ARIZONA, Sept. 4, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A returned LDS missionary who has accused Joseph Bishop, the former president of the Provo Missionary Training Center, of raping her in the mid 1980s, on Sunday took to the pulpit of his Arizona ward to talk about her charges.
McKenna Denson stood up in the monthly fast and testimony meeting of the home ward of Bishop and his son.
“The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is covering (for) a sexual predator who lives in your ward, his name is Joseph Bishop,” Denson can be heard saying after a brief and innocuous introduction. “He was the MTC president in 1984 when he raped me in the basement.”
On the video, a man in short sleeves can be seen walking from the audience to the front, and talking to two suited men seated behind the pulpit.
One of two suited men advised by the short-sleeved audience member — who was later revealed to be Bishop’s son — approached Denson, stood at her left side, and tried to guide her away, saying they would talk elsewhere. When she declined to leave or stop talking, a second suited church official stood up and tried to remove her from her right side.
Denson attempted to address the congregation about the importance of atonement, and the men touched her arms on each side.
“Call the police. Don’t touch me. You’re assaulting me,” she said, unwilling to give up the podium. “In order to keep the Church safe, we need to hold sexual predators accountable, whether they are … pedophiles or whether they are rapists like Joseph Bishop,” Denson says to the audience.
“You know this is assault, right, and you know we are filming this, right?” she adds, as she allows herself to be led away.
The video was posted online by a YouTube page called NewNameNoah, which describes its offerings as “A series of videos made with hidden cameras inside Mormon temples. These are made to expose the TRUTH about what goes on inside Mormon temples around the world. Until now, no non-Mormon has ever seen what these videos contain.”
A second shaky video on the page picked up action outside the church building, with Densen being led out.
“Your dad raped me at the MTC,” Denson can be heard saying on the video.
“Yeah, right,” Bishop’s son says as he walks back toward the building.
“Well, listen to the audio,” Denson calls after him.
Last month, a federal judge dismissed all claims in her lawsuit except one, a fraud allegation the accuses the LDS Church of placing Bishop in a position of trust at the MTC despite knowing he had been accused of misconduct in the past.
LDS Church spokesman Eric Hawkins released a statement regarding Denson’s behavior:
“Once each month, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints participate in a worship service that includes an opportunity for members to share their testimonies of the Savior, Jesus Christ, and His gospel.
“It is disappointing that anyone would interrupt such a worship service to bring attention to their own personal cause. Recording and posting of these disruptions on social media to seek public attention and media coverage, sadly, shows an unfortunate lack of respect for others. We respectfully request that those with personal grievances find other means to communicate their messages than disrupting the sanctity of a worship service.”
Honestly, how she went about this was just wrong. I also believed her when I first heard the story but her conduct gives me pause. I feel she is less credible now. I’m a strong advocate for victims of sexual assault and most victims feel shame and don’t speak out. When they do finally speak out it is so they can feel empowered and able to move on with their life. This seems a bit strange to go as long as she did before reporting then to go about it in such public extremes including lawsuits for monitary gain because the church has deep pockets. Which I actually understand the lawsuit more then what she did in a church service. My experience is that victims don’t want to victimize others and you could hear and see families with young kids in that church and the things she said where not appropriate for them to be apart of and was potentially a scary situation for them.
I hope they keep bringing stories like this to light. It’s the same as drug and alcoholism. If the congregation never hears about it, then it never happens. I left this club 2 years ago at the age of 39. I can’t believe how misogynistic it is. So many secrets. NO BETTER THAN the Catholic Church.
SECRETS THAT HAVE TO BE TOLD!!!
There are a few good things about the LDS church (be kind to everyone and be giving), but acting like this never happens goes everything I was ever taught and I’m glad people are sticking up for themselves. There is a lot of years of pain after what he did to her in that basement and I’m pretty positive she isn’t the first. I am sure his son knows for a fact as well. I also bet this isn’t the first time. BRING AWARENESS AND PROTECT OUR YOUTH!
EDIT ( Goes against everything I was taught.)
This woman is mentally ill. It can be seen in her eyes as well as in her behavior. This makes me somewhat question whether she was really raped or whether something else happened. Maybe she did something that called her worthiness into question and she blamed him? Attention seeking acts like this don’t speak well as to her character.