Father Pat Valdez of the Sangre de Cristo Parish in San Luis, Colo., is a close friend of my Aunt Marguerite. Growing up, she attended the Methodist Church, but she often takes part in celebrations and religious observances of San Luis' Catholic parish. Father Pat makes a point of reaching out to her. She speaks often of what a nice man he is.

A couple of summers ago while vacationing in northern New Mexico, my family visited my aunt and uncle in Fort Garland, Colo., which is about 16 miles north of San Luis. While traveling through San Luis, I was pleasantly surprised by its historical preservation efforts. Its streetscaping was absolutely quaint.

I observed, too, that the Sangre de Cristo Parish had devoted considerable resources to establish the Shrine of the Mexican Martyrs there. You may have read or seen recent news stories about photographs posted on the Internet depicting three Mormon missionaries vandalizing the Shrine of the Martyrs, with one missionary shown holding the severed head of a statue. Others showed a missionary preaching from the Book of Mormon behind the altar inside the Chapel of All Saints. Another photo shows two missionaries pretending to sacrifice a fellow missionary on the altar at the shrine. The photos, posted on the Photobucket Web site, have since been removed.

On Sunday, the parish council voted unanimously to ask law enforcement to conduct a criminal investigation of these events. The Catholic News Agency Web site quotes a San Luis attorney and parish member who says the parish has not excluded the possibility of a lawsuit.

I've lived in Salt Lake City for 20 years now. But I was born in the San Luis Valley and spent many summers there as a child. I feel I have a sense of both perspectives. Mostly, I just feel sad about these events, which reportedly occurred in 2006.

Missionaries are representatives of their respective churches. That's a huge responsibility for anyone, let alone 19, 20 and 21-year-old men. As the mother of a teenager, I understand all too well the impulsive nature of young men and young women. In the heat of the moment, there's not a lot of thinking about consequences, whether they're driving cars without seat belts or scrambling up a sheer rock wall without proper climbing equipment, let alone disrespecting a religious site.

It's hard to understand the depth of this hurt without knowing a little bit about the town of San Luis, population 739. It is a desperately poor place. About 30 percent of people live below the poverty line. According to the 2000 Census, the per capita income in San Luis was $8,887 per person, with a median income of about $20,875. To put that in some perspective, Salt Lake City's median income was $50,420, according to 2004 Census figures. Per capita income was about $20,190.