Sometimes young men make mistakes, other times its Bishops and church officials. I am glad a wrong was made right. For whatever reason, the way his Bishop handled the situation sits sour with me. I mean, what was he thinking? Why not call the boy in, say, " I need to see better attendance from you or I'll pull your endorsement." Thank goodness things are better.

And when does someone's church attendance get reported to the public? This whole thing was weird.

This is a very weird story. Not much new going on around the world Deseret Morning News? Way to spin the story from baseball to inactivity in the church. A kid misses a few sundays and now the whole state knows. I guess if the Deseret Morning News has that much time on their hands they can find out anything. I'm going to read a real paper from now on.

I am a BYU graduate and was witness to this type of behavior from several BYU bishops. I just hope his bishop hasn't caused too much emotional and psychological damage to this fine young man.

Since BYU will never apologize, I would like to formally apologize on behalf of BYU, the student body and the alumni.

How do you know the Bishop didn't do that Coach c? Sounds to me like this young man takes BYU & the Gospel for granted and worships baseball. I am glad to see a Bishop uphold the Honor Code they all signed. There are a ton of other kids who do attend their meetings and live up to the honor code who have good grades and can't get in to BYU --some because they are not athletes. The honor code is a choice, don't live up to it and face the consequences. They don't have to go to BYU, the U of U will take anyone.

As a former Bishop and Stake President, I always thought the ecclesiastical endorsements were confidential.

Actually, BYU Admissions Department reported a 78% acceptance rate last year compared to a 71% acceptance rate for the U of U last year.

It looks like it is easier to attend BYU than the U of U. Thanks for checking your facts.

That's what I thought too. Isn't it funny how things that are supposed to be kept quiet are most often the things that aren't? It sounds to me like Walton made a big deal out of it in order to get his way.

I don't believe you are a BYU graduate; this circumstance is an exception, not the rule. What does BYU have to apologize for? Walton made a commitment when he signed the Honor Code that he apparently wasn't living up to. I am an alumni and don't appreciate you apologizing for me. I'm NOT sorry that this happened to "this fine young man." It once again teaches our youth that choices have consequences. Perhaps it was just the kick in the pants "this fine young man" needed!!

Every one sided story has, in fact, two sides. The bishop in this case wasn't even quoted in this story, so I assume his side was reported as unsubstantiated hearsay. Hopefully that bishop is doing his duty and keeping things confidential.

The bishop has every right to do his duty according to his understanding of it. The appeals process is a wise step also, so no one is wrong and the right decision usually prevails.

Have you not ever made a mistake, and would you like that small mistake to take away something you worked for probably 12 - 15 years. Its attitude's like yours that drive people away, rather than bring people together. Its not like whatever he did was that bad, nothing that couldnt be rectified in a couple of weeks. IMO they should have just suspended him from some games, either way this looked real bad for the cougars. Im glad he gets to play, and Im glad that not everyone is bitter like you!!!

I have been at BYU for four years. I just want to say that overwhelming majority of Bishops at BYU are outstanding. They serve to help the students here live the gospel of Jesus Christ and keep their covenants.

My guess is that there may be other things about this situation that we don't know about.

Everytime a story like this comes up people call BYU "holier than thou". However, the same people call BYU hypocrites if they don't enforce the honor code. What is BYU supposed to do?

My wife and I both graduated from BYU (I also received my law degree from BYU). How do you know "he wasn't living up to the Honor Code"? Evidently, the Church Headquarters disagreed with you and reinstated Mr. Walton. I'm glad you are not judgmental.

It's people like you that really make me think twice about encouraging my son to attend BYU.

I also want to apologize on behalf of BYU, the current student body and the alumni. This should never have happened.

One thing I always find funny about BYU is its ability to toss religion and rules aside for their fabled sports programs. I mean duh don't all you Mormons know it is a private school with rules? Why would he not go elsewhere without "church" rules if he can't go to church. Funny thing is his dad most probably lied to get his non-conforming son back in.

BYU fans are a sad state of people who do what is convenient. Good for his pastor/bishop or whoever for calling it how it was. I am sure he had good reason, just funny to see (bishop's) his own people abandon him in the name of sport, but that has been happening at BYU for years, need more examples, I wouldn't have to think to hard . . . I will agree it is probably not paper worthy but I guess I can't diss that I read the article.

Maybe if BYU made the Rodin nude sculpture their mascot then BYU fans would overthrow their leaders . . . maybe:)

This was obviously a mistake by the Bishop or the University would not have reversed him. To "To Embarrassed" and "Fan of the Honor Code" you guys don't have a clue. We are talking about a 19 or 20 year old kid who was still attending church, but an overzealous bishop thought he missed a few too many meetings. Give me a break. We are not talking about drinking, sex, cheating, etc here. I applaud the University officials for righting a wrong.

