http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/08/29/2058346/lay-bishop-fatally-shot-at-mormon.html#storylink=mirelated

Good catch, Rall100.  To us who understand the legalistic caveats, those statements sound chilling.  Why not just say that the family is going to end up on welfare?

Faustus

Roy Wasden, President of the mormon church in Modesto????  I'm assuming they mean stake president. 

And counselors known as home teachers?????

Wow. 

So sad for both families though.  Mential illness does kill people, just the same as cancer or heart disease.  Throw all the craziness that is mormonism on top of it, and it is a recipe for disaster.

I watched a fascinating documentary on Netflix about the families of the Amish girls that were killed by a mentally ill gunman in Pennsylvannia a few years ago. These people are very insulated and private and rely completely on their own religious community for everything, including the social and emotional support needed when someone dies. I think in some cases it is the epitome' of a perfect communal setup because they understand the death from the viewpoint of the family who lost the loved one. The forgiveness and understanding poured out was so touching. I suspect the LDS people involved will seek such a peaceful resolution as well, if only to help heal the senselessness of this tragedy.

When my own daughter died it was my LDS ward that rallied around to help and support me. There were no professional counselors involved and few really qualified people that helped us understand the process of grieving.  We were still very devout LDS at the time and the comforts of heavenly connections and illusions of having her in the hereafter were really important, at that time.

I suspect in some ways the ward and stake in Visallia there will be a great rallying tool for the Sunnar family and many will step up to help support those little boys and maybe even the family of James Ward who lost a father that day as well.

What I don't think will happen is a self examination of the things the church did to feed this mans mental illness or the wrongs that may have been commmitted that led to his focus of revenge.  I doubt very much that anyone devoted to the church will contemplate that the church had any culpability at all. The young bishop was not to blame, but he was a part of the whole that James Ward was attacking.

One thing the church is seriously lacking in is professional counselling in any matter. They send us to a bishop for marital or personal advice but that guy is seldom trained in anything but the most elementary of skills and is jaded by the LDS patriarchial mindset that marginalizes women and sends people with serious issues to a book of lies for answers. Prayer isn't going to fix PTSD any more than it will fix infidelity or MS or other truely complex emotional or physiological challenges.

I haven't posted or commented anywhere about Sannar's senseless death until now, but Mollie Ziegler's post today over at GetReligion deserves a response.  I can understand initial speculation about possible motives, but at this point, to invite your readers to conflate this awful incident with "targeting Mormons" and "Prop 8 backlash" is irresponsible and shameful.  Enough already, Mollie.

As one of my Facebook friends noted after reading Mollie's latest attempt to promote the Mormon persecution narrative that she's been crafting ever since Prop 8 passed (the latest installment is that she apparently thinks there's been a concerted dearth of media coverage of Sannar's killing):

Last year we had a Baptist minister shot and killed while he was preaching. Did this make the national news? Same situation, the gunman was later killed by police. No real motive other than mental illness. It's a tragedy when any human being is gunned down in cold blood. It does not always make the national news. I do not think there is any conspiracy.

And from comments under Mollie's post:

I am baffled by this post and the comments left here. How on earth can this discussion do anything positive for the victim’s family and relationships between current and former Mormons? The persecution complex does not reflect well on LDS people. This is an outright tragedy and a singular incident, and should be treated as such. Please don’t try to capitalise on Sannar’s death to justify a political cause.

Anyway, this is just me venting and dropping off the link to Mollie's piece for the benefit of anyone who might be inclined to click over and share an opinion in comments.