Letter: LDS Church failed victim of sexual abuse
This July 26, 2017, photo shows the outside of a new Missionary Training Center building during the media day tour seen through a window of one of the MTC buildings in Provo. The Mormon church is investigating a former missionary training center president who is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the 1980s, following the release of a secret audio recording where he is heard apologizing to her and citing a sex addiction. The allegations are "deeply disturbing" and would lead to formal discipline if true, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a statement posted to its website Tuesday, March 20, 2018. (Sammy Jo Hester/The Daily Herald via AP)
By Andrew Stelter | The Public Forum
| April 2, 2018, 1:38 p.m.
| Updated: 2:40 p.m.
Re: The charges against the former Missionary Training Center president:
I applaud this woman for having the courage to sit across from her admitted perpetrator for nearly three hours while maintaining composure and demonstrating restraint. She attempted to go through proper channels for decades, and her priesthood leaders utterly failed her. This woman deserves all of our compassion, praise and understanding, for she embodies true strength, commitment and poise. I applaud her. As we go forward as a church and as a society, may we extend Christlike compassion toward trauma survivors — and we can start by believing them.
Andrew Stelter, Salt Lake City