The prophet at the time was Ezra Taft Benson, who, at age 94, was mostly incapacitated. Quinn was already on the alert for such wrinkles in the churchs history. And the Tribune is changing with it. He went to stay instead with an old college friend, Richard Lambert. 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. I go over the temple ceremony and the covenants in my mind and remake them before the Lord often. Part of what I feel is a calling to be there. Which has also, it seems, made Michael Quinns singular focus on the unspoken parts of the Mormon past less relevant to younger historians, who operate with more freedom and less pressureand who draw far more interest than their predecessors from the wider world, which has suddenly become fascinated by Mormonism. Even after that, a few high-ranking Mormons continued to authorize such marriages. A church spokesman told him that it did exist, and the First Presidency issued a formal statement about it the following week. Lavina Fielding Anderson may have been excommunicated from the LDS Church for apostasy more than 20 years ago, but don't think for a minute that this Utah writer is now an outsider to her faith. 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. 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. Quinns status in the church remained unchanged. When his mother died in 2007, she left him the condo. Anderson was photographed at her Salt Lake City home on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019. My own name remains on the rolls of the church, and I plan to leave it there, though I stopped believing in the Mormon gospel 15 years ago. Instead, he simply took away Quinns temple recommend. Temples, distinct from regular meetinghouses, are reserved for sacred rituals, and require a recommend, a small card indicating ones worthiness, to enter. As a Mormon, he also knew that same-sex attraction was considered unfortunate at bestsomething to be struggled with, and, if possible, overcome. He didn't seem to know what footnotes are so he thought I made the whole thing up. Snuffer was excommunicated. Just prior to reading Family Kingdom hed seen an anti-Mormon pamphlet called The Book of Mormon Examined, which highlighted hundreds of changes Joseph Smith made to the Mormon scripture in its first few printings. . By: Peggy Fletcher Stack. He recounted what his former stake president, Hugh West, had done when he received what Quinn saw as similar orders from above. 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. But gradually, pressure on Mormon scholars eased, and today many write and publish without any obvious concern for what their stake presidents might think. A beaming Bishop Madrigal said I should expect very soon to get a telephone call scheduling an interview with a general authority, she wrote. Then he made copies of his letter and Hanks letter and dropped them off at the offices of Vern Anderson and Peggy Fletcher Stack, a former Sunstone editor who had become a religion reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune. Two of the so-called "September Six" have found their way back into the LDS fold while Anderson though never rebaptized in some ways has never left. Wearing a bathrobe, he answered after several rings and found three men in suits and ties on his doorstep. Quinn read fiction, too, including James Baldwins new book, Giovannis Room. That was my decision. Mystery! The intellectual climate had improved under Oaks, people said. During Quinns New Orleans years, the First Presidency put out a statement discouraging Mormons from participating in academic conferences and other independent forums devoted to the discussion of their faith. 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. ", Kelly writes in London's Guardian newspaper "For me it is because of my faith and not in spite of it that I have a desire to stand up for myself and my sisters. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Down in Provo, Avraham Gileadi met more quietly with his local leaders. (Rick Bowmer/AP) This article is more than 8 years old. This is not entirely uncommon in Mormon culture, but Quinn took it sincerely to heart. [Excommunicated Mormons are not supposed to take communion.] Two years later, he was called as an apostle. He had become a father figure of sorts, even officiating at Quinns marriage ceremony. 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. 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. by Peggy Fletcher Stack (Salt Lake Tribune) 06-23-2015. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. She did, however, tell her leaders her concerns about church exclusion policies: barring worthy LGBTQ couples who are legally married from full participation; blocking worthy and righteous women from the male-only priesthood; and keeping Mother in Heaven from her place in our understanding.. 