Paragons of Virtue Arrested

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It's time to name and shame the self-proclaimed paragons of virtue. Keep it civil, though.

Stories are about those who have been placed in positions of trust, and then abused that trust.

Feel free to add stories of the self-righteous from other walks of life.

New rule: With regard to stories of particularly, but not only, female teachers sexually assaulting students. Any comments similar to "where were they when I was in school" will earn you the right to find another forum.

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Recordings show how the Mormon church protects itself from child sex abuse claims (abcnews.go.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Audio recordings of the meetings over the next four months, obtained by The Associated Press, show how [Utah attorney and head of the church’s Risk Management Division] Rytting, despite expressing concern for what he called John [Goodrich]’s “significant sexual transgression,” would employ the risk management playbook that has helped the church keep child sexual abuse cases secret. In particular, the church would discourage [Bishop Michael] Miller from testifying, citing a law that exempts clergy from having to divulge information about child sex abuse that is gleaned in a confession. Without Miller’s testimony, prosecutors dropped the charges, telling Lorraine that her impending divorce and the years that had passed since Chelsea {Goodrich}'s alleged abuse might prejudice jurors.

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[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (16 children)

Unfortunately, the Associated Press returns to grind this tired axe. It claims that the bishop couldn't testify against the abuser because the Church wouldn't allow him, but in reality the Church has no such influence over bishops, which are volunteers. The real reason the bishop couldn't testify was because of a state law requiring the accused to release the bishop from clergy-pentitent privilege first, which the accused refused to do. So blame the abuser and the law, not the Church.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (13 children)

Clergy should not have more confidentiality than a therapist. You tell a therapist you are raping babies, they have to call the cops. Confession is no different.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 year ago (12 children)

Sure thing. The article could have been about the state law that requires this confidentiality, but instead it tries (and fails) to make the Church appear to be a protector of child abusers. The truth is that a state law is the protector in this instance.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The law makes it so the clergy doesn't have to report it. If the church wanted to, they ABSOLUTELY could have reported it. The church chose to hide it and that response is systematic.

Sure, we should absolutely have a law that compels clergy to report such things, but the church is also still responsible for systematically choosing to enable rapists and abusers.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

The Church had nothing to do with Bishop Miller's decision to not testify against John Goodrich. Idaho's Clergy-Penitent privilege law did.

This isn't an instance of someone not reporting abuse. The abuse was already reported, and charges were filed against Goodrich. Because Goodrich's confession to Bishop Miller was protected by clergy-penitent privilege, it wouldn't be admissible in court without the accused giving permission for it to be shared. Which, obviously, he was unwilling to do.

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