LDS Missionaries Damage Catholic Church

Posted by: Andee / Category: ,


In case you haven't seen this story on the news or read about it in the newspapers, 3 Mormon Missionaries allegedly vandalized a shrine and committed sacrilegious acts in a Catholic Church. Here are a couple links to news articles: Deseret News Examiner.com

Here is my take on the situation...

Mormon missionaries are usually 19 year old males. They go out on 2 year long missions and the LDS Church decides where to send them. They don't get a choice. Many missionaries (at least 4 of them I know personally) were very upset that they didn't get a foreign language mission to another country, but were sent to places like Orlando, Washington DC, and believe it or not Salt Lake City.

These kids are fresh out of high school, and they don't have a whole lot of experiences under their belt. They are young, and they don't make bright decisions sometimes. Hell, when I was 19 I made more than one big mistake... and so did everyone else reading this blog.

They are probably all now married off in that lovely temple marriage to a true blue Mormon girl who wants tons of babies. They are probably working great jobs, or finishing their education (hopefully the latter,) or both.

The Mormon Church didn't really have anything to do with this incident. It was just a bad decision made by some kids. That is really how I feel. This could have easily come from another religion, it just happened they were Mormon.

These missionaries should have to pay for what they did. They are not exempt because they didn't mean it, or because they are really good people now. They should have to go back to this church and volunteer at that very facility to teach them some respect of other cultures and beliefs.

Just my take on it.


3 comments:

  1. Nicko Says:
    March 10, 2008 at 10:23 PM

    Hey Sydney,

    I just wanted to say thankyou for telling a side of the story that so many people won't. I think it's important to remember that missionaries are indeed 19 years old (or in my case 22 when I left) and as such are likely to make mistakes. It's not a perfect world that is for sure. Young men and women are bound to stuff up. I did numerous times in my youth.

    I just wish that the others would see it this way too and realise that these young men and women aren't going to be perfect at all.

    Nick (now with a blog!)

  1. Andee Says:
    March 11, 2008 at 6:03 PM

    What they did had very little to do with the Mormon Church in my opinion. Any person of any faith might be guilty of that same crime when in a group of peers.

    That being said, I still believe they should have to do volunteer work for their crime and learn a little about accepting others with different beliefs. Not saying they are not accepting *now* but they certainly didn't show acceptance when committing their crime.

    I hope they can move on from it and learn a valuable lesson.

  1. Anonymous Says:
    March 12, 2008 at 3:48 PM

    I was a missionary once too, and being that age we tend to play around. What these three missionaries did went too far. They did not act as representatives of the church.
    This is not an act of the church only of the three boys. Yes, I agree they should have to do service and repay the cost of the damage. I know also the church will do something about the three boys.
    I am sad and shocked they would do something like this!

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