MormonLeaks releases purported confession of former MTC President

[Not Buying It]

https://mormonleaks.io/newsroom/2018/03 ... eractions/

Make of this what you will. If true, it is a pretty big deal, in addition to being pretty horrifying.

[Reuben]

Interviewer: Um, what you did to me destroyed my faith and testimony in priesthood leaders, and in The Church.

Bishop: Wow.

Interviewer: You took me down, you don't remember taking a sister missionary downstairs into the basement? Okay, let me say this. I made all this time and you know from a long time ago, 33 years ago was a long time. I need an apology, and I need an admission, and I need to know what was ever done if anything, because I have carried this and it has destroyed my life. So do you remember the room in the basement?

Bishop: I do.

Interviewer: Do you remember the movies in the basement? The DVD, the VHS player and the TV? No. Do you remember [...]

Stopping there because triggers.

Bishop: I kept fighting, and I kept trying to pray and this and that and everything else to get over it. I'm now, I now feel healed in the sense that I am not tempted ...

[...]

Bishop: Oh my. I have struggled. I have struggled my whole life on this very issue.

Interviewer: [...] I reported this to Salt Lake when I came home from our mission before I got married. They sent Elder Asay to me. Elder Asay interviewed me, he said he would talk to you directly. I never heard anything. Apparently Elder Asay didn't interview you.

Bishop: No.

This other exchange is telling, but I might be reading too much into it.

Interviewer: I threatened to kill you in 2010.

Bishop: Do you have some biker friends?

Interviewer: No, biker friends? God, no.

[Not Buying It]

If this is true, it explodes forever any argument that there is no need to worry about the behavior of priesthood leaders alone behind closed doors with subordinate members. Think about it - this was the President of the Freaking MTC, selected personally by the Brethren, alone with sister missionaries who were at least 21 years of age. If the MTC president - hand-picked by the Brethren themselves - can't be trusted alone with young women in their 20s, why in the name of all that is holy should we think we can trust every bishop or stake president in the Church alone behind closed doors with minors as young as 8?

And she told Elder Asay, who used his mighty powers of discernment to do diddly-squat about it. We can't trust the General Authorities to protect us even if we tell them something happened.

This is outrageous on so many levels.

[Palerider]

Listened to more than two hours and then just couldn't take any more.

Terribly sad, frustrating to listen to two dysfunctional people try to get through this kind of confrontation.

She has suffered so much and been ignored by the church. Then in an attempt to get herself heard she probably made things worse for herself with the death threats. No wonder they wish she would just go away. In their eyes, she's a can of worms that NOBODY in authority wants to open. They're much too cowardly for that.

Mr. Bishop....what can you say? He's been trapped his entire life by his addiction and his life paradigm that the church has foisted upon him since birth. Can't get the help he needs without shameful exposure. Church enables him by not taking action. The guy isn't telling even half the truth about what he's done in his life. His life in reality is a crap sandwich. He doesn't have the guts to do the right thing but no surprise there cause he's a molester of women. He should have gone to jail not to his "line leader" who should have turned him in by the way. But I would imagine he was pretty vague in his confessions. The leader probably didn't want to pursue it anyway.

He may honestly not remember this particular incident with the interviewer because of his age (fading memory) and how many years ago it occurred. Maybe there were enough girls assaulted that he just doesn't remember them all. Maybe he's repressed it....who knows?

But he essentially says, "Yeah, that sounds like something I would do."

He doesn't deny that he is/was that kind of person. The only reason he isn't still active is because he's 86 years old and most likely hypogonadism has set in. No hormones being produced=no desire....

There were times when the interviewer really needed to stop talking because he was beginning to confess and she interrupted him. That's what comes from being too emotionally involved in the story. She had him on the hook several times on other issues and let him slip off because she couldn't be quiet and let him hang himself.

What a complete hot mess....

[Red Ryder]

Deseret Book has already pulled his two books that were for sale this morning.

[slavereeno]

Stomach-churning. The whole thing makes me want to cry

[Fifi de la Vergne]

Stomach-churning. The whole thing makes me want to cry

I had the same reaction.

