Should Latter-day Saint lay leaders be acting to protect the institution or the victims? Does an all-male clergy affect perceptions of abusers and allegations? Should legality be the biggest consideration for a church?
drawing on sealed court documents, highlighted families of survivors who said the help line was misused by church leaders to divert abuse accusations away from law enforcement, leaving victims vulnerable.
Generally, that’s “a good thing,” he says, “but in cases of abuse, that eagerness can sometimes lead to reluctance to take action such as reporting, to stop ongoing abuse and to help victims heal from past abuse.” The church’s dependence on untrained, lay male clergy — including accountants, lawyers, physicians, developers, painters, poets and others — to provide spiritual sustenance for its more than 31,000 diverse congregations worldwide means there will be a range of responses to abuse allegations.
He says he had anticipated getting some coaching in his role as a bishop on how to handle the victim with sensitivity. “I remember being terrified, thinking I would be punished,” Darin recalls. “[The bishop] was understanding and kind but said he didn’t know what to do. He said he would call the church’s help line and get back to us.”
The system has benefits as well as weaknesses, he says, but there is no way to know how many victims are aided by the help line or how often it fails. They can then point to those, she says, to reassure members of the organization that they’re on top of the issue and taking it seriously. “But if the help line is the end of the line,” Bedera says, “that is not taking it seriously.”
Primary presidents, responsible for overseeing the children’s organization in each congregation, Young Women and Young Men leaders and women’s Relief Society presidents should all be trained, she says, in recognizing patterns of abuse, as well as how to direct survivors to professional help — including national help lines they can access themselves.