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. West said hed been told by a higher authority to take further action to remedy the situation, Quinn says. Robert Kirby does this also, but much more indirectly. There have always been dissidents in the Mormon ranksthe religion itself is one particularly dramatic dissent from the rest of Christian traditionbut a new community of Mormon intellectuals had coalesced in the 1960s and 70s. But multiple faculty members argued that, in the words of one professor, Mike was not the right person to head up any kind of Mormon history or Mormonstudies program given the fact hes very publicly excommunicated. Mormons from around the world have gathered to listen to church leaders during the two-day conference. Hebrew scholar Avraham Gileadi has been rebaptized into the LDS Church after being excommunicated for apostasy along with five other writers and scholars in September 1993. The second thing that happens is members learn to be afraid of leaders, and leaders learn to be afraid of members. On Sept. 30 he called Hanks to ask what the court had decided. Disciplinary councils still happen, though they appear to be less frequent, particularly when it comes to apostasy. Hired in 1991 to cover Utah's various faiths, particularly Mormonism, Peggy has talked forgiveness with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, nearly fainted waiting for the Dalai Lama, fasted with Muslims during Ramadan and has reported on 50 consecutive semiannual LDS General Conferences. This friend, Quinn says, told him that the men on the council disagreed about whether Quinn was an apostate, and that President Hanks finally declared that Boyd K. Packer was pressing him to take action, and they needed to do something. He, the bishop, and the other counselor held the necessary courts, excommunicating those who wanted out. There was no process for voluntary withdrawal from the Mormon Church in the 1960s, so each of these kids had to be excommunicatedtechnically, for apostasy. By Peggy Fletcher Stack. 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 . (He also, as it happens, officiated at the wedding of my parents.) She's been covering religion for the paper since 1991 taking on a variety of topics, but mostly the LDS Church. BYU and Utah State both wanted to hire him. He referred to the pathos that I felt in your private letters to mea plea to not be discarded from something that you love. I want to help resolve that pathos, he added, and a sadness that seems to pervade your private writing to me.. 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. The Mormon church holds two different kinds of disciplinary councils: a more elaborate process that is often reserved for those who hold the Melchizedek priesthoodgenerally speaking, all devout adult menand a simpler process mostly used for those who dontmeaning women and men who have not advanced far in the church. Peggy Fletcher Stack is the religion columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, and one of the founders of Sunstone. Some did not know that they were. "Given who I was, there was no place to go but out," Hanks said in 2003, on the 10th anniversary of the excommunications. Would love to hear your stories about her. In May, my stake president called me in about it. (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) These dangers, Packer said, were the relatively new feminist and gay-lesbian movements, and the ever-present challenge from the so-called scholars or intellectuals.. The other five people who were by then being referred to as the September Six had already faced their courts. It will be published next year. News. I could imagine the First Presidency thinking that this is not an episode worth revisiting, Bowman wrote in an email. . Quinn attended that ward in Westwood every week while he was in California. It was his death and funeral that prompted the couples current bishop to bring up the possibility of her rejoining the church. He decided that only 16 of the changes were significant. ", This page was last edited on 30 November 2022, at 04:21. Hi, Peggy. June 19, 2014 ; 1 of 9; Grant, a President of the LDS Church and is the granddaughter of United States Senator from Utah Wallace F. Bennett. I love John and I support him, but I have never made any claim against truth claims of the church. Mormon author Grant H. Palmer has been summoned to an LDS Church disciplinary hearing on Sunday, facing possible excommunication for apostasy. His father was never Mormon: The son of Mexican immigrants, he changed his namethough never legallyfrom Daniel Pea to Donald Quinn, apparently wanting to escape his heritage as well as his poverty. Her testimony was that of a believer, Madrigal later told her. 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. After the church court, when I walked into the chapel, it took about three times longer to get to my seat because so many people hugged me. No way. We appreciate the search for knowledge and the discussion of gospel subjects, the First Presidency said. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. The term "September Six" was coined by The Salt Lake Tribune and was used in the media and subsequent discussion. Groundbreaking Emma Smith biographer, a 'giant' in Mormon scholarship, dies at 82. See Photos. (Peggy Fletcher Stack writes for The Salt Lake Tribune.) Even in the novels, he noticed, the gay characters came to terrible ends. In her paper, she mentioned an internal espionage system that creates and maintains secret files on members of the church. A BYU literature professor named Eugene England rose to speak as soon as Anderson finished. [5] They moved to Utah in 1991 when she was hired to be the religion writer for The Salt Lake Tribune, where much of her reporting has focused on the LDS Church. If he doesnt, I have his phone number and I know where he lives. 