Thanks for responding, John. It sounds like you have no experience on these matters, although granted I’m not clear what you mean by “almost never”. When you brought up 10-15 calls in the context of sexual abuse I certainly was curious what your experience may add, particularly if you could possibly clear things up. I asked, thinking, likely, you’d have little to no experience on the type of matter under consideration. I guess I was right. I don’t know what you had to do with calling the police but it doesn’t sound like it involved sex abuse. I’m sure you’re time as bishop was fulfilling, interesting difficult and all of that.JohnW wrote: ↑Tue Oct 04, 2022 3:37 amSo maybe it was a mistake to post on this topic. Situations that are highly emotional usually don't lend well to rational discussion. I can't go into any details, of course, but I can try to clear up a few obvious misconceptions. I probably won't respond to everyone just because I think if I clear up a few things, most questions will be moot.
This is an example of quick escalation from an assumption. No, these calls were almost never on sexual abuse. These calls were often heart-wrenching to the individuals going through those issues, but usually not hot-button topics that the general membership would be concerned with. Think along the lines of legal concerns relating to divorce and child custody, situations where restraining orders are in place, or when bishops should or should not testify in court as a witness. This just names a few of the dozens of possible situations where a bishop would not normally know how to navigate a situation. Bishops simply can't be experts in counseling, legal issues, financial issues, technical issues, etc. I personally am glad the church had various people we could call in Salt Lake who would help us navigate these sometimes complex situations. I always felt uplifted when talking with the various hotlines. I never got the sense they were upset that I called (even when I sometimes had to call on a weekend). Usually, I could literally hear the smile in their voice as they were happy to help someone who was completely lost on how to proceed. Is it possible mistakes can be made? Certainly. Should the fear of a big mistake with terrible repercussions mean we should stop trying to help people going through these issues? Certainly not.dastardly stem wrote: ↑Mon Oct 03, 2022 1:40 pm
10-15 times over the course of 6 years. That's quite a span. Closer to 15 than 10? Is this specific to sexual abuse? THat's kind of a scary thought. When you say there were multiple cases where things were reported to the police, does that also imply there were cases that weren't reported to the police? Why would that be? And why would the Church lawyers advise against doing so? I do believe that's what we're getting down to on this topic. Why would the Church present reasons why sexual abuse should not be reported?
I am absolutely depressed seeing that the church failed so badly on this case. It is absolutely an enormous mistake if the church advised the bishop to not turn in the abuser because they all thought it was a one time thing or that an inadequately qualified bishop should somehow handle the situation. I can’t help that. I don’t think it wise to defend the church here. Failure all around. The church whiffed. If this is a representation of other cases involving local leaders and calls for help from the help line, the church has tons to fix.