loftis was being let go? And if they weren’t transparent about that, how can people trust them to be transparent about anything else?