Pace memorandum
Encyclopedia
The Pace memorandum was a 1990 memorandum
written by Glenn L. Pace
, a general authority
in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), describing to a committee of the church the complaints of sixty members of the church that claimed they had been subjected to satanic ritual abuse
(SRA) by family members and other members of the church. The state of Utah
conducted a 30-month investigation of the claims after the Pace memorandum was leaked to the press in 1991, concluding that there was no evidence found to substantiate the testimony of the alleged victims.
began in the 1980s as children in the United States
, subjected to coercive interviewing techniques at the hands of zealous social work
ers, made unsubstantiated allegations of bizarre Satanic rituals and horrific sexual and physical abuse at the hands of day care
workers. As the decade unfolded, clients of believing therapists began to make similar allegations, which are now generally seen as confabulation
s caused by iatrogenic
therapeutic techniques such as hypnosis
and automatic writing
rather than the discovery of repressed memories
. Despite the similarities between the allegations of adults and children, investigations produced only circumstantial
, and in many cases contradictory evidence of the patients' disclosures. The court cases surrounding SRA allegations (such as the iconic McMartin preschool trial
) were among the most expensive and lengthy in history and produced no convictions or convictions based solely on the testimony
of children that were frequently overturned or dismissed upon appeal. The panic subsided in the late 1990s, but in the early 1990s while it was still a substantial concern, adherents in the LDS Church began telling leaders of the church that they had been subjected to SRA by their relatives—often parents—and other members of the church.
, fulfilled a request by the church's Strengthening Church Members Committee
by writing a memorandum about his investigations into alleged incidents of SRA among Latter-day Saints in Utah, Idaho, California, Mexico, and elsewhere. The memorandum was leaked to the press in October 1991. In his memo, Pace stated that he had met with sixty victims who had recovered memories
of ritualistic abuse during their childhood. Pace reported that children were being "instructed in satanic doctrine" and that as eight year olds they were "baptized by blood into the satanic order which is meant to cancel out their baptism into the Church". Forty-five of Pace's witnesses claimed to have witnessed or participated in human sacrifice, including the killing of babies. Pace said that the alleged perpetrators included "Young Women leaders, Young Men leaders, bishops, a patriarch, a stake president, temple workers, and members of the Tabernacle Choir" and that some of the abuse took place in church meetinghouses. Pace wrote that "when sixty witnesses testify to the same type of torture and murder, it becomes impossible for me, personally, not to believe them."
Pace compared these allegations to stories in LDS Church scriptures
about secret combinations and Cain's combination with Satan
to become Master Mahan
. Pace also suggested that the alleged abusers were using and corrupting the oaths in the church's temple
endowment
ceremony as part of the Satanic abuse, and that many victims had flashbacks when they attended the temple for the first time and were asked to participate in the ceremonies.
appropriated $250,000 for the Attorney General's office to investigate the ritual abuse allegations in the state of Utah. Over a two and one half year span the investigators interviewed hundreds of alleged victims, but none of the incidents reported were corroborated with any evidence beyond their testimony and the 1995 report stated that there was no evidence from any of the alleged victims that would warrant an investigation of homicide. Mike King, the coauthor of the report, told news media that the specific accusations against church leaders were "absurd", and Jerry Lazar, the head of psychiatry
at LDS Hospital
in Salt Lake City, said he "has never been able to independently verify memories of satanic ritual abuse".
sermon in the April 1992 general conference of the church may have been related to the SRA allegations. In his remarks, Scott warned Latter-day Saints:
Memorandum
A memorandum is from the Latin verbal phrase memorandum est, the gerundive form of the verb memoro, "to mention, call to mind, recount, relate", which means "It must be remembered ..."...
written by Glenn L. Pace
Glenn L. Pace
Glenn Leroy Pace has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1985. He as served as a member of the presiding bishopric and the First Quorum of Seventy and in 2010 became an emeritus general authority...
, a general authority
General authority
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a general authority is a member of certain leadership organizations who are given administrative and ecclesiastical authority over the church...
in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), describing to a committee of the church the complaints of sixty members of the church that claimed they had been subjected to satanic ritual abuse
Satanic ritual abuse
Satanic ritual abuse refers to the abuse of a person or animal in a ritual setting or manner...
(SRA) by family members and other members of the church. The state of Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
conducted a 30-month investigation of the claims after the Pace memorandum was leaked to the press in 1991, concluding that there was no evidence found to substantiate the testimony of the alleged victims.
Background
The SRA moral panicMoral panic
A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics and credited creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of...
began in the 1980s as children in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, subjected to coercive interviewing techniques at the hands of zealous social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
ers, made unsubstantiated allegations of bizarre Satanic rituals and horrific sexual and physical abuse at the hands of day care
Day care
Child care or day care is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child's legal guardians, typically performed by someone outside the child's immediate family...
workers. As the decade unfolded, clients of believing therapists began to make similar allegations, which are now generally seen as confabulation
Confabulation
Confabulation is the process in which a memory is remembered falsely. Confabulations are indicative of a complicated and intricate process that can be led astray at any given point during encoding, storage, or recall of a memory. Two distinct types of confabulation are often distinguished...
s caused by iatrogenic
Iatrogenesis
Iatrogenesis, or an iatrogenic artifact is an inadvertent adverse effect or complication resulting from medical treatment or advice, including that of psychologists, therapists, pharmacists, nurses, physicians and dentists...
therapeutic techniques such as hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
and automatic writing
Automatic writing
Automatic writing or psychography is writing which the writer states to be produced from a subconscious and/or spiritual source without conscious awareness of the content.-History:...
rather than the discovery of repressed memories
Repressed memory
Repressed memory is a hypothetical concept used to describe a significant memory, usually of a traumatic nature, that has become unavailable for recall; also called motivated forgetting in which a subject blocks out painful or traumatic times in one's life...