9:30AM EDT 8/29/2017 Peggy Fletcher Stack/RNS. [3] She is a great-granddaughter of Heber J. The [women's] Relief Society president found a way to involve me as a "permanent substitute" for Relief Society pianist. Those 15 men oversee the multiple Quorums of the Seventy, who in turn direct the stake presidents and bishops who minister to congregations on a part-time, voluntary basis. And it was not popular with those of the brethren that Quinn had already angered with his talk on Mormon history four years before. McLean invited her, she said, to describe her faith in a letter, which includes her conviction that God cherishes everyone. Looking back, it was a real blessing. Jay Christian, left, and thousands of other people protest against the passage of Californias Proposition 8 outside the world headquarters of Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 2008 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Vern Anderson wrote an AP story about the book, and several Utah papers carried reviews. July 26, 2012 12:03 pm . By Chris Jorgensen and Peggy Fletcher Stack The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is purging hundreds of Mormon dissidents who church officials say are preoccupied unduly with Armageddon. Quinn had been avoiding this confrontation for nearly five years. This other Quinn was not home when the call came, and a baby-sitter answered the phone. I prayed every article I wrote into print, he said, continually asking God what he should do. The church reports a worldwide membership of 16 million. There were stretches of time when he was the only deacon, and he and I would exchange glances as he passed the sacrament to our row. Excommunication opened the door to a larger cosmos, inside and outside myself.". Neither Paul nor I nor Christian had to field a single negative comment the next week, when we went to church in our ward. The cabin has no phone access, so I had months [after her initial conversation with the stake president] to think about it. The stake president said I was "exed" for apostasy but I didn't really fit the handbook definition. Gileadi, a Hebrew scholar who got into trouble for unorthodox writings about the biblical Isaiah, was rebaptized within several years. After 18 months, he moved to New Orleans, where it was less expensive to live. ``It was like `We're here to support you, Brother Gileadi,' '' he said of the atmosphere at the . He contends that a former director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir had openly romantic feelings for men, and highlights a once hushed-up gay affair from the 1940s between a prominent church leader and a 21-year-old Mormon serving in the Navy. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. The Salt Lake Tribune's Peggy Fletcher Stack, a . Why didn't you go to the hearing to defend yourself? They cited a 19th-century revelation to Joseph Smith, in which he spoke of the saints gathering up a knowledge of all the facts, and sufferings and abuses put upon them, and said that perhaps a committee can be appointed to find out these things, and to take statements and affidavits; and also to gather up the libelous publications that are afloat. The First Presidency did not mention that when Smith received this revelation he was in prison in Missouri, where a Mormon extermination order had been decreed by the governor not long before. The Quarum of 12 Apostles wanted to ex her, but the Quarum of Public Relations blocked their move. P The Sunstone Symposium runs July 25-28 at the University of Utah's Olpin Student Union. Then he made copies of his letter and Hanks' letter and dropped them off at the offices of Vern Anderson and Peggy Fletcher Stack, a former Sunstone editor who had become a religion reporter for . By Peggy Fletcher Stack and David Noyce Sep. 7, 2022 What this sociologist (Darron Smith) and Peggy Fletcher Stack fail to recognize is that Mormon racism isn't in the past, it's in the present. A former BYU professor named David Wright was excommunicated in 1994 after publishing a paper arguing that the Book of Mormon was not an ancient text. A view of the Salt Lake Temple outside Olympic Medals Plaza in Salt Lake City, Utah. 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? I might have lost my soul, but at least I still have my mind. Hanks rejoined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in February. Quinn showed that Brigham Young had a legitimate claim to the calling, though he was not the only one who did. Lavina Fielding Anderson, one of the famed September Six writers and scholars disciplined by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1993, got a big no last week to her request for rebaptism from the men who matter most: the faiths governing First Presidency. It was run by William O. Nelson, he said, once an assistant to Ezra Taft Benson who now reported to Boyd K. Packer. Where a skeptic sees convenience, a believer may see Gods hand. He revised the story occasionally over the next decade, submitting it unsuccessfully to the Paris Review and the Atlantic. (There is no conclusive evidence it took place, Quinn writes, but he does not dismiss the idea of one outright.) He visited these homes with his missionary companion and asked the boys if they still wanted to be Mormons