Looks like a case of extremely radical LDS menbers. They should pay for the repair of the statue, and do some community service. I think that would certainly be backed up by the LDS church. I expect the LDS church will have some punishment to give them after the legal situation has been taken care of.
Fotheringham of the LDS church certainly agreed it was inexcusable.

A few jerks who need to be punished and perhaps a lot of missionaries who need more oversight.

I went to school with friends who became missionaries, count a couple of men who were missionaries among my best friends, and my daughters are now dating return missionaries. The guys in the stories are aberrations–they failed to choose the right.

The picture showed the young men holding the head of the statue, and reading from the Mormon Bible, also acting out sacrificing each other on the alter. Perhaps the head was broken by someone else, or something else and was just lying there and they picked it up and started acting like goofy teenagers do instead of Missionaries for the Morman Church??? It’s possible.

Herriette22,
The article says: “Robert Fotheringham, a regional missions official for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, confirmed the three men in the photos were church missionaries.”
Are you really saying that three Mormon missionaries go to a Catholic shrine, just happen to come upon a statue’s head that was decapitated by some other miscreant and then is some unexplicable frenzy, forget that they are representatives of the LDS church and decide to act like “goofy teenagers” unaware of the sacrrilage they were committing?!?! BTW , all missionaries are at least 18 years of age–legally responsible for their actions. Why you would like to mitigate their heinous actions is beyond me.

There may not have been heinous action, is what I’m suggesting. Why they were in this area, could be they were sight seeing, I don’t know. They must do something on their time off when they are on missions don’t you think? There are no pictures of any of them in the act of destroying the statue. Eighteen years of age shows up in newspapers doing many immature acts in recent years, haven’t you noticed this? I think society jumps to conclusions in many cases too fast when something happens in any way connected to religion, and I’m just not going to judge them when all the facts aren’t here yet. Plus, I’ve known Mormans in CA and I can’t picture any Missionary doing this in purpose disrespect.

Henriette,
This is from the AP:
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement Monday saying its missionaries “were evidently responsible” for the incident and offered “profound regret and sincere apologies” to Catholics and to the San Luis church.
Bruce Olsen, a spokesman for the church in its Salt Lake City headquarters, said church officials have given authorities the names of the missionaries believed to have been involved. The names have not been made public.
One was still serving in Colorado when the allegations surfaced; he has been disciplined and his mission has been ended, Bruce said. Others allegedly involved had already been sent home and will face church discipline, Bruce said.”
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gZAtB65XgupnPYJ0xeRslMopFJKAD8VASM1G1
Damn those Mormon officials for jumping to conclusions about their own missionaries!

I was probably guilty of jumping to the conclusion they were guilty based on the article. Obviously there could be more to the story than what’s presented. The LDS folks might do that too in the glare of publicity. So despite the fact it sure appears they are guilty let’s hope they get a fair hearing. Then if indeed they are found guilty, punish them appropriately.

That’s all we need – an LDS Taliban!
Yes, we need to honor the maxim “innocent until proven guilty”. And there may be a loophole throgh which these characters will fall and land holding their “Get Out of Jail” cards. But, that does not excuse any sort of overly enthusiastic training they recevied (even if it was unintentional). Perhaps some cultural awareness training should be included. Christian missionaries can sometimes get a little careless in their zeal.

Personally I think that some people probably will try to use this to make all LDS look bad and make it into some sort of crusade for a political or social agenda. However, like one of the posters said, these guys are just 19 or 20 year old kids who unfortunately did forget who they were representatives of and did something which for clarification..they DO recieve cultural training regarding. Missionaries are admonished to conduct themselves in a dignified manner having respect for their fellow man at all times. This was the stupid kid in them coming out. They have already been punished by having their mission ended, and will no doubt recieve some further discipline. However one of the rules for missionaries is that they are to avoid disrespecting other religious shrines and sites of importance, in someplaces even given rules against photographing such sites period. Missionaries are just kids who in most cases display a great deal of dignity and maturity, but people aren’t perfect and there will always be mistakes made. Let’s not make this bigger than what it is though, 3 kids who even after all they had been taught and knew, made a stupid mistake while “acting goofy” that has caused injury to the community affected and themselves. Really no need to make more of it. There is no doubt that these boys will be covering the cost of repair in some way, and the church will make sure that damages are covered.

ProdigalSon,
Your posting above is consistent with what I had been told was part of the LDS preparation for young missionaries. I actually did not think that training had been changed in any substantial way. This is the problem that comes with working with kids, even well taught kids. I think one element that is missing in training a lot of kids in various venues is helping learn appropriate ways to goof around and let of some energy. I certainly hope these kids learned from their mistake. I also hope that the folks who prepare the young missionaries will find a way to use this incident to teach others without vilifying (or either making heroes or martyrs) the kids who did this.