[Mormorrisey]

I couldn't make it through the whole thing, and I was just reading it. Horrible stuff. That's a brave woman to confront her attacker that way, but it was painful to read. Couple this with Sam's crusade, and hopefully at some point the church will recognize ecclesiastical abuse and even do something about it. But then I remember "we neither seek nor give apologies," so it will be cold day in hell before this happens. It's very sad.

[consiglieri]

There were times when the interviewer really needed to stop talking because he was beginning to confess and she interrupted him. That's what comes from being too emotionally involved in the story. She had him on the hook several times on other issues and let him slip off because she couldn't be quiet and let him hang himself.

THIS!!!


And I was really curious about what the GA's were doing in that hot tub in Utah . . .

[consiglieri]

Deseret Book has already pulled his two books that were for sale this morning.

New Church PR guy Richard Turley calls an emergency meeting this morning.

What should we do?!

Issue a statement that says we are horrified by the allegations and we will cooperate with the police in any investigation?

Begin an internal investigation to get to the bottom of how many young ladies may have been assaulted by Bishop?

State publicly that from this time forward, no interviews of any sort will be conducted one-on-one behind closed doors?

"Those are all good ideas," says Turley, "But I have a better one."

"First thing we do, we pull this guy's books from Deseret!"

[consiglieri]

Not . . . making . . . this . . . up.



http://www.byustore.com/30-Ways-To-Love ... ion-Bishop

[Thoughtful]

It's tragic and disgusting and sad.

I can't turn my back on the church for five minutes because every time I decide to focus on something, anything, else and rationalize that the church's antics aren't really affecting me in real time, something like this seems to break. It's a train wreck once again and I cannot look away.

Props to this woman for being willing to do this. I'm sure it's at great emotional cost to her, but it could be life saving for so many others. I hope that the church has no choice but to address this at GC.

I'm anticipating it trending on national news tomorrow. I hope that church PR team and the Q15 are up all night long figuring out how to do the right thing and actually DO it for once.

[2bizE]

i listened to the last 2 hours of the recording. The future excommumicated guy plainly confesses to being a predator. His actions are deplorable as well as the church for covering it all up. The church knew and did nothing. I wonder which newspaper or tv station will break the news first. KSL?

[Reuben]

Still not seeing it on the news, but it's only morning on this side of the pond. I wonder when it will hit, and what the big delay is. Verification, I hope.

Lindsay Hansen Park has written a summary and a thoughtful comparison with sexual abuse in the FLDS church:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/yearofpoly ... -a-mirror/

I was going to quote bits of it, but really, everyone needs to read the whole thing.

[Not Buying It]

I was thinking about it this morning - the Church’s justification for interviews where older men are alone with youth is that they need to determine “worthiness”. Joseph Bishop shows us that doesn’t work - here’s a guy who was interviewed personally by President Kimball who then sexually assaulted two sister missionaries in the MTC and presumably maintained a temple recommend for the next 30 plus years.

Determine worthiness? All someone has to do is lie. Even President Kimball wasn’t especially adept at detecting someone who wasn’t “worthy”. Bottom line - the justification for maintaining the practice of youth interviews alone with priesthood leaders is completely destroyed by this story - and thousands of other stories where someone just lied their way through the interview.

“Worthiness” interviews never worked.

[Kishkumen]

http://www.byustore.com/30-Ways-To-Love ... ion-Bishop

When I click the link there is an error "page not found"

Strange...

[Palerider]

http://www.byustore.com/30-Ways-To-Love ... ion-Bishop

When I click the link there is an error "page not found"

Strange...

COB: "Well.....if you can't find it...maybe it was never there in the first place. Wait, did you see that gaslight just dim and then go back on?"

[deacon blues]

The Interview Culture encourages lying, self-deceit, hypocrisy, and cover-ups. Balance that against any good it may do. Then, if you can meet with us on March 30, at the Salt Lake City and County Building. We need to change this "Interview Culture."

[FiveFingerMnemonic]

I've heard criticism that this is ambush journalism on an 80 something year old man who may have Alzheimer's. However after listening he seems to remember plenty of detail and seems coherent.

[FiveFingerMnemonic]

His 1982 book is called "The Making of a Missionary"

Maybe it includes grooming tips.