Elder Kearon on Addressing Sexual Abuse

[smac97]

This morning I came across several news items about Elder Kearon with the following title (all apparently from the AP) :

New member of Mormon church leadership says it must do better to help sex abuse victims heal

New member of Mormon church leadership says it must do better to help sex abuse victims heal

New member of Mormon church leadership says it must do better to help sex abuse victims heal

It's not the best characterization, since it's both somewhat inaccurate and ignores the variety of other topics Elder Kearon addressed.  Here's the article:

Quote

The newest member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' top governing body said every faith — including his — must do more to protect victims of sexual abuse and help facilitate a healing process.

The title of the article: "{Elder Kearon] says it {the Church} must do better."

Paraphrase of his remarks in the lede: "{E}very faith - including his - must do more."  So he was speaking globally.  Huh.

What Elder Kearon actually said (from below) : “We must all be much better — regardless of which religious group or denomination — in caring for those who have been victims of those crimes heal, and move beyond just surviving that ordeal.”

Quote

Speaking to The Associated Press on Tuesday, Kearon, who was raised in England and converted to the faith as an adult, outlined the global, compassionate approach he would take on a range of sensitive issues from the border crisis to the LGBTQ community. He was particularly emphatic on how he would like sex abuse victims to be cared for by the church.

“There is no question in my mind that the abuse of a child or the deliberate abuse of anyone is the most heinous crime and must not be tolerated in any form,” he said. “We must all be much better — regardless of which religious group or denomination — in caring for those who have been victims of those crimes heal, and move beyond just surviving that ordeal.”

He is quite right.  This doesn't seem to have much to do with how the Church handles allegations of abuse, which is what the AP has been focusing on for a long time with pretty slanted reporting.  Such as the next sentence in the article:

Quote

An AP investigation found that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ sexual abuse reporting hotline can be misused by its leaders to divert abuse accusations away from law enforcement and instead to church attorneys who may bury the problem, leaving victims in harm’s way.

Wow.  Very misleading.

Quote

The Utah-based faith has stuck by the system despite the criticism and increasing scrutiny from attorneys and prosecutors who argue it is inadequate to quickly stop abuse and protect victims.

No mention of how often the Church's policies facilitate the detection and cessation of abuse, or of the ramifications of the Priest-Penitent Privilege, or the substantial flaws - and even counterproductive and harmful effects - of expanding mandatory reporting laws, etc.  The AP has a narrative it wants to advance.

Quote

Kearon didn’t speak specifically about the hotline, but said the church does have protocols for reporting these crimes, which must be observed.

“We must deploy everything we can to help those who have been mistreated in the most dreadful ways, heal," he said. "There has been a lot of progress made in this regard, but we need to get better. "

Quite so.  Much of the "get{ting} better" is, or ought to be, inculcating individuals with a set of moral and ethical rules that categorically prohibit sexual misconduct and otherwise encourage high behavioral standards.

Quote

Born in England, Kearon has lived and worked there, in Saudi Arabia as well as in the U.S. in various industries including health care, food, transportation and communications. After joining the church, Kearon served in several leadership roles of increasing importance.

Raised in the Anglican Church, he converted on Christmas Eve in 1987 after what he describes as a “two-year journey of learning" that was peppered with doubt, cynicism, even disbelief. Even though his parents prayed at home, the family attended church only during Christmas and Easter or for special events, he said.

Kearon said he appreciates the “gentle foundation” his upbringing gave him because it allowed him to welcome faith as a driving force later in life when he fully understood that it was strong belief that made Latter-day Saints joyful and positive.

"{It is} strong belief that ma{kes} Latter-day Saints joyful and positive."  I think this is quite true.  There is a strong causal link between the two.  

Quote

He sees his global background as relevant because the church is growing faster globally than it is in the U.S. Last year, the church announced that it reached 17 million members worldwide by the end of 2022, which reflects a 26% increase in convert baptisms compared to the previous year.

"{A} 26% increase in convert baptisms compared to the previous year."

Cool!

Quote

“That trend is going to continue,” he said, adding that having served and lived in different parts of the world helps him think globally about issues that might only seem to affect one region or one country.

He's quite right.  The Church has long had substantial numbers of North American members who serve around the world and then bring those perspectives and experiences back home.  These folks have long been the backbone of leadership in the Church.  Moreover, General Authorities are deployed to live and work around the world, and they too bring international perspectives and experiences.

However, the Church's increasingly global presence is, I suspect, going to facilitate increasing numbers of international members into the upper echelons of church leadership.  A member of the Church from Idaho who spends two years as a missionary in Nigeria is going to return home with a substantial amount of experiences and insights as to the issues facing Nigerians and other Africans, and his or her perspective is going to be affected accordingly.  Imagine, then, the experience and perspectives a member of the Church born and raised in Nigeria will likely have, and imagine those things being increasingly factored into the Church's decision-making processes as such folks end up in "general" leadership positions in the Church.

Quote

Kearon extends his perspective of a global church to issues such as immigration, which is contentious in the U.S. with a presidential election looming. He is well known for his 2016 speech urging compassion for refugees fleeing war-torn parts of the Middle East and Africa.

