I was about half way through my mission when I was partnered with a new missionary companion. A couple weeks had passed when "out of the blue" I got a call from the Mission President saying that he was flying out to our area and that we were to pick him up at the airport. Once we arrived at the stake center the MP pulled my companion into a room for some privacy. I had no idea what in the world was going on, but after approx. four hours they came out. I was given no explanation as to what had transpired, but was told in no uncertain terms that I was never to let my companion out of my sight again, for any reason.

Finally, one of the APs felt I deserved some answers as to all the things that had been going on. He told me that this elder, before he was partnered with me, had been caught at a stake conference sexually molesting a child. Then he told me the reason for the Mission President's "out of the blue" flight to our area. Unbeknownst to me, while at a member's home this elder had gone downstairs and sexually molested one of the member's children. The child's parent called the mission president about the sexual assault which obviously prompted the mission president's flight to our area. The AP also shared with me that this elder had not only been diagnosed as a pedophile, but also as a "Master Manipulator" before this latest incident.

So, not only did the mission president allow this known pedophile to continue his mission, but some months later this same mission president had to make another "out of the blue" flight to a zone that both I and this pedophile were a part of. This same elder had sexually assaulted one of the elders in our zone. Even then, this mission president allowed this pedophile to finish his mission. He shipped him out to a different area and allowed him to finish his mission in anonymity.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2012 05:26PM by heretic.

I think that it is one of those things that is so huge that they do not know how to deal with it.

I think the general authority level leadership is sick of writing out of court settlements and are probably more up to speed than lower level leaders. Most of the MP below type of leaders are usually businessmen with little experience in that type of thing. I don't think they know what to do and I think most are not on the same page as the GA's. I think they really do think that they can fix the problem.

something doesn't sound right. why wouldn't the parents of the child that your comp molested go to the police? why didn't you go to the police when you learned the truth about this criminal?

I remember this exact thread a while back...<<cue Rod Serling and the TZ music"!!!>>

good question Sonoma!

just deja vuing!!

+1

My thought as well. At one time a couple decades ago, the church tried to handle cases like this internally. That didn't work out so well for them, and I had heard that they developed a different protocol.

Rick Ross had a couple old articles posted at his site that I thought were appalling in the way TSCC handled cases of children who were molested. They protected the perpetrator if he repented to his Bishop, and in the cases reported, they attempted to guilt the victim and the family into keeping quiet. They also offered substandard therapy for the victim through LDS Social Services. There was also an article that reported that TSCC submitted a Friends of the Court Brief supporting the Catholic Church during their pedophile priest scandals concerning pastoral privilege concerning keeping what parishioners confessed to a priest or Bishop private even from the police. I think Mormons like some other fundie Christians believed that when someone confessed his sins, he was absolved of them and he was like he had never committed them. If priests and Bishops were required to report child molesters to civil authorities, this concept is contradicted. It would take away from the authority of the religion in such matters. TSCC doesn't want to concede any authority and I suspect the staunch Catholics felt the same way.

The main problem with repentance is that Mormons don't understand it. They think repentance means to say "Hey God. I'm sorry I screwed up. We cool?" and then everything is forgiven.

What repentance means is to genuinely feel remorse, ask for forgiveness, and not do it again.

Clearly he did not feel any genuine remorse (but being a Mormon I am sure he would be excellent at faking it) and therefore it wasn't real repentance but the Mormon way of doing it is the first way I explained.

I think the greater problem of what Mormon's don't understand is about the nature of pedophilia. Mormons think that the guy will change if he comes in and repents. He may be sincere when he visits his Bishop/Stake Pres. He may truly be sorry and intends in that moment to never do it again. Mormons (and certain other literalist-type Christians) would claim that God will change the man's heart (etc, etc) but the fact is more likely that the guy suffers from a certain cyclical behavior pattern. The remorse (and repentance) part of the cycle is where the pedophile might come confess to the Bishop, but this does not mean that the pedophile's heart is any different and that he is not prone to re-offend when he cycles back into his urges for sex with a child.

This only reflects the arrogant nature of certain religious practitioners of which many Mormons (and Mormon doctrine) is one. They believe that an individual can be cured by God and God alone when he comes to certain religious authorities and repents. These claims are unproven as true and indeed are often shown to be false by multiple examples.

