A Marcie S. Is Saying That Her Husband, as a Child, Was Sexually Assaulted in Perhaps the Most Well-Known Latter-day Saint Temple — by His LDS Leader Rhett Wilkinson Follow Aug 12, 2018 · 3 min read

A Marcie S. has made a claim of an action that in other instances is found to be criminal at a place, in a Latter-day Saint (Mormon) temple, many look to for emotional security. Here’s what she said on a website titled Protect LDS Children:

“My husband Jon was very well liked by his (LDS) bishop. He was often called on to give speeches during church. From the outside, it appeared my husband had found favor in the eye of his LDS bishop. (Bishops in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are similar in authority over a congregation to a Catholic priest.)

“What people didn’t know is this behavior is a very common grooming process of predators.

The Salt Lake City, Utah Mormon temple

“My husband suppressed memories of his own predator until a few years ago, when I was having health problems. It was as if Pandora’s box was kicked open and she reared her ugly head of unthinkable past memories.

“My husband’s experience: he had joined fellow youth at (the church’s) Salt Lake Temple. The children were lined up in the basement of the church, taking turn in the beautiful baptismal font held up by a base of golden oxen. It was my husband’s turn. Proxy names were read. He was baptized after each name. He wore a white jumpsuit-like attire as approved by the temple for all the children performing baptismal rituals. Once he finished his proxy baptisms, he was told to return to the dressing room to dry off and return to his street clothes.

“My husband was confused. He heard the door to the dressing room slam shut soon after he entered. He had not yet gotten dressed.

“That is when his bishop entered.

“The bishop said nothing to him. He walked over and sat next to him.

“Then he started molesting him.

“He took down his own pants and sodomized my 13-year-old husband.

“That was my husband’s introduction to sexuality. My husband knew no one in his family would believe him. It wasn’t until we were married almost 20 years that he was able to tell me what had happened.

“There were clues in his behavior, though, that should have put up red flags. Like him transforming overnight from a straight-’A’ student to a troubled youth. His parents chose to dismiss this as he was a bad kid. Like the time he was angry at me when I let his mom take our newborn to meet members of her ward. I was punished and told to never let our children near ‘those people.’

“Yes, the whole riddle came into focus and all this seemingly odd behavior became clear.

“Please, let Jon be the last one to fall victim. It’s past time to stop needless behaviors of grooming during bishop interviews.”

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Even if you no longer affiliate with the church but enjoy sociality with family and friends as before, you can still find social settings organized by the Utah Valley PostMormons. There, you can find your people. And of course, if you don’t enjoy those relationships like before, the many UVPM events that happen each week can be even life-saving.

Led by wonderful people like Kirsten Barksdale and Larissa Norman, UVPM is also for folks who just are struggling with it or are “never Mormons” seeking a break from the predominant culture. Find their events on Facebook and Meetup.

This report was originally posted at ProtectLDSChildren.org.

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