As a faith leader, while he understands the role of borders, Kearon said he believes in the idea of kindness, inclusion and welcoming the stranger.

“Our father in heaven does not see borders,” he said. “Wherever his children are, we should should be loving them.”

Illegal immigration issues seem almost intractable.

Quote

He extends the same message of empathy when it comes to the LGBTQ community. The faith believes that while having feelings of same-sex attraction is not a sin, acting on it is.

“It's important to try and understand others because we are all children of God,” he said. “That takes work, and is not easy. But, when we look at these issues through a clear, simple lens of our belief, that really helps.”

Good stuff, this.

Quote

Kearon also emphasized that there should be no room for radicalization or nationalism in this faith.

“Any type of radicalization, as it's most commonly expressed, brings problems,” he said. “Wherever we are in the world, we need to be a healing force in our communities and follow Jesus Christ's invitation to love our neighbors.”

I don't see him commenting on "nationalism" here.  I think that term needs to be defined when being discussed, as it seems to mean different things to different people.

Thanks,

-Smac

[The Nehor]

52 minutes ago, smac97 said:

No mention of how often the Church's policies facilitate the detection and cessation of abuse, or of the ramifications of the Priest-Penitent Privilege, or the substantial flaws - and even counterproductive and harmful effects - of expanding mandatory reporting laws, etc.  The AP has a narrative it wants to advance.

That would be speculative. We don’t know how often church policies facilitate the detection and cessation of abuse.

The notoriously biased AP who are basically contract journalists trying to sell stories? Yeah, they are biased towards stories that sell.

[smac97]

13 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Quote

No mention of how often the Church's policies facilitate the detection and cessation of abuse, or of the ramifications of the Priest-Penitent Privilege, or the substantial flaws - and even counterproductive and harmful effects - of expanding mandatory reporting laws, etc.  The AP has a narrative it wants to advance.

That would be speculative.

I don't think so.  The AP could avoid speculation by asking questions, gathering evidence and data, etc.  It is picking and choosing the particulars to emphasize and to ignore.  The entire omission of the Priest-Penitent Privilege, for example, is a significant one.

Meanwhile, the AP is also heavily dosing its "news" items with editorializing bits that sure seem pretty "speculative" and conclusory in their own right ("An AP investigation found that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ sexual abuse reporting hotline can be misused by its leaders to divert abuse accusations away from law enforcement and instead to church attorneys who may bury the problem, leaving victims in harm’s way.").

13 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

We don’t know how often church policies facilitate the detection and cessation of abuse.

We also don't know what the AP means by "misuse" of the reporting hotline, or that the Church uses the hotline "to divert abuse accusations away from law enforcement," or that "church attorneys ... bury the problem, leaving victims in harm's way," and yet the AP writes about these things as the are established facts.

13 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

The notoriously biased AP who are basically contract journalists trying to sell stories? Yeah, they are biased towards stories that sell.

I would prefer to see the AP sell news.  And to try to do so with some attempt at objectivity and impartiality.

Thanks,

-Smac

[The Nehor]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

I would prefer to see the AP sell news.  And to try to do so with some attempt at objectivity and impartiality.

Considering the trashy news sources you have linked here and used to start threads I don’t believe this for a second.

[Stargazer]

Members of the Church in England (where I live) were pretty pleased about Elder Kearon's call to the Twelve. He presided at a stake conference of ours a few years ago, and he was very impressive. Plus my wife's family knew his family as they lived in the same ward for a time.

Edited January 24 by Stargazer

[smac97]

8 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Quote

I would prefer to see the AP sell news.  And to try to do so with some attempt at objectivity and impartiality.

Considering the trashy news sources you have linked here and used to start threads I don’t believe this for a second.

I didn't pick the news sources that published the AP story.  I just reported which ones did.

I would prefer to see a greater effort to differentiate "news" from "opinion" from purported "news" outlets.  

Thanks,

-Smac

[Stargazer]

10 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Considering the trashy news sources you have linked here and used to start threads I don’t believe this for a second.

What? You don't think that smac wants the AP to report news more objectively, or you don't think it's likely for the AP to report news more objectively?

[The Nehor]

2 hours ago, Stargazer said:

What? You don't think that smac wants the AP to report news more objectively, or you don't think it's likely for the AP to report news more objectively?

I am saying I don’t believe he is concerned with journalistic objectivity much at all.

[Calm]

4 hours ago, smac97 said:

The AP could avoid speculation by asking questions, gathering evidence and data, etc.  It is picking and choosing the particulars to emphasize and to ignore. 

You think the Church would share numbers with the AP journalist writing up this story if he asked them about the successes of the hot line?  If not, how would he gather them?

[bluebell]

What's wrong with the headlines exactly?  Elder Kearon said that we all need to do better and the AP wrote that Elder Kearon said the church (which would be included in the term "all" that he was quoted as using) needs to do better.  

Is the issue that the AP singled out the church rather than making it clear that it was included in an all-encompassing list?

[Calm]

3 hours ago, smac97 said:

didn't pick the news sources that published the AP story.  I just reported which ones did.

