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Calendar Maker A Saint Or Sinner?

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The Associated Press

Published: July 13, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY - A Las Vegas man who devised a calendar that features shirtless Mormon missionaries is facing a disciplinary hearing and possible excommunication because of the project.

A lifetime member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Chad Hardy was summoned by letter to a meeting today with a council of elders to discuss his "conduct unbecoming a member of the church."

A copy of the letter from Frank E. Davie, the senior leader of a group of Mormon congregations in the Las Vegas area, was provided to The Associated Press. It was sent early last week, days before the 2009 version of the "Men on a Mission" calendar went to press, Hardy said.

A takeoff on calendars of firefighters and returned U.S. servicemen, Hardy's project debuted with a 2008 calendar featuring 12 returned church missionaries in mostly modest poses, minus their trademark white shirts, ties and black plastic name badges. It has sold nearly 10,000 copies.

"You see more in a J.C. Penney catalog," said Hardy, 31, who once worked for Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller and now has his own entertainment company. "I just feel like my right to free speech is being violated."

The calendar was designed to shake up Mormon stereotypes, Hardy said. The pages include photos of the men dressed in standard missionary garb. In biographical sketches each missionary talks about his beliefs.

"It's not tearing anybody down," Hardy said. "I wondered what would happen if we took that perfect Disneyland image that the church spends millions of dollars cultivating each year and shook it up a little bit."

On Friday, Davie confirmed sending the letter and the plans for the meeting. He said the calendar was the primary concern.

The outcome of a council meeting could include excommunication, probation "or exoneration," Davie said.

A returned missionary himself, Hardy acknowledges he has not been an active member of the church since 2002. He said he has never been contacted by anyone from the church encouraging his return to the fold, and he suspects the inquiry was driven by the church's Salt Lake City headquarters.

"I'm still a good Mormon boy in many ways," said Hardy, who said he bears no animosity toward Mormons, but never felt he fit in. "I still want to hold onto my heritage, " he said.

Blog entries on MySpace and Facebook show a range of reactions to Hardy's work.

Some find it offensive and say it degrades the church by displaying missionaries as sex symbols, and that it contradicts church teachings about modest dress for all members. Others praise the effort for rattling perceptions that Mormons are "stuffy."

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