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I am ¾ through listening to John Dehlin’s 5 part interview with Brent Metcalfe on Mormon Stories. It is long, more than 6 hrs, but is probably the best one he has done. Brent talks about his time working for church security, his relationship with Mark Hoffmann, the bombings, his research and ultimately his excommunication. While I enjoyed the meat of his interview about Mark Hoffman, and learned that Brent was next on Mark’s list to be killed, I also enjoyed the little personal tidbits Brent told about in his dealing with the Apostles and FP. Such as:
1. While working security for the church, he was assigned to guard the apartment of Pres Kimball in the Hotel Utah during the last part of his life when he was extremely ill and suffering from dementia. Brent said that when the nurses would come to do a procedure on the Prophet, Kimball would let out a stream of obscenities. It was so bad, that the Cognitive Dissonance it caused for some of the security personnel required them to be detailed to another assignment.
2. While Brent was assigned to guard the back door to the Q12 and FP office building, Then Elder Monson called down and asked for a golf cart to take him to the Temple. He said he was late for a sealing he was to conduct. So a few minutes later the back door opened, and Monson came running out and yelled “where the hell is my cart!”
3. He frequently went to the Airport to chauffer Apostles home from trips they took. Once he picked up Mark E. Petersen. He said Petersen got in the front seat with him, and talked with him the whole way home. Brent contrasted that with picking up Elder Packer and his wife. They sat in the back. Brent asked him how his trip was and Packer said “Fine”. That was the only word he said the whole trip home. He didn’t even talk to his wife. They just sat there in silence.
4. After he was fired from his security job due to his writings in the BYU off campus newspaper (7th East Press), he was called up to meet with Elder Monson. Monson told him that he was asked to meet with him, and that his firing was due to the intervention of several apostles. He said they had rules that prohibited him from apologizing for other apostles, as it would make them look bad. Elder Monson then told him, in every way he could without saying that he was sorry, that he was sorry for what happened.
This is well worth the time, and makes a great time killer if you have a long car trip planned.
I met and listened to Brent Metcalfe 4 years ago at an Open Stories event. He and Kristine Haglund were the main guest speakers. Of the two – I found Haglund’s talk much more hopeful, Metcalf’s still had a huge sting of anger in it. Not that I blame him, but I can only carry my anger, any one else’s and I topple over. Ironically one of the reasons Metcalfe agreed to the Open Stories event was he was supposed to be being interviewed by John Dehlin at the event. Dehlin though decided not to attend the Open Stories event and attended an LGBT event nearby. I have heard over the years that this interview has been a bit of a challenge to pin down, almost like Dehlin was reluctant to do it, I assume now since John is making his way out of the Middle Way, he feels less hampered then in the past. For myself, I am taking a break from Podcasts, I have very little trust in anyone right now. If the first group was hazy, who is to say anyone else is more noble.
I have listened to all but the last segment. There was something in the title that made me feel like, “wait until you get into a better frame”. Kind of along the lines of, “don’t drink too much of that at once or it will pull you down.” The last thing that really got me down in the dumps was reading a bit of the “letter to a CES director”. It was just too potent. I know Mormon Stories has an interview with the guy that wrote it. I hold nothing against him, but when I saw that I felt I just need to pass – at least for now. I will come back at some point. I did find it interesting if nothing else about some history that I was totally unaware of.
Having dealt with others with dementia, I can only laugh at a sitting President being at par with a sailor’s language. I wouldn’t be surprised if the nurses where hit on. That has been my experience. And BWT – that doesn’t bother my belief’s in the least. I guess other than I wish there was a way to give emeritus status and let them live their last bit of their life with dignity and privacy. Even if they are still considered the prophet and hold that position, but the responsibilities fully fall to the counselors. I just seems the humane thing to do. After all these guys have often given the latter half of their lives to full time service.
I do remember that there was some bit of historical stuff that Elder Peterson told Mark that it should never get out because it would cause many members to fall into unbelief. I found that rather interesting, but not unbelievable.
Also there was something about the church security group calling in all the license plates of those that attended an ERA rally to get the names/addresses. Then they relayed that info back to the stake presidents. Something like that today would not only get national headlines, but a law suit to both the church and the police department.
I do a fair bit of traveling in my car out on nice open country highways, so I have been able to listen to a lot of podcasts and really think about them. The only regret I have with that, is I can’t write down little notes, so if I am looking for something I heard, but might take me days of research (re-listening to several podcasts) to find it. I have another long trip in the car coming up later this month, so I have a few. The last few on Mormon Matters have been quite good if you ask me. No pushing a pro or negative stance in so much as just talking about issues.
I find all this interesting. I think its amusing that prophets swear over day-to-day things like late golf carts!! In the end, I view them as senior managers of a very large organization now. They do have their speeches and comments, and they can be inspiring to people, but in the end, they are similar to us in many ways. Dementia is a lot like schizophrenia. My mother is an amazingly spiritual, gentle woman – except when her meds stopped working. In that state, she swore like a drunken sailor and was just mean. People are people, subject to the same issues as everyone else. People can be great people without being idealized stereotypes.
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