Quinns polygamy essay, meanwhile, produced more trouble for him with LDS leaders. This massive housecleaning may be one of the church's largest since the 1850s, when thousands were excommunicated for everything from poor hygiene . When Hanks showed up on Quinns doorstep in Salt Lake City that February, he brought a letter citing two of Quinns articles and a statement Quinn made to a reporter in 1991 as evidence that he was an apostate. My strong hunch is that she is a cultural Mormon who no longer believes, pays tithing or observes the WoW, and that she's loosey-goosey with her attendance. (He also, as it happens, officiated at the wedding of my parents.) I did. Since I'm there every Sunday, I don't fit their model of an excommunicated member. The LDS church does not remove any name from the list unless the person is excommunicated, asks to be removed or is dead. Dear Reader: When I began this series of essays on leadership, I never anticipated the final installment would chronicle recent events that have triggered the biggest spiritual struggle of my life. At the conference, he spoke about the history of same-sex relationships in the church and the shifting attitudes toward them on the part of Mormon leaders. All rights reserved. Quinn studied English literature in collegehe attended BYUbut during his three-year stint in the military he decided to become a historian, and make what had become a consuming pastime into his profession. The biggest thing that got me was the excommunication of bill reel segment of the Mormon stories podcast. Quinn went to Californiahe had another fellowship at the Huntington Librarystaying this time with his mother. If those top leaders did not know where he lived, then they could not assign him to a particular stake, and his church membership could not be threatened. I assumed there was a way to work it out. Once in a while such a case will hit the press. Last edited on 30 November 2022, at 04:21, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Speaking Tubes in the Household of Faith", "A Light Unto the World: Image Building Is Anathema to Christian Living", "From the Editors: Stretching Toward the Light", "From the Editors: A Failure to Communicate", "Church Historian: Evolution of a Calling", "Tales of a true believer: picking up faith along the way", "Books: Mormon Novels Entertain While Teaching Lessons", "Twenty Years Ago in Sunstone: Symbol and Promise", "Peggy Fletcher Stack: Happy 100th to my physicist father, who remains a truth seeker in science and faith", "Utahn who pioneered synthesized stereo sound will receive posthumous Grammy", "Despite Growth, Mormons Find New Hurdles", "Nobody Knows Religion Quite Like Peggy Fletcher Stack", "Religion Newswriters Association honors top religion reporting", "Religion News Association names winners of 2017 Awards for Excellence in Religion Reporting", "Winners named in 2018 RNA Awards for Religion Reporting Excellence", "Journalism Awards - Winners and Articles", "The 2017 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Local Reporting: The Salt Lake Tribune Staff", "Religion Newswriters Association announces 2008 contest winners", "Religion Newswriters Association names winners of 2015 Awards for Excellence in Religion Reporting", "Religion News Association names winners of 2016 Awards for Excellence in Religion Reporting", "SL Tribune's Peggy Fletcher Stack wins top religion reporting prize for fifth year", "Dreams, Dollars, and Dr. Pepper: Allen Roberts & Peggy Fletcher Years (19781980)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peggy_Fletcher_Stack&oldid=1124718303, "Nation's Founders: How Religious Were They? Excommunication has played a significant role throughout the churchs history. It took several hoursa vigil was held outside for the first few, with candles and hymns and hot chocolate. By Peggy Fletcher Stack By David Noyce For the first time in nearly 30 years, the Mormon church has excommunicated one of its top leaders. She has sat quietly in the same pew as the emblems of the sacrament, or communion, have passed by her more than 1,200 times without being able to partake. She's been covering religion for the paper since 1991 taking on a variety of topics, but mostly the LDS Church. England said he knew about this espionage systemit was called the Strengthening Church Members Committee, and it compiled documents and highlighted statements considered critical of the church. Where else would I be but in the church? He had also just published an article titled The Mormon Succession Crisis of 1844, which detailed the confusion about who should succeed Joseph Smith after his assassination. Quinn attended that ward in Westwood every week while he was in California. Independent publicationsmost notably Dialogue (founded in 1966) and Sunstone (1974)provided forums for scholarship and reflection about Mormon history and theology. The meaning of EXCOMMUNICATION is an ecclesiastical censure depriving a person of the rights of church membership. Soon after, he happened to attend, with some friends, a meeting of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a splinter sect that believes Joseph Smiths son, not Brigham Young, was Smiths rightful successor as prophet. Most people don't know I've been excommunicated. But he could no longer go to the temple. See Photos. By Peggy Fletcher Stack The