I am leaving the Church. But eventho I am leaving I still need to speak the truth. Anyone assuming that Mormons do not understand repentance or do not fully repent... You are mistaken. Individuals yeah some people do. But as a whole.. They know and do

Attitudes related to this are what tripped up a former bishop of mine who was a Lt. Col. in the Air Force, and worked in family advocacy at an AF hospital. One of the active-duty ward members came to him and confessed to having sexually abused his daughter. The bishop did not tell the other AF authorities, but let it ride, and instead told the ward member to go confess his actions to the authorities and seek help. Shortly afterwards the guy did; he was eventually tried in a court martial, and went to prison. My bishop and his family were surprised when the bishop was forced into retirement for having walked two lines, and instead of deferring to AF authority, chose to use the LDS solution.

The postscript is that the former bishop had enough savings that he went back to Utah, bought and renovated a nice home in a good part of Provo, became a real estate agent, launched a multi-level marketing scheme (of course), and opened a used car lot. And became a bishop again.

Question #1: "Why wouldn't the parents of the child your comp molested go to the police?"

Answer: The child's father was a member of the Stake Presidency. Stake Presidents are not going to do anything that would create a pr disaster for TSCC.

Question #2: "Why didn't you go to the police when you learned about this criminal?"

Answer: Get real! You really think most missionaries have the "stones" to do something that would possibly embarass the church? I don't mean any disrespect, but what planet are you from?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2012 05:23PM by heretic.

i'm from the planet earth.

there are plenty of good parents, even those in stake presidencies who would not let a pedophile go free, unpunished, and able to rape/molest again.

i think that even as a missionary, with that kind of information i would take action. just my opinion.

how would it be a "disaster for the church" if such a person was turned in to the police. i'm sure that it has happened before, and the church has survived.

the story of the catholic priest pedophiles shows that the cover-up get you into much bigger trouble.

finally, i'm not buying this post

First, it's obviously your prerogative whether you accept this post or not. Frankly, I could care less whether you do or don't. I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone, the story is 100% true.

Second, I think my explanation about why a stake president and/or missionary wouldn't go to the police is considerably more plausible than yours of why they would. But that's up to each person to decide for themselves.

Thirdly, if it was really important I'd be happy to share all the names and particulars with Susan. However, I suspect it's not really that important.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2012 08:54PM by heretic.

ok heretic, that's cool. it just sounded crazy to me, but that doesn't mean that it isn't true.

so my question becomes...
why didn't you expose the pedophile to some sort of authority that could stop this guy from repeating the crime?

I'll be honest, I'm ashamed to say the thought of reporting this to the authorities never even entered my mind. I trusted that the church would handle it exactly the way God would have wanted.
If I had it to do over I would have probably been excommunicated for having blown the lid off of this sad story. But then, if I had to do over, I would have never gone on a mission to begin with.

Thanks in advance for your understanding.

we've all been there in one way or the other...

I really must chime in here in defense of heretic.

I was in the same position and I thought that reporting it to the bishop WAS reporting it to authorities. Furthermore, they assured me they were "handling" it and thanked me for my report.

This was in the 70's and it's never been a puzzle to me why they protected the priesthood holder. If they reported it to the police, it would stop the abuser from abusing again, but it would bring bad publicity to the church.

The church is the highest priority to the church. It has never chosen an individual's welfare over its own. Period. No one and nothing is more important, no principle, no doctrine, no statement of Joseph Smith or Brigham Young, no temple ceremony which was restored since it was corrupted by Catholicism, no garment design, no truth- no not even HONESTY is more important to the Mormon church as its own survival.

Anagrammy

Your answer to Question #2- even though you may change your position now that you are NOT a member... THIS, THIS is the exact reason religion is so toxic.

Steven Weiberg said in best :

"Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

In the REAL world, the moment you heard of molestation... excuse me MULTIPLE MOLESTATIONS... not even DISTANT ones... a NORMAL THINKING individual would have gone straight to the cops, and REFUSED TO BE AROUND THIS GUY.

But not when you live in a religious world...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2012 04:11PM by quinlansolo.

Why? Well, it's tradition mostly......

Simple as that.

That I can tell you in one word:

.T.R.A.D.I.T.I.O.N.!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRdfX7ut8gw

You may ask: "how did this tradition get started?"

And I'll tell you: "Joseph Smith!"

Something about this doesn't smell right. Even if the church didn't want to go to the police, and I could see that, I don't see them keeping the offending missionary in the field.

If the story is true, or at least as true as the OP thinks it was, then I imagine that the missionary was merely accused, the MP did not believe the accusations, but the AP did.

