Mormon Missionaries secretly teaching an underage girl

[Marie5890]

I have to somewhat disagree with you here.

If it is public enough to talk with a bunch of strangers about a 15 year old being taught by 20 something missionaries, then the parental behavior shouldn’t be out of bounds.

Well, the OP was asking for contact information of the mission president.

To me the specifics of what transpired between the mormon family and the family really is none of our business. The family has a right to privacy esp for their child.

 

[RebeccaJ]

LOL, at the risk of being redundant.
I love most things about Catholics in the real world
I hate the lack of charity shown here by Catholics
It makes me doubt the Holy spirit is with them

Well Tony888 (that is your name, right?), take a look in a mirror.

 

[Eric_Hilbert]

I HIGHLY suggest both Catholics and Mormons on this thread practice charity in posting or there will be infractions handed out.
Also, there is NEVER a reason to attempt to disect anyones personal life on this forum.
If it happens again, there will be consequences.

 

[Marie5890]

Sorry about my part in that Eric.

 

[PaulDupre]

Sorry about my part in that Eric.

Me too.

 

[truthsave]

Me too.

Mee too for my part. And if I said something that has been felt as an insult to somebody this same person may accept my apologies.

 

[Tony888]

It is still true. If a Mormon woman graduates BYU without her MRS degree, she is considered a failure.

Here is a funny video (made by Mormons) poking fun at this very phenomenon.

Paul (Formerly LDS, now happily Catholic)

Here are some stats, showing the expected high marriage rate.

Fifty-one percent of students who graduated from BYU last year were married. Only 3 percent of the Yale University graduating class were married, and the national average of married graduates is 11 percent.
nn.byu.edu/story.cfm/56823

Not having attended BYU, I can’t comment on the pressure. HOWEVER, I will add one caveat for consideration.

Yale or the schools driving the average do not enforce a strict code of conduct preventing sex before marriage. I’d say the strict moral code does alot to increase marriages before graduation.

I would love to see the marriage rate comparied with Catholic and Protestant Universities that strictly enforces a similar code. Obviously, I think they would be similar.

 

[Marie5890]

I would love to see the marriage rate comparied with Catholic and Protestant Universities that strictly enforces a similar code. Obviously, I think they would be similar.

Maybe, maybe not.

Men graduating with BA or BS from BYU most likely tend to be older due to having served 2 year missions.

That may skew the results some. Their Catholic male counter parts would be younger on average at the time of graduation.

Not sure how many BYU co-eds serve mission these days, but the number, was pretty decent when I attend BYU and then live in Provo for many years after. They too would be older at graduation in comparison to their Catholic female counter parts.

 

[jediliz]

this incident is why Christians, especially Catholic Christians, need to make sure they know their faith well AND make sure their** children** know the faith.

 

[freddo]

An update:

The mother had her husband call the mission president. The mission president promised to look into the matter and get back to him. Two days later, the president called back and reported that indeed the missionaries admitted to teaching this young girl without her parents knowledge, sometimes with the LDS parents present and other times when no parents were present (just the two 15 year-old girls and the missionaries). The president promised that this would never happen again and both missionaries were transferred the next day. He also promised to send a letter to all his missionaries restating the policy (no teaching kids without explicit parental permission and absolutely no teaching young girls without a parent present - permission or no permission).

The non-LDS girl’s parents are satisfied, but will never let their daughter go to that house again.

They still have a bad taste in their mouths about Mormons.

Weird (suspicious?) that he would say he’d send out a letter; I would have thought it would be best addressed in one of their multiple training meetings. I wouldn’t be nearly so suspicious if I didn’t know of multiple situations like this. Officially, the policy is to get parental permission, but it seems like a lot of time it’s no foul/no harm if the parents don’t find out.

I converted from Catholicism to LDS about a year ago. I can tell you that my experience with missionaries was upstanding and above board 100%. The two young men would never meet with me alone – one or two other adults were always present, and I’m in my 40s! My husband didn’t convert, but I needed his permission to get baptized. The message I received at the time of my conversion was that family was the priority, and if joining the LDS church would disrupt my family, then I wouldn’t be baptized. I’m going to go through the Temple for the first time in a few months, but I need my husband’s written permission first. That’s how much family relationships are prioritized. If my LDS activities would cause marital problems, the LDS activities take a back seat. That is directly from my Bishop and reinforced with practices I’ve witnessed over the past year. My point is, any religion can be scandalized by the acts of a few members. The catholic church should certainly understand that concept.

I would be more impressed if the same written permission was required of wives whose husbands convert.

 

[rainman10]

Maybe, maybe not.

Men graduating with BA or BS from BYU most likely tend to be older due to having served 2 year missions.

That may skew the results some. Their Catholic male counter parts would be younger on average at the time of graduation.

Not sure how many BYU co-eds serve mission these days, but the number, was pretty decent when I attend BYU and then live in Provo for many years after. They too would be older at graduation in comparison to their Catholic female counter parts.

I wonder how many of these BYU students had been on a mission. I remember that when I was younger, my Mormon friends who had returned from a mission felt the pressure of getting married, because they said it was “strongly” recommended by the Mormon church that they get married within six months of their return from their mission.

I wonder if it is marriage that the Mormon church is really what it is after, or is it procreation, in order to grow their membership? Since polygamy is not allowed any more, how else can they try to increase their membership legally?

 

[Marie5890]

I wonder how many of these BYU students had been on a mission. I remember that when I was younger, my Mormon friends who had returned from a mission felt the pressure of getting married, because they said it was “strongly” recommended by the Mormon church that they get married within six months of their return from their mission.

I wonder if it is marriage that the Mormon church is really what it is after, or is it procreation, in order to grow their membership? Since polygamy is not allowed any more, how else can they try to increase their membership legally?

When I was attending BYU in the 80’s for the men it was VERY high. Easily over 90%. The pressure to serve a mission is due to the fact that it is taught to be a priesthood duty that all young men, who are physically able, must serve.

To give you an idea of how serious a duty? Remember the Osmonds? The two oldest brothers, the two who are deaf and most people dont know about, did serve missions. When their other brothers (the “Osmond Brothers” musical group) put in their mission papers (and they all did file), they were all excused from serving. However, all of their sons have served or in the process.

I believe former NFL SF 49er quarterback Steve Young also was excused (he is the gr gr grandson of Brigham Young btw)…

Bottom line, it is considered a priesthood responsibility to serve a mission. The young men ARE taught that it is a holy priesthood responsibility, a duty.

If a young man choses not to, there is (or at least was when I was there) a very real stigma placed on the young men.
The young women are (were) also under the pressure to marry a returned missionary.
“Waiting for your missionary” is something very real in Mormon culture.

 

[rainman10]

If a young man choses not to, there is (or at least was when I was there) a very real stigma placed on the young men.

In the late 60’s I was asked to go on a mission by our bishop and I refused. but I never felt any negative effects from anyone. I could not go on a mission because I never really bought into the “I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true Church and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet” testimony. I would get up at times and give a testimony, but only because I knew that it was expected of me.

 

[Marie5890]

In the late 60’s I was asked to go on a mission by our bishop and I refused. but I never felt any negative effects from anyone. I could not go on a mission because I never really bought into the “I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true Church and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet” testimony. I would get up at times and give a testimony, but only because I knew that it was expected of me.

You went to BYU and werent stigmatized for not going on a mission? Wow. I admit that is unusal. Or at least it would have been unusal in the BYU of the 80’s

Perhaps BYU was different during the 60’s and I am not sure how hard the leadership was emphasizing missionary duties to the young men. Perhaps it increased more under Spencer Kimball.