Salt Lake Tribune. Saturday, February 22, 1997. He also mentioned reading Quinns long Dialogue article about the politics of Ezra Taft Benson. During Quinns college years, BYUs president, Ernest Wilkinson, organized a student spy ring intended to catch out professors with communist leanings. A candlelight vigil was held outside the Salt Lake City meetinghouse where it took place. Anderson was photographed at her Salt Lake City home on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019. Since then, only one Avraham Gileadi, an Old Testament scholar who has spent his life researching and . I feel like I am going by proxy for others who feel too damaged, too hurt and afraid to go. The Mormon church is organized into congregations called wards; a group of these is called a stake. If her reentry had been approved, Anderson would have been the third of the six the other five are Avraham Gileadi, Lynne Kanavel Whitesides, D. Michael Quinn, Paul Toscano and Maxine Hanks to be welcomed back into full fellowship with the Utah-based faith. By the time Quinn arrived, the program had been disavowed, and many of these baptisms needed to be undone. Grant, an LDS Church president, a granddaughter of United States Senator from Utah, Wallace F. Bennett, and a granddaughter of American physicist Harvey Fletcher. He makes fun of the church by making fun of himself and stodgy rank and file, as well as cultural absurdities. Religion Two decades after she was "exed," Utah writer still attends her LDS ward. She has been visited by all her ward and stake leaders since 1993, she said, but this was the first time anyone had ever proposed it. In 1981, he gave an address to church educators called The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect, which was organized around four cautions. The second of them is this: There is a temptation for the writer or teacher of church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith-promoting or not. Packers notion that those writing church history should share only those things that are faith-promoting is not just intellectually offensive nowit has become quaint, the relic of a time when information was not so freely available. Lavina Fielding Anderson, who was excommunicated in 1993 as part of the so-called September Six, has had her request for rebaptism into the LDS Church rejected by the faith's governing First Presidency after being approved by her local lay leaders. I was not surprised or angry about the outcome, Anderson said Wednesday, and she has no plans to try to open that door again. [5], In 1975, following discussions with Scott Kenney and others, she helped found Sunstone, an independent magazine of Mormon studies. KRE/AMB END STACK Now I see that he just didn't appreciate the dishonesty associated with his grandpa. "It will be a chance for a larger audience to hear this story," she said, and to hear how people can wrestle with their faith and then live it out. The regional council forwarded her request to church headquarters, with the recommendation that she be approved for rebaptism. From that point on, she explored various Christian teachings and practices, assisted clergy with religious services and served as volunteer chaplain at Holy Cross Chapel for 13 years. That, in any case, was his thinking. We had been home about 20 minutes when two high counselors came to our house and delivered a letter, inviting me to a disciplinary hearing two weeks from that day. He was troubled by the openness with which materials were being made available to certain individuals other than those authorized, according to Lucile C. Tates admiring 1995 biography, Boyd K. Packer: Watchman on the Tower. Bad marriages had women running to and away from . People named Peggy Fletcher. Supposedly Nelson, like Benson, was a supporter of the John Birch Society, a radically right-wing, conspiracy-mongering, anti-Communist group. In a detailed confession, Hofmann said that he had secretly stopped believing in Mormonism as a teenager and had hatched a plan to embarrass the church by creating fake documents that exposed uncomfortable facts about early Mormon history. Down in Provo, Avraham Gileadi met more quietly with his local leaders. It was really important to Paul and me that Christian grow up in a religious community, and the church was the one we chose. Since then, only one Avraham Gileadi, an Old Testament scholar who has spent his life researching and writing about the biblical oracle Isaiah's prophecies about our time has been rebaptized into the faith. He does not have friends in Rancho Cucamonga. This made some church leaders uneasy. Later he was told that despite his request that no one speak for him, a friend had attended and done just that, playing recordings of Quinns presentations at past Sunstone Symposia and reading excerpts from his writings. I attended the Sunstone Symposium this past summer, held on the University of Utah campus, and many people I spoke to there said that as Packers influence has waned, a more tolerant approach to dissent is taking hold. Hankswhose nephew Paul would show up on Quinns doorstep in 1993was himself a general authority, and he had overseen the two-year Mormon mission Quinn served in England after his freshman year at BYU. Hanks officially came back into the fold in 2012. Disciplinary councils still happen, though they appear to be less frequent, particularly when it comes to apostasy. Robert Kirby does this also, but much more indirectly. At first, his timing appeared serendipitous: In 1972, while he was completing a masters in history at the University of Utah, an academic named Leonard Arrington was appointed church historian. I prayed every article I wrote into print, he said, continually asking God what he should do. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. c. 2014 Salt Lake Tribune(RNS) The Mormon Church insists that excommunication threats targeting activists Kate Kelly and John Dehlin were generated by their respective LDS leaders in Virginia and northern Utah.Others see the timing as evidence that the two disciplinary hearings are being coordinated from the faith's Salt Lake City headquarters.But this much is certain: If Mormon higher-ups . She said hello, but he did not recognize her. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. And the Tribune is changing with it. Even after that, a few high-ranking Mormons continued to authorize such marriages. When his mother died in 2007, she left him the condo. But that was not how he experienced it. Grant, a President of the LDS Church and is the granddaughter of United States Senator from Utah Wallace F. Bennett. Most memorably, Harris says that the spirit who appeared to Smith and directed him to the golden platesfrom which Smith claimed to have translated Mormonisms founding scriptureappeared as a white salamander and struck Smith three times. On Sunday with similar church disciplinary actions threatening Mormon feminist Kate Kelly and blogger John Dehlin, Anderson discussed her spiritual journey: What triggered the LDS Church's disciplinary action against you? Two decades ago, Maxine Hanks could not have imagined where her spiritual journey would take her, but she knew this much: She would not likely be walking into the waters of Mormon baptism. All rights reserved. Today, its Nelson, with a new counselor, Oaks, instead of Dieter F. Uchtdorf. By Peggy Fletcher Stack. And he continued to correspond with Paul Hanks, who had written to express his displeasure at seeing his words quoted in the newspaper. Feb 17. After high school, Christian went to Stanford, and we thought, "This may be where we hear bad news." After 18 months, he moved to New Orleans, where it was less expensive to live. The Strengthening Church Members Committee almost certainly passed along notes about Quinn to his new stake president, Paul Hanks, in early 1993. She has participated as much as she was able playing the piano and singing in the choir and watched as seven lay bishops have come and gone. I found this tl/dr written by Peggy Fletcher Stack in the Salt Lake Tribune:. The modern Mormon church has become a fairly top-down organization, but most responsibility for attending to its members still resides in local lay leaders. "We pray that a spirit of clemency will guide the words and actions of everyone especially those who bear the heavy responsibility of ecclesiastical discipline of church members and that the words of President [Dieter F.] Uchtdorf [second counselor in faith's governing First Presidency] will hold sway: "Regardless of your circumstances, your personal history, or the strength of your testimony, there is room for you in this church. On the Sunday it was held, Quinn went to a movie theater in downtown Salt Lake and bought a ticket for the first screening he could find, to take his mind off the disciplinary council. Dubbed the September Six, the group were mostly left-leaning writers and scholars who had published articles or given talks about the role of women in Mormonism and the way the churchs leaders handle dissent. July 26, 2012 12:03 pm . Stack has been the lead religion writer for The Salt Lake Tribune since 1991. . I love the gospel. He loves cities, and when he lived in New Orleans in the early 90s, he made friends in bars and in an informal group of gay professionals who gathered once a month. In 1981, he produced a blessing allegedly given by Joseph Smith to his son Joseph Smith III, declaring him my successor in the Presidency of the High Priesthood. The document was partly inspired, it appears, by The Mormon Succession Crisis of 1844, which refers to such a blessing. And he was the most strident of the group when it came to denouncing internal critics of Mormon leaders and teachings. Denver Snuffer . Stack is an advisor on religion to the Public Broadcasting Service,[2] and has written two books. Truth is, she has never stopped attending her Mormon ward. Gileadi, Toscano, Anderson, and Hanks were all excommunicated. