Episode 310

Ep310: The LDS Church Wants to Put You to Work: And YOU Pay

Are senior members of the LDS church exploited by a system that relies on unpaid labor while expecting significant time, financial, and emotional commitments while serving a senior mission? Senior missionaries often pay their own expenses and may work long hours in administrative, managerial, or operational roles that closely resemble full-time jobs. This raises concerns about fairness and informed consent, especially for retirees on fixed incomes. And the religious framing of service and sacrifice can create social or spiritual pressure to participate, making it difficult for seniors to decline or set boundaries. From this perspective, the use of unpaid senior labor benefits a wealthy institution while shifting costs and risks onto older members. Is it time to call for greater transparency, choice, and protections for those who serve senior mission? Mormonish Podcast is joined by Suspicious Might as we dissect the LDS senior mission.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

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Rebecca Bibliotheca

Rebecca Bibliotheca is a mother or three boys, co-founder of "The Good Book Club," a virtual reading group for post and nuanced Mormons, cohost of "Mormon Media Reviews," and leader of the "Mormon Stories Book Club." She has a Masters of Library and Information Science from BYU and worked for many years at the BYU Library. She and her husband, Tom, also founded a youth theater program that is in its 19th year. Rebecca loves the theater, reading, film, spending times outdoors, church watching and iced coffee!

Landon Brophy

Landon Brophy is the proud father of four children, two grandchildren, three ATVs and a boat. He's a former military officer, the co-founder of The Good Book Club, a reading group for post and nuanced Mormons, ann international manager for a global defense contractor, and a worldwide traveler. He and his wife founded "Utah Wanderers," an online travel guide to exploring Utah. Landon loves the outdoors, ATVing, boating, flying, reading, observing the "ongoing restoration" and second Saturdays!

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