Some angry San Luis town leaders are rejecting the apologies of the Mormon leaders after missionaries desecrated a religous shrine and mocked Catholicism in a local church.

"It's beyond apologies," said town board member Rose Mendoza-Green.

The Pueblo Chieftain reported that Mayor Christopher Rodriguez wrote a letter to the LDS church explaining that he understands the acts may have been those of misguided young men.

"But also that as missionaries of the Mormon faith, the perception is that it was done under the color of the [Mormon] Church."

The mayor also hinted the incident could affect the completion of an LDS meeting house in San Luis. The town had welcomed the ward house but Mendoza-Green now questions the town's decision. The town signed off on plans for the 6,000-square-foot ward house, despite critics who said the building did not fit in the heart of San Luis — Colorado's oldest settlement — which is a National Historic District.

The LDS church initially planned to build one of its standard red brick ward houses, but agreed to use tan-colored, stucco walls to match the town's historic architecture. The building should be complete at the end of May.

One resident has already called for the Mormon church to remove the steeple from the meeting house and donate it to the town to serve as a community center.

Colorado Springs LDS Mission President Robert Fotheringham, said the church's suspended missionary program would return to San Luis,. But, he said, healing needed to take place in the community before that would happen.