A Series of Unfortunate Events

The P-Day outing to a religious site. Horseplay and cameras. Later, posting the photos on a public website. All of this in clear violation of the 11th commandment (thou shalt not generate bad publicity for the Church), not to mention generally accepted standards of Christian conduct for ordained ministers. The best reflection on this series of unfortunate events is Joel Campbell's Mormon Media Observer column at the Mormon Times, "Desecration of a Shrine." Obviously possessed of the sort of self-restraint that only seasoned journalists display, he resists the urge to point out that the missionaries were only 19 or 20 and that these were activities (not clear whether anything that occurred amounted to a crime yet) directed against property, not people.

Instead, he just says that "Catholics have a right to be offended at childish pranks and vandalism pulled by these missionaries." That's a very insightful observation. As our public discourse is increasingly framed by identity politics, we all need to be aware of our "right to be offended" when that identity is disrespected in public and take advantage of the opportunities that come our way to be publicly offended. We certainly seized the moment when Gov. Huckabee publicly offended Mormons. Why shouldn't Catholics do the same when handed a similar opportunity?

A wide range of opinion was voiced in the comments at an earlier T&S post. I don't really want to repeat that exercise, but I thought it would at least be worthwhile to post links to the media stories that have been posted. I wish there were more details — my impression is that, at this point, nobody connected with the story wants to say anything beyond making official apologies.

• "Charges possible against LDS missionaries" at the SL Trib, which notes the missionaries "allegedly vandalized religious artifacts and took disrespectful photographs." Allegedly is a revealing word. It would be nice if some reporter would nail down whether there was, in fact, vandalism that occurred or whether the offensive activities were limited to taking "disrespectful photographs."
• "LDS Church again apologizes over shrine vandalism allegations," at the Denver Post. That pesky disclaimer reappears ("allegations"), but allegations are enough to trigger apologies. Several apologies.
• "Statement issued by one of the missionaries at center of controversy," at the SL Trib. Here's what the missionary said: "As a result of the recent photos which have surfaced involving me and the Catholic Church, I wish to offer my sincerest apologies. My actions at that day were inexcusable." This kid knows the script: public offense, public apology, public absolution.
• "After shrine vandalized, questions arise about LDS missionary training," again at the SL Trib (the DesNews showed unusual restraint in reporting this event). Notice how the mission president is quoted throughout the article with not the slightest suggestion that he is in any way responsible for these events. ??? Really, the story reads more like a BYU NewsNet piece than investigative journalism. The SL Trib ought to ask a few tough questions next time. But at least they are reporting the story.