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(Read Part 1 of this blog series.)
After her father was released from prison, Chelsea took a bolder approach (defiant, by Mormon standards), on December 8, 2023, meeting exclusively with reporters of the Associated Press (AP), giving them bone-chilling details, and turning over the recordings of her father’s admissions.
And there were other blistering audiotapes recorded during four months between Chelsea and her advocates and the head of the church’s Risk Management Division in Salt Lake City that portrayed step-by-step how a male church hierarchy tries to keep its dirty laundry on an invisible clothesline.
First, a powerful lawyer offers prayer and condolences to the survivor. Next comes the narrow interpretations of scripture (Jesus said forgive your enemy and turn the other cheek); intimidation; shaming; and, failing all that, serious bribery. The amount of hush money depends on how determined a survivor is to spill the beans.
Bottom line: For a Mormon woman who is a grown-up survivor of sexual abuse to come forward, she must go against everything she’s been taught from birth, which (again) is to be subservient to men in her orbit at her own expense.
Whatever the obstacles, Mormon women who survived child sexual abuse are coming forward. This is the way to put an end to the problem. “You’re only as sick as your secrets.” Isn’t that the saying?
Dr. Goodrich, formerly a member in good standing and a church-appointed lay bishop, is today excommunicated for what he did to Chelsea, as an individual. But he’s not in jail.
This is how patriarchal leadership prefers to handle child predators in Mormon culture, as sinners whose spiritual transgressions are to be dealt with internally. John Goodrich is, therefore, not serving a long prison sentence but suffering the humility of holy excommunication. The Mormons believe excommunication is worse than prison.
How Chelsea Connected the Dots.
In college, Chelsea became friends with a Mormon student whose father happened to be a Utah attorney who was head of the Mormon Church’s Risk Management Division.
Chelsea and her mother came to trust Rytting and assumed when they flew out to Utah to meet with him that it was to discuss Chelsea’s criminal case against her father. Rytting would offer a prayer and express sympathy for the grave transgression perpetrated on Chelsea. One day, he abruptly changed gears:
“Well, should we talk about why I’m here?” he asked, offering Chelsea and her mother Lorraine $90,000 to go home and promise to destroy the audio recordings. Three months later he would offer them $300,000, which they accepted. The agreement also included signing a document of intention to destroy the audio of John’s confessions.
In between were efforts to hammer home narrowly interpreted scripture (Jesus said forgive your enemies and turn the other cheek). Couched in a show of support were admonitions bordering on intimidation; even shaming. Failing those measures, there was bribery.
All along Chelsea and team thought Rytting was on their side, but he was always protecting the church, even pretending he didn’t know Michael Miller had given up on testifying.
New State Legislation May Help, But Misses the Point.
Earlier, we mentioned the law might be changing.
Utah lawmakers are moving to pass House Bill (HB) 432, introduced January 30, 2024, which is headed for the Utah Senate for consideration. Politicians in Utah say passing such a measure is overdue.
So HB432 would protect Utah clergy from civil or criminal liability from a perpetrator if the clergyman reports a criminal pattern based on information obtained during a confession, but it stops short of requiring Mormon clergy to report serious abuse, even child sex abuse, according to the Salt Lake City Tribune.
Chelsea said she came forward to protect other girls. Child sex abuse in the Mormon/LDS church is rampant. It’s not that boys are never assaulted in the empire, but girls and women are preyed upon far more often, by a long shot.
You. Are. Not. Alone.
That’s why we’re here to help women who were sexually abused by leaders and others working on behalf of the LDS Church. Take your power back through a lawsuit (note: we work with lawyers on civil cases, not criminal ones). We are ready to listen to your story. Contact us now.
