I'd never let my kids have an interview alone with the bishop because he has no appropriate sense of boundaries and I've seen him demonstrate it, and be verbally abusive, in a number of situations with several ward members, including an incident with his wife my son witnessed. I think it's very telling that he has been in about 3 years but about half-way through, one of his counselors was released and replaced with a man who had recently moved into our ward from another ward in the stake - a ward where he was bishop until his move. It's almost like the SP wants another bishop in to keep an eye on the actual bishop. Or maybe our bishop is just lazy and asked them to call someone who would do the work for him. Anyway, the bishop is trouble and I heard that every year, the church has to pay out hush money to people who have been abused or had their children abused by the bishop. I know stats would never be released but I wondered how many bishop scandals are hushed up on the local level and how many times the COB thugs have to clean up messes that get to that level. I know the vast majority are quietly settled to protect the Morg's image but wonder what that number is.

I would tend to believe there are many who are not caught.

My sister--who lived in Jerome, Idaho at the time--had a bishop and then he became SP. He was all of a sudden released and then the truth came out. He had been having an affair for 20 years with his office assistant--it had been going on BEFORE he was ever called to either calling.

The ward we moved into (and still live in)--just before we got there, one of the counselors in the bishopric had just been excommunicated for having an affair.

So--when I KNEW my ex was cheating, was ex. sec. when I found out--and the bishop told me he'd be one of the next bishops, I went inactive. I wasn't going to have my marriage fall apart in a public display.

He should do as the GAs have done for years. Make sure it remains secret and when wife 1 dies, get sealed to the mistress and then line up another one.

When I was about 14, the Bishop and first counselor of my ward were excommunicated. This was Everett Washington second ward. The Bishop hired his wife's twin sister as an assistant and proceeded to have an affair with her. His wife had six kids and her sister had never had any. They were identical twins, other than the kids. He divorced his wife and married the sister. The first counselor was arrested and jailed for frequenting prostitutes. The second counselor was not censured, but was known in the ward as having a drinking problem.

Hush money paid? You're kidding, right? From my 22 years experience in the church, most fathers would have beaten the shit out of the Bishop before any hush money was offered, then beaten the shit out of the offerers too.

I knew someone who worked in the COB, before she decided to chuck her job and the church and move in with her boyfriend/sugar daddy. She said that it was not uncommon for parents to try to sue the church because a bishop abused their child and the church steps in and settles out of court. Maybe that isn't technically hush money but the story is hushed up. Since I've lost touch with her, this was about 10 years ago, I was trying to get an idea of what "not uncommon" means because that statement has always bothered me. I wish I hadn't been too Molly Mormon to ask.

And I don't know if you lived in Utah any of those years but I can see Morridor men caving into church pressure. A Texas man would be much more likely to engage in beating the shit out of the offender. Just a cultural difference that in some areas, people are more whipped by Mormonism.

We need to remember that these men are called of gawd and according the current CHI Book 1 the First Presidency approve all Bishop's before they are called. So, there must be some sort of misunderstanding if the men you describe above were accused of anything untoward. Gawd and the First Pres know what they are doing.

SPs and MPs, yes but the others??? By approved, I assume you mean they look at names on a list or a short bio from a folder right? And then if the "spirit" doesn't clonk them over the head with a resounding NO they rubber stamp it through.

Or maybe I'm just cynical.

All Bishop's require First Pres approval. I'll go by the ward bldg tomorrow to get the page reference.

I have to believe you are right about looking at a short bio/request from an SP and rubber stamping.

EDIT Below:

I had a few minutes to kill so I drive over the ward bldg for the info.

Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 1, Section 16, page 150, Chart of Ordinations:

Office - Bishop
Recommended by - Stake President
Approved by - First presidency and Quorum of 12 Apostles
Sustained by - Ward members in Sacrament Meeting
Interviewed and Ordained by - General Authority, Area 70, or Stake President with written permission from First Presidency



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2011 03:04PM by truthseeker.