Why do people in Utah think BYU is more difficult to get into than the U of U? Admission rates for BYU have been consistently around 80% (that means BYU accepts 8 out of 10 applicants). The U of U has around a 70% admission rate (that means 7 out of 10 people get accepted).

It's very easy to get into BYU and easy to get into the U of U.

People can say whatever they want, but I graduated from BYU two years ago and I have a hard time decided if those were the best years of my life, or if my mission years were. I never had an issue living the Honor Code because I lived it before I was admitted. It's not hard to do, you just do it. Some people aren't willing to live by it, and if they sign saying they do, and don't, then there is a problem. So many students at BYU don't follow the Honor Code and don't care. If I had gone to any other school, I would not be who I am today, at least being a member of this church. I understand why BYU does some things they do, and people who have never attended can never know that.

People who don't live the Honor Code, then go home and cry about how BYU was mean because they chose not to live it, are the people who make other people hate BYU. I've seen it over and over and over and over and over. BYU isn't a perfect school, but it's a great place for a strong LDS person.

I am also a BYU graduate and I also apologize for this guy that calls himself a Bishop. Talk about arrogant. If the entire chuch were judged by him there wouldn't be any memebers left. For those of you who defend him your just as lost as he is. Thank goodness church authorities had the sense to see this guy was out of control.

We are all so happy you never had any trouble living the honor code. Three cheers for RR!!!!.
Good luck in the future and keep doing good.

I'm sure those remarks to me were sarcastic. I love how people who do their best to live good lives are attacked to often. Give it up pal.

Another thought, while at BYU I read a few articles about people at BYU where I knew of the situation personally, and the media got all the facts wrong, as usual. It's just an article, so anyone who takes this as 100% truth needs to learn a thing or two about taking media stories lightly, especially when they are about people they don't know, or about an individual. I've read many sports articles on this site where the media person was completely wrong, and people in these comments who actually knew what was going on had to set it straight.

Some comments are out of line. You do not speak for this young man, his bishop, or BYU. Your comments just show how poor your judgement is by you acting like you know better than those involved (You actually believe that?!?).

It is quite possible that all three involved dealt equitably in this matter and it is also quite possible that one, two, or all three parties were in the wrong in some way or another. Whatever the case, it was resolved in a suitable manner for all and none of them claim to have hard feelings over it (Why do some of you?!?)

Point is, people commenting here don't know the grievance or to what extent any of this goes. Quit judging these three parties! None of you have a clue one way or the other. It is not your affair. You don't know all the details. And any judgements you derive are unjust and don't speak well of you.

Seriously from this article you can't know anything about what really happened. Why does everyone side with the baseball player or the bishop. All i know is the i agree with the people who say ecclesiastical endorsements should not be public. I'd be very angry if mine got taken away and that was public information. Sounds like he is having a good baseball season though so keep it up!

I believe the article was there to talk about baseball at BYU...not bring up the Bishop thing...why doesn't someone realize that athletics is fun for all of us..those that play and those that attend the games...after all we weren't there to watch then why would any players name be in the paper...good luck to the fans and the players..

Although I agree with many of the comments made I was in Kent Waltons ward for over a year and I saw him attend church only once when his father was in town. I believe that he shold be entitled to privacy, but when he appealed he made it public. As "hard" as it may be he signed and therefore should live the honor code. Double standards shouldn't be held because he's an athlete

LOGIC: BYU Student 11:21 p.m., in and of itself, an appeal doesn't make a process public.

FACTS: Just because you only saw him attend your ward once doesn't mean he only attended church once. There are other wards in the church. Many attend church in their boyfriend or girlfriends ward, some hop from ward to ward. While I recommend one mainly attend their own ward, if someone doesn't have a calling and does their home or visiting teaching, what is the harm?

PATIENCE: Wouldn't an interview with a student, "I'd like to see you attend our ward more often," be a better way to handle attendance than, "I didn't see you, so you must not have been in church, so I'm going to withdraw your endorsement?" (If indeed that is what happened?) The process of interviewing, kind and patient dialogue, etc, has redeemed many a person. Even if a Bishop has to go to a student's home to have that interview, that is better than an act of discipline with no proceeding fact finding and counseling. (Which, in FACT may have occured, and then the naysayers are wrong as well.)

Who cares! Is this really a story? If he was just "another" ball player this wouldn't be such a story, but since he is a good player on another horrible BYU team I guess we need to report on it. This happens all the time and if this was BYU football this would be burried and no one would know! For those who have never played DIV 1 sports then keep your mouth shut. To play on that level is hard enough plus going to class, keeping up with assignments and the travel can be pretty tough especially when you travel around the country. Lets cut this kid a break. He is a good guy with great talent and he is doing his best! We all have missed church once in our life!!