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. He normalized what many call "sinful" behavior, by admitting to looking at nudie mags, drinking, smoking, and intimated other transgressions, yet still going on a mission. I don't think I could have done that graciously. The church has control of my membership; I decide whether I'm Mormon or not. Look at Steve Benson, I suspect that there was no way they were going to ex him so he exed himself. Within the past few years, Bradley had a change of heart and was rebaptized. When they left, they said, "Have a nice day," to which I replied, "You have just assured that I will not.". Her explorations gave Hanks a new level of understanding and "testimony" of Mormonism. Anderson was excommunicated for an article she wrote in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought that described episodes of what she called ecclesiastical abuse of Latter-day Saint intellectuals. Not long after that, the bishop met with Anderson and asked her ever so gently if she would like to discuss reinstatement. (These soon-to-be former Mormons were not required to attend.) Quinn was an ordinance worker, meaning he went to the temple regularly and helped others perform those rites. Hanks return predated the Ordain Women movement, which pushed for women to join the faiths priesthood, said Latter-day Saint scholar Matthew Bowman, who heads the Mormon studies program at Claremont Graduate University in Southern California. They divorced soon after. We had stake [regional] conference in September. I love John and I support him, but I have never made any claim against truth claims of the church. Bradley and Hanks are friends who trod a lot of common ground, Robertson said. Look at Steve Benson, I suspect that there was no way they were going to ex him so he exed himself. Though he maintained a solemn belief in the Mormon gospel and in the sacrament partaken of by the faithful at Sunday services, he stopped attending church altogether. According the her Wikipedia page: She is a great-granddaughter of Heber J. But he had a caring bishop that first year and decided on his own to serve a mission. [4] During her time there, she has met and interviewed the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Gordon B. Hinckley, among others. Going to the temple, but I feel that it's more important to have the temple in me than for me to be in the temple. Peggy Fletcher-Stack. Some things that are true are not very useful. Its not clear whether Packer read Quinns work before interviewing him, but if he did, it probably would have struck him as less than useful. was pressured to resign from Brigham Young University and subsequently excommunicated from the faith in 1993 as part of the famed "September Six . It sent him down a rabbit hole. This is maybe where John and I are very different. Few people had attended the talk itself, but an independent BYU newspaper ran a story about it, and copies of Quinns remarks, titled On Being a Mormon Historian, began to circulate. Quinn is no longer actively seeking an academic job. The stake president, who oversees a number of congregations, remained optimistic, she said, zeroing in on the words, at this time., But the writer replied, Theres hope, and then theres experience., Besides, she said, it was a form letter.. Dallin Oaks speaking at the General Conference in April 1989. One of Ordain Womens founders, Kate Kelly, was excommunicated in June 2014. One theory on that first day of panic was that the bombings were connected with the business, an investment company called CFS. Years ago, Don Bradley, a longtime scholar of Mormon history, asked to have his name removed from LDS membership rolls when participation became uncomfortable. He also criticized Ezra Taft Benson, then a senior apostle, who had made comments similar to Packers. Did the Utah Legislature do enough to save the Great Salt Lake? Fixed: Release in which this issue/RFE has been fixed.The release containing this fix may be available for download as an Early Access Release or a General Availability Release. The seventh son of Taylors third wife, Samuel sympathetically portrays his notorious father, who continued to marry multiple wives well after the LDS church officially renounced polygamy in 1890. [5], The Stacks traveled in Africa for a year,[5] then settled in New York City for five years,[1] where she worked as the editor of the Hastings Center Report while her husband attended film school. [3] She is a great-granddaughter of Heber J. He said it was apostasy because I believed that general authorities had done something wrong. The second thing that happens is members learn to be afraid of leaders, and leaders learn to be afraid of members. Just before his excommunication, in the spring of 1993, Quinn bore his testimony at the singles ward he was attending each week in Westwood, near UCLA. If the blessing really happened, then Brigham Young, who led the early Mormons to Utah, might have been wrong to seize control of the church after Smiths murder. In Mormon history circles, this period is often called the Camelot years., After those 18 months, Quinn left for Yale to do a Ph.D. and finished it in just three years. . So she met with local and high Mormon leaders and, after several months, they set a baptismal date. I have kept my covenants, remained close to the church and have felt that what I have done is accepted by the Lord, the Salt Lake City editor and writer said. In 1975, partly at Packers urging, Leonard Arringtons role at the church historians office was greatly diminished. My searching was complete. Vacillating Wildly From Dispiriting to Exhilarating, the worldwide effort to bring salvation to all of Gods children, Some things that are true are not very useful, LDS Authority and New Plural Marriages, 18901904, this growing conflict between leaders and intellectuals, Mormon Women Have Had the Priesthood Since 1843, Quinns paper about the Baseball Baptism Program, the responsibility to preserve the doctrinal purity of the church, critical pieces he had written about Mitt Romney, Hanks described her