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LDS missionaries part of shrine vandalism investigation

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LDS missionaries part of shrine vandalism investigation

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DENVER — Deputies are investigating allegations that LDS missionaries may have decapitated a statue of a Mexican martyr and mocked a Catholic shrine in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado.

Photos surfaced on the Internet last week showing young men holding the statue’s severed head, preaching from an altar and pretending to sacrifice each other at the Shrine of the Mexican Martyrs.

“The community is sad, it feels they’ve been victimized,” Sangre de Cristo Parish Council spokesman Alonzo Payne said Monday.

Payne said a caption on the Web site said the man holding the statue’s head had broken it off. The photos, which were on the picture-sharing site Photobucket, have been removed.

Robert Fotheringham, a regional missions official for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told The Denver Post the three men in the photos were church missionaries. He declined to release their names.

Officials of the LDS Church and Photobucket had no immediate comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

The Costilla County Sheriff’s Department said an investigation was under way.

Sheriff Gilbert Martinez told the Pueblo Chieftain on Sunday that the investigation could result in charges including desecration of a venerated object, criminal trespass, defacing property and bias-motivated crime.

The outdoor shrine is near the Sangre de Cristo Church overlooking San Luis, a small town 170 miles south of Denver and 10 miles from the Colorado-New Mexico state line.

It includes the Stations of the Cross, an adobe church called the Chapel of All Saints and the Shrine of the Mexican Martyrs.

It was built by the Sangre de Cristo Parish, which has nine churches and about 450 families across Castilla County.

“You kind of feel hurt when somebody has put that much time and energy for something in such a poor community,” said Payne, a San Luis attorney and a member of the parish. “You really felt like you had been damaged personally.”

Payne said the date stamp on the photos was 2006, so he believes that’s when the incident occurred.

The damage to the statue went unnoticed until a parish member saw the photos last week on Photobucket. When parish members investigated, they found the statue’s broken head had been set back on the bust but was loose.

Fotheringham told The Post the incident was “beyond embarassing. It’s inexecusable.”

“We have a history of people doing things like this to us, so we’re mortified that our missionaries would do it to someone else,” he said.

LDS Church statement on vandalized Catholic shrine

Statement released Monday by Bruce Olsen, managing director of public affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

“Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were dismayed this weekend to learn of the insensitivity and disrespect shown to religious artifacts of the Sangre de Cristo Catholic Church in San Luis, Colo., and that Latter-day Saint missionaries were evidently responsible during their missionary service in 2006. Their actions do not represent the high standards of behavior for which our missionaries are known all over the world.

“The church has begun a thorough investigation of the incident. We are providing the names of those involved to law enforcement officials and will continue to cooperate fully with those investigating the incident as well as with officials of the Roman Catholic Church. Those missionaries who have since returned home will face disciplinary action from the church. The missionary who was still serving in Colorado has also been disciplined and his mission terminated. Church leaders will look for ways to repair the damage that has been caused to relationships with the community.

“The disrespect depicted in photographs published on the Internet and in the news media is inexcusable. Respect for other faiths is a cardinal tenet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church has worked for many years side by side with leaders and members of other faiths, including the Roman Catholic Church, and has often helped them with construction or renovation of buildings for religious worship. We also work closely with Catholic Charities in providing humanitarian assistance to alleviate suffering across the globe.

“The church expresses its profound regret and sincere apologies to the members of the Roman Catholic faith, to the members of the Sangre de Cristo Catholic Church and the townspeople of San Luis, for this senseless act. We have also arranged for a meeting with Catholic leaders to offer our apologies.”