The church sends you home if you write letters to a girl in your mission. Something does not make sense here.

Forbiddencokedrinker,
I don't blame you or anyone else for not believing this story. If I hadn't experienced it firsthand I'd probably be skeptical myself.

I only wish I could give many more details to substantiate what I have written, but I'm still trying to stay below the "church's radar" for family reasons. I gave a few more details on an earlier thread entitled, "Wolves Among The Lord's Sheep...." Probably not enough to keep you from being skeptical, but the story is 100% true with no embellishments.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2012 09:31PM by heretic.

I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. It is possible that the Mission President decided that the companion might be innocent, and did not want to destroy his reputation or life without a trial. While that is commendable, to a certain extent, a suspected pedophile should always be removed from a position of trust, pending an investigation. In government service, or medicine, the accused, when there are grounds to open an investigation, are placed on administrative suspension while they are investigated.

Don't worry, my bishop told me they are only allowed 2 registered sex offenders per ward.

Of course, if they aren't registered, they can fill the building with them.


As for the missionary story. I don't doubt it a bit. My nieces rapist went on a mission. Before he left he had raped 9 girls (one was his sister) in his ward. He repented and promised to never do that again. It was all neatly swept under the rug. The church's biggest concern was if they were going to be sued. A year later they sent him on a mission. His dad was the bishop.

I can't begin to imagine the destruction he left in his path while on his mission. He then came home and got married in the temple. He now has his own children to molest.

I didn't even bother to read the above responses because my only response is that the "brethren" decided that turning the other cheek was more important than helping a real human get past their own personal horror. It's all about keeping up appearances...that is ALL. They want to look shiny and new at all times. They don't give a shit about who suffers as a result. Welcome to the LDS nightmare!

Something similar happened on my mission in 1990. However the elder was sent home then extradited back to the state and went to prison.

Sadly, too many mormons and exmos admire missionaries and RMs and trust them with their kids. This type of abuser is usually warm, friendly, and "good at paling around with kids." Their personalities draw in kids and comfort parents.

This is just another pathetic example of mormons not following their handbook. They don't always adhere to "commandments of God," so we shouldn't be surprised that they often violate church policy and sometimes civil law.

I wonder how common this is? I heard about a man that was an active bishop at our old ward that was caught kissing youth in his office during bishop's interviews. It was all very hush hush and he was never formally charged by the police-it wasn't even reported. No one will talk about what happened, the only thing I ever heard was that the upper higher ups in the church warned him not to get a lawyer. He was kicked out of the church and is now a member again like nothing ever happened. How do they get away with not reporting these things? And I know of 2 other cases that are similar but much worse and the police never found out about those cases either. Why do the parents not report?

A close friend was a bishop when a young man--teen--came in and admitted that he was molesting his little sisters. This bishop talked the young man into turning himself in, and giving permission to tell the mother so she could protect the girls and get them therapy. The bishop also sought council from a lawyer as well as notifying his stake president, to make sure everything was being handled legally and correctly. It later turned out that the children's father (who, as I recall the story, had a fit when all this came out in the open)--was also molesting the girls. I think the mother turned him in and divorced him.

The impression I got was that the bishop had considerable latitude, and what he did ended up exposing the problem and getting help for the girls. The young man apparently continued a path of repentance and grew up to be ok and do ok.

not so much tradition. Mormons seem to embrace rape and sodomy as religious doctrine. I don't know why. But they do. There are practicing peds here in Utah, that people are aware of, and nay a thing is mentioned. Now. And no kidding here. If that same ped misses a tithing payment. Look out.

I used to think that the bishop's job was to help a person to endure their punishments for the crimes they committed. But that is not true. The bishop's job is to help criminals evade justice, for the crimes they've committed.

=(

We should remember that tscc is Highly Legalistic in EVERYTHING they do, that extends to "innocent unless proven guilty"

Pedophiles pay tithing in exchange for access to children. It works because the religion is a fraud.

all they care about is looking good - Church PR works very hard to create a "clean" image
if the pedophiles were brought to court, it would create a scandal similar to the Catholic Church

Although this might be a stretch, there's also the issue of the 'inspiration' mormon priesthood holders are supposed to be constantly receiving...

There has to be a bit of concern that the receipt of such 'inspiration' would be suspect if there were too many stories about unworthy men being placed into positions that not only did they not deserve, but created dangers to the membership.

Such a thing can't happen in a 'true church. It would serve as evidence that the organization was not divinely inspired.