path back to Mormonism, the administration caved to pressure from Ira Fulton. Born in 1924 in Brigham City, Utah, the 10th of 11 children, Packer worked for years as a teacher and administrator in the Church Educational System. They can't ex someone with that king of lineage. The accused is called in, another prayer is offered, and the court proceeds. They didn't say anything. There are other matters that I need to talk with you about that are not related to your historical writings. But it also betrayed tensions within the church that may never entirely go away. Why didn't you go to the hearing to defend yourself? Arrington). Peggy Fletcher Stack has been reporting on faith and religion since 1991. But nothing else has driven him to contribute to the lives of others the way the faith in which he was born and raised once did. In the summer of 1952, the late Sterling McMurrin, an eminent philosopher and writer, met with two LDS apostles to defend his theological views.With complete candor, McMurrin laid out for Elders Joseph Fielding Smith and Harold . I accuse that committee, England declared, of undermining our Church.. Dated Oct. 23, 1830, the letter was addressed to an early Mormon convert named W.W. Phelps and signed Martin Harris. That's a good question. A diligent historian, meanwhile, will come to see that the truth of the matter is complicated. He moved back to Utah and began receiving mail at his actual address. by Peggy Fletcher Stack (Salt Lake Tribune) 06-23-2015. Until 23 years ago, one could not formally leave the church without being excommunicated. . Oaks said Packer had met with Toscanos stake president, and acknowledged that this was a mistake. It is always harder on the loved one who has to stand by and see someone they love being hurt. Hofmann eventually became, in the words of one expert, the most skilled forger this country has ever seen. For LDS leaders nervous about church history, he was a nightmare personified: a lying, murderous man hell-bent on embarrassing the religion while glorifying and enriching himself. They can't ex someone with that king of lineage. I always felt that I had Gods sanction and encouragement, so I went ahead following that path. Even early on, a fellow Mormon historian started telling Quinn he must have a death wish regarding his membership in the church. After the Newsweek article ran, Quinn got a phone call from Marion D. Hanks. BYU and Utah State both wanted to hire him. News. At Yale, while serving as one of two counselors to the local bishop, he found unanswered letters in the wards files from people who wished to leave the church. He himself did not even stay in town. . But 90 percent of the ward has changed since my court. The stake president, a man named Paul Hanks, tried to step into the apartment as he said hello, Quinn recalls. By Peggy Fletcher Stack The Salt Lake Tribune. He went to San Diego to give the keynote address for the annual conference held by Affirmation, a support group for gay and lesbian Mormons, and he stayed in California for several days afterward. Vern Anderson wrote an AP story about the book, and several Utah papers carried reviews. Peggy Fletcher-Stack: Hi Dave. It really hurt my feelings. Last month, for instance, the Daily Beast reported that a blogger named David Twede was facing excommunication because of critical pieces he had written about Mitt Romney. They had the responsibility to preserve the doctrinal purity of the church, they said, adding that, because Mormon leaders are constrained by confidentiality rules, the media have relied on information supplied by those disciplined or by their sympathizers. Similar councils occurred more sporadically over the next few years. He later got married in the temple, while I sat outside with friends. That last comment became the caption for a Newsweek photo three months later, when the magazines religion reporter, Kenneth L. Woodward, wrote a 1,000-word story about Quinns talk and the controversy it prompted. I had received a blessing from a former stake president, assuring me that when the time was right, it would come very easily, so I could be at peace. Nor does it read like one. The timing of his career, which once appeared serendipitous, now seems almost cruel. Hi, Peggy. My guess is she has to be to keep the doors open so people willing to talk to her. Unresolved: Release in which this issue/RFE will be addressed. She was told to pass along this message: Im tired of hearing him criticize the church. Just go to . Gileadi, a Hebrew scholar who got into trouble for unorthodox writings about the biblical Isaiah, was rebaptized within several years. The essay, Mormon Women Have Had the Priesthood Since 1843, cites writings by Joseph Smith and other early church documents to argue that women already possess much of the spiritual authority granted to men, and that todays LDS leaders simply fail to recognize this. The stake president said I was "exed" for apostasy but I didn't really fit the handbook definition. That was my decision. She studied "traditional, sacramental Christianity and priesthood," Hanks said this week. I love the church. Hanks told him he had been excommunicated, and said that the court lasted six hours. Quinn, who later assisted the police in their investigation, did not go home for several days.
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