Calm Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 It's in the new handbook (2010). With our current liability/litigation culture, it's a no-brainer. The Church also never wants its leaders to testify regarding its members, but law enforcement/judicial people are bound by law to do so when illegal activities are brought to their attention. This avoids any conflict between competing obligations.Thanks for the info, it makes sense to me. 2
Garden Girl Posted October 13, 2015 Posted October 13, 2015 It's in the new handbook (2010). With our current liability/litigation culture, it's a no-brainer. The Church also never wants its leaders to testify regarding its members, but law enforcement/judicial people are bound by law to do so when illegal activities are brought to their attention. This avoids any conflict between competing obligations. My former bishop (2000 - 2005-ish) was chief of police for our Lincoln City... we have several brothers who are police officers... on those Sunday mornings when they are on duty, they attend in full uniform including weapons, stay for sacrament only and then get up and leave for duty... one is about 6'4" and large in stature/build... he makes an imposing sight when he gets up to walk out and I notice the visitors with wide eyes... I guess none of those brothers will be bishop although I believe they are more than capable. GG
Stargazer Posted October 14, 2015 Posted October 14, 2015 (edited) "against Church policy now to be a bishop and in law enforcement, judiciary, or politics" When did this happen? We had a policeman as a bishop back in 86 iirc. I think it was sometime in the 90's or 00's maybe. We had one bishop who called an FBI agent and a State Trooper as his counselors. Some of us wags liked to refer to his counselors as the bishop's bodyguards. When he was released, the Trooper became the bishop. Back in 1980, my future wife's ward bishop was a deputy sheriff. He was tall with a very imposing presence. When he commanded perps to sit down and shut up, they did so with a yessir! But he was sweet and kind as a bishop. People are so versatile. Edited October 14, 2015 by Stargazer 2
JAHS Posted October 15, 2015 Author Posted October 15, 2015 "against Church policy now to be a bishop and in law enforcement, judiciary, or politics"When did this happen? We had a policeman as a bishop back in 86 iirc. In my bishopric right now the Bishop is a lawyer who was a police oficer, the first counselor is a captain in the highway patrol, the second counselor is a police officer in our city. Have we been doing something wrong?
rongo Posted October 15, 2015 Posted October 15, 2015 No, because your bishop is a lawyer, not a police officer. That he was a police officer previously is irrelevant to the present --- again, because of liability and required reporting concerns. That is interesting that the counselors are in law enforcement, because there are scenarios where they could be required to testify, but they're counselors --- not the bishop. It's different. There was a case in my old ward where the police wanted both me and the stake president to testify about things disclosed in confession. Both of us invoked clergy privilege. It could have been interesting if either of us had been a police officer or a judge. None of our counselors were contacted. When I was called again as a bishop in May, the stake president specifically asked if I worked in any capacity in law enforcement or as a judge. Obviously, he knew the answer to that, but it seemed like a standardized question he had to ask.
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