ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Following a display of fireworks, Armed Forces hymns and rappellers unfurling a huge American flag, leaders of the nation's largest Protestant denomination offered conciliatory words for their counterparts in the Roman Catholic Church. At the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting, some speakers warned delegates against passing judgment as Catholic bishops prepare to discuss what to do with sex-offending priests.
"We shouldn't enjoy this Catholic mess too much," the Rev. Bobby Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, Fla., said Sunday during a service sponsored in St. Louis by the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists. "We're waiting on the other shoe to drop, and when it does, don't be surprised if there is more and more within our ranks."
The Conference of Catholic Bishops is scheduled to meet in Dallas later this week to discuss policies ...