Why not just use the AP story itself?

https://apnews.com/article/church-jesus-christ-latter-day-saints-leader-patrick-kearon-088f1de01f91122070e1f95755dcd66e

[smac97]

29 minutes ago, Calm said:

Why not just use the AP story itself?

https://apnews.com/article/church-jesus-christ-latter-day-saints-leader-patrick-kearon-088f1de01f91122070e1f95755dcd66e

It didn't pop up in my search.

[Calm]

9 minutes ago, smac97 said:

It didn't pop up in my search.

So type in/bookmark associated press and then do a search on the topic on their site.  If the concern is possible bias of the reporter, it is better to get the original effort and not that which may be filtered through the editor of another media source.

Edited January 25 by Calm

[smac97]

52 minutes ago, Calm said:

So type in/bookmark associated press and then do a search on the topic on their site.  If the concern is possible bias of the reporter, it is better to get the original effort and not that which may be filtered through the editor of another media source.

Its the same AP article, published on different websites.

[Calm]

2 hours ago, smac97 said:

It’s the same AP article, published on different websites.

Some really odd choices of articles though…your choices are conveying a message that I don’t think you want to convey.

Edited January 25 by Calm

[Stargazer]

11 hours ago, The Nehor said:

I am saying I don’t believe he is concerned with journalistic objectivity much at all.

Ah, ha. Thanks for clearing that up!

[MustardSeed]

20 hours ago, smac97 said:

Wow.  Very misleading.

I don’t follow the intent of your comment.  Do you believe the article is misleading or the church’s behavior as described by the article  is misleading? 
 

20 hours ago, smac97 said:

The title of the article: "{Elder Kearon] says it {the Church} must do better."

I was suspicious of the title.  GAs never ever apologize for church action (or inaction).  

[smac97]

12 hours ago, Calm said:

Quote

It’s the same AP article, published on different websites.

Some really odd choices of articles though…your choices are conveying a message that I don’t think you want to convey.

I don't understand.  It's the same article.  I paid no attention to the website publishing it.  I was looking at the content of the article.

Thanks,

-Smac

[smac97]

18 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Quote

What? You don't think that smac wants the AP to report news more objectively, or you don't think it's likely for the AP to report news more objectively?

I am saying I don’t believe he is concerned with journalistic objectivity much at all.

And yet, I am concerned about, and would like to see more, efforts at impartiality and objectivity and separation of "news" from "opinion" in journalism.

Thanks,

-Smac

[LoudmouthMormon]

18 minutes ago, smac97 said:

I am concerned about, and would like to see more, efforts at impartiality and objectivity and separation of "news" from "opinion" in journalism.

Hats off for finding continued reason to hope.  When thinking about paid journalists, who work for some sort of news organization, I sort of lost hope over a decade ago.  So many news agencies are following the "push outrage and hate p0rn for clicks and likes" model.  These days I get most of my breaking news and analysis from social media first, and summary scrapes second.  And then third, I scan the various news sources to see if their "news" matches my opinion of what people like them would have to say about stuff like that.

Edited January 25 by LoudmouthMormon

[smac97]

39 minutes ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

Hats off for finding continued reason to hope.  When thinking about paid journalists, who work for some sort of news organization, I sort of lost hope over a decade ago.  So many news agencies are following the "push outrage and hate p0rn for clicks and likes" model.  These days I get most of my breaking news and analysis from social media first, and summary scrapes second.  And then third, I scan the various news sources to see if their "news" matches my opinion of what people like them would have to say about stuff like that.

This is why I do not rely on any one source of "news."  I instead attempt to rely on a multiplicity of sources, many of which are not directly from "some sort of news organization."

Thanks,

-Smac

[Calm]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

I paid no attention to the website publishing it.  I was looking at the content of the article.

Then why have 3 links instead of one? (Not challenging, trying to understand your thought process)

——

As to why I said you might be conveying the wrong message….

What message would you get if someone based their criticism of the Church on three obscure books or pamphlets?  Who has heard of the Baptist News, etc and who here on the board really cares about what they say about a topic their actual reporters have no expertise on.  The only value that article has is because it is from the AP….so which is better, a secondary source which might alter an article or the original source?  Which would you see as more reliable or the more sensible approach to reporting?  A article about the Church posted on some random individual’s blog that had no connection to the Church that referenced a church article or even copied it or instead going to the Church website and getting the actual article and linking to that?

Edited January 25 by Calm

[smac97]

1 minute ago, Calm said:

Then why have 3 links instead of one? (Not challenging, trying to understand your thought process)

Because those are the ones that popped up in my news feed, and because I was noting that the AP article was being published in multiple outlets.  That's all.  

Thanks,

-Smac

[The Nehor]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

This is why I do not rely on any one source of "news."  I instead attempt to rely on a multiplicity of sources, many of which are not directly from "some sort of news organization."

Thanks,

-Smac

You literally just gave us three copies of the exact same article.

[smac97]

13 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Quote

This is why I do not rely on any one source of "news."  I instead attempt to rely on a multiplicity of sources, many of which are not directly from "some sort of news organization."

You literally just gave us three copies of the exact same article.

To show that it was being published in multiple outlets.

Thanks,

-Smac