THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 14, 1996 TAG: 9609140294
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 37 lines
A 4-month-old girl was in critical condition Friday after nearly drowning during a baptism at a breakaway Roman Catholic church.
Officials of the Imani Temple in Northeast Washington planned to meet Friday night to decide whether the Rev. August Griffin, who briefly immersed the baby's head three times into a baptismal tub during the Sunday ceremony, should be punished.
District of Columbia police said after the ceremony, blood began streaming from Sade Victoria Omotola's nose and her face turned blue.
The child is now on life support at Children's Hospital.
The Rev. George Stallings, who founded the Imani Temple seven years ago for black Catholics disillusioned with the church, said Friday that the sect discourages baptisms that require immersion or pouring of water on young children.
But Stallings, who was in Detroit during the ceremony, said the girl's mother insisted on the ceremony - even though her prematurely born daughter had just been released from the hospital a month ago.
``Since the mother insisted that the child be baptized by total immersion, that is what my associate pastor . . . did,'' Stallings said.
``We . . . were unaware that Sade had a medical condition.''
Stallings said the girl's mother and grandmother reportedly argued before the ceremony about whether to go through with the immersion.
Stallings said he did not know if the family was threatening legal action.
The Imani Temple has temples in Washington, Baltimore, Norfolk and Philadelphia, and boasts about 6,300 members worldwide. The Washington sect has about 3,000 members. Temple officials said Griffin joined the church five years ago. by CNB