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Abuse in LDS Church?

I have a daughter who is 25now. when she was 10 we had missionarys that came to our house once a week. One of the missionarys who came molested her. we filed charges against him. the church rallied behind him. I recieved cards and letters from all kinds of menbers of the church telling me what a terrible thing I was doing by procustion him. when we went to court the church hired this young man a attoney. his attoney tried to rip our lives apart. I recieved phone calls as far away as salt lake . my daughter has never gotten over this. she will have nothing to do with the church or any church as far as that goes. to keep my daughter from going to court I ask that the young man be given therapy. please keep in mind that my daughter had already testified before the grand jury. it really took a tole on her and the whole family. also when we did go to court for the first hearing the court room filled up with menbers from the church to show there support for this young man. not one menber had any support for my daughter . not one menber showed my daughter any kindness in this. I am hoping that the church doesnt make this same mistake with other children. I myself have been away from the church for the last 15 years. I am still a menber as far as I know. but I just cant take being a menber of a church who talks about the importance of family and then does something like this to my family and doesnt even care.
can some please tell me if the church as changed its way of handling these kinds of cases.

Church LDS Abuse

First off the Church cannot be represented by the actions of one person. As for your issue, I would have to know all the facts in order to comment, however, such behavior, once known is not acceptable or tolerated in the Church.

Abuse in LDS Church? Studies Doctrine Mormon

Abuse in the LDS Church is not tolerable and as I far as I know, the local leaders are encourage to contact the authorities (police, etc) when an abuse case is reported. Although I see this as something that is happening recently, I don't know years ago how it was handled it. I'm sorry to hear about your daughter and terrible experience. I hope she can get over it and knows that there is a Heavenly Father who loves her and wants to the best for her.
This sick guy who abused her cannot be consider a member of the Church or the Church position about it, our Prophet have repeatly said that abuse is not tolerate it in any way.

Church LDS Abuse

I have two separate experiences with this that I can relate.

Many years ago (1980s), a girl in the ward I attended was molested by a primary teacher. The man was prosecuted and went to jail.

Another case is one I heard of from someone else where a girl was molested by a Church member and the local Church leaders tried to get them not to have it handled by the police. This person reminded them of the Church's position on such behavior and insisted it be reported to the police. It was.

I cannot speak to what you experienced, but I have witnessed the exact opposite happen in my wards. We must all remember that even our Church leaders are not perfect. Members will do things wrong, but the Church as an official body does not and as far as I know never has tolerated such behavior.

I have a hard time believing that the members of your ward would treat you so unfairly and so unchristian. Maybe some of them, but all of them? If this is true, then there were bigger issues in that ward than just this. Those people will be accountable for their actions some day as well.

Why would the Church hire an attorney for this missionary? Missionaries pay their own way for everything else. Does an LDS member know if there is some policy that the LDS Church will provide you legal assistance if you get in trouble while on a mission? I would think this missionary would actually have qualified financially for a public defender.

Edited: tenaheff on 27th Feb, 2004 - 4:10pm

Church LDS Abuse

I checked into his attoney. he was not a public defender. no one from that ward offered there support to our family at all. the previous ward we belonged to the bishop and his wife were the only ones who stood behind us. they did so privatly. which i understand this on there part. before we reported this to the police we called the man in charge of the missionarys in our ward. he told us not to call the police but to let him handle it within the church. when we refused . and went ahead and called the police . the ward had nothing us to do with us. i just want to be sure that this is no longer acceptiable in the church.

Abuse in LDS Church?

It was never acceptable in the Church in the first place. Maybe the way things were handled is what it may have changed.

Abuse LDS Church

You say you spoke to the person at your ward who was responsible for the missionaries? I am confused? Missionaries are held accountable at the Mission Level not the ward or stake level. There is a local member called who works with them but he is not really responsible for them. That is done at a much higher level. Did you ever contact the Mission President? He is the man responsible for all missionaries in the entire region not just one ward.

Rather off topic, but...

Are you LDS or Pentacostal? Your profile says Pentacostal, but you have posted in the LDS Deep Doctrine Board previously. You are only allowed to post in the LDS Deep Doctrine Board if you are LDS.

Abuse LDS Church Mormon Doctrine Studies

Jen I am also wondering your motives for asking this...

'i just want to be sure that this is no longer acceptable in the church.'

Are you planning to return to full fellowship? If so, why?

As for abuse we must remember that evil people are everywhere and in every religion... you have the terrorists of Islam, the RC priests that molest boys, etc. etc. To sterotype a religion by saying it is like this as part of their belief or administrative system would be a great error on your part. Since terrorism is not part of Islam and abusing boys is not part of the RC church.