Quick-thinking pro-lifers in Mississippi have helped to expose a deception on the part of Planned Parenthood at a public hearing regarding legislative consideration of a state personhood amendment. According to Personhood USA, Vincent Lachina, a Planned Parenthood chaplain from Seattle, WA, inserted himself into the meeting and claimed to be an ordained Southern Baptist minister who is “both pro-life and pro-choice”.
Speaking to a crowd of Mississippi voters, Lachina claimed to be a Southern Baptist minister, both “prolife and prochoice.” Addressing the crowd in a clerical collar, Mississippians listened intently as Lachina shared that he grew up in Jackson and had a Mississippi heritage. Lachina boldly preached an ideology of choice from the pulpit, calling for a “no” vote on prolife Amendment 26, but left out some critical details.
Lachina failed to mention that he is the Washington State Chaplain at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Lachina was caught when a skeptical audience member decided to run a Google search on Lachina’s name.
Jacob Dawson of the American Family Association was sitting in the audience and decided to do a Google search of Lachina, having never heard of a Southern Baptist preacher from Mississippi by that name — much less a pro-choice, clerical collar-wearing Southern Baptist preacher. Dawson stood before the crowd and stated, “A quick Google search reveals a January 2006 article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer stating that Mr. Lachina is from Seattle, and is a chaplain for Planned Parenthood.”
The most well-known use of the clerical collar is among Catholic priests, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer article found by Dawson includes claims that appear to be designed to influence Catholics to be sympathetic to Planned Parenthood.
“The very first time I was involved, I thought, ‘How am I going to deal with this?’ ” she said. “I was raised Catholic, so it’s hard. But the two things — you kind of weigh them out. Women’s rights are very important, just as much as my religion. I believe in what we do here, and I believe that my faith is strong, too.” […]
[…] Lachina listened to her concerns, telling her that God did not judge her and that she should not blame herself. His cleric’s collar, so similar to those worn by the priests she’d been raised to obey, was especially comforting.
Indeed, the clerical collar can be “comforting”, but clerical collars do not make someone a minister. Sometimes, a clerical collar can be misused for purposes of deception. This appears to be the case with Mr. Lachina in his attempt to deceive Mississippi voters.
According to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) website, the SBC does not actually ordain ministers and has no provision for “defrocking”.
Within the Southern Baptist Convention, the licensing and ordination of ministers is a local church matter.
There is no denominational ordination service. The list of Southern Baptist ministers is simply a compilation from the reports of the churches. The Southern Baptist convention neither frocks nor defrocks ministers.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, public servants in Mississippi, and others across America who are charged with ensuring that the public receive accurate information in regard to public policy would do well to take note that there are impostors out there for whom nothing is sacred. Thankfully, in this instance, there were some quick thinkers in attendance who were able to expose the truth. Our public servants and media could learn from their diligence.