. Despite the similarities between the allegations of adults and children, investigations produced only circumstantial
Circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence in which an inference is required to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime...
, and in many cases contradictory evidence of the patients' disclosures. The court cases surrounding SRA allegations (such as the iconic McMartin preschool trial
McMartin preschool trial
The McMartin preschool trial was a day care sexual abuse case of the 1980s. Members of the McMartin family, who operated a preschool in California, were charged with numerous acts of sexual abuse of children in their care. Accusations were made in 1983. Arrests and the pretrial investigation ran...
) were among the most expensive and lengthy in history and produced no convictions or convictions based solely on the testimony
Testimony
In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. All testimonies should be well thought out and truthful. It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on a Bible when taking an oath...
of children that were frequently overturned or dismissed upon appeal. The panic subsided in the late 1990s, but in the early 1990s while it was still a substantial concern, adherents in the LDS Church began telling leaders of the church that they had been subjected to SRA by their relatives—often parents—and other members of the church.
The Pace memorandum
In July 1990, Pace, who at the time was a member of the church's presiding bishopricPresiding Bishop (LDS Church)
The Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a priesthood calling with church-wide authority. The Presiding Bishop is the highest leadership position within the church's Aaronic priesthood.-Presiding Bishopric:...
, fulfilled a request by the church's Strengthening Church Members Committee
Strengthening Church Members Committee
The Strengthening Church Members Committee is a committee of general authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who monitor the publications of church members for possible criticism of local and general leaders of the church...
by writing a memorandum about his investigations into alleged incidents of SRA among Latter-day Saints in Utah, Idaho, California, Mexico, and elsewhere. The memorandum was leaked to the press in October 1991. In his memo, Pace stated that he had met with sixty victims who had recovered memories
Repressed memory
Repressed memory is a hypothetical concept used to describe a significant memory, usually of a traumatic nature, that has become unavailable for recall; also called motivated forgetting in which a subject blocks out painful or traumatic times in one's life...
of ritualistic abuse during their childhood. Pace reported that children were being "instructed in satanic doctrine" and that as eight year olds they were "baptized by blood into the satanic order which is meant to cancel out their baptism into the Church". Forty-five of Pace's witnesses claimed to have witnessed or participated in human sacrifice, including the killing of babies. Pace said that the alleged perpetrators included "Young Women leaders, Young Men leaders, bishops, a patriarch, a stake president, temple workers, and members of the Tabernacle Choir" and that some of the abuse took place in church meetinghouses. Pace wrote that "when sixty witnesses testify to the same type of torture and murder, it becomes impossible for me, personally, not to believe them."
Pace compared these allegations to stories in LDS Church scriptures
Standard Works
The Standard Works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are the four books that currently constitute its open scriptural canon.* The Holy Bible * The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ...
about secret combinations and Cain's combination with Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
to become Master Mahan
Master Mahan
In the religious texts of the Latter Day Saint movement, Master Mahan is a title assumed first by Cain and later by his descendant Lamech. The title indicates that Cain and Lamech were each the "master" of a "great secret" whereby they covenanted with Satan to kill for personal gain...
. Pace also suggested that the alleged abusers were using and corrupting the oaths in the church's temple
Temple (LDS Church)
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord, and they are considered by Church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a short period of time...
endowment
Endowment (Latter Day Saints)
In the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, an endowment refers to a gift of "power from on high", typically associated with Latter Day Saint temples. The purpose and meaning of the endowment varied during the life of movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr...
ceremony as part of the Satanic abuse, and that many victims had flashbacks when they attended the temple for the first time and were asked to participate in the ceremonies.
Government investigation
In 1991, the Utah State LegislatureUtah State Legislature
The Utah State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. It is a bicameral body, comprising the Utah House of Representatives, with 75 Representatives, and the Utah Senate, with 29 State Senators...
appropriated $250,000 for the Attorney General's office to investigate the ritual abuse allegations in the state of Utah. Over a two and one half year span the investigators interviewed hundreds of alleged victims, but none of the incidents reported were corroborated with any evidence beyond their testimony and the 1995 report stated that there was no evidence from any of the alleged victims that would warrant an investigation of homicide. Mike King, the coauthor of the report, told news media that the specific accusations against church leaders were "absurd", and Jerry Lazar, the head of psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
at LDS Hospital
LDS Hospital
LDS Hospital is a general urban hospital and surgical center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The hospital was originally owned by the LDS Church but is now owned and operated by Intermountain Healthcare...
in Salt Lake City, said he "has never been able to independently verify memories of satanic ritual abuse".
Church reaction
The LDS Church has made no official statement related to the allegations related in the Pace memorandum. However, one commentator has suggested that apostle Richard G. Scott'sRichard G. Scott
Richard Gordon Scott is an American nuclear engineer and a current member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . Currently, he is the seventh most senior apostle among the ranks of the church.-Early years:Richard G...
sermon in the April 1992 general conference of the church may have been related to the SRA allegations. In his remarks, Scott warned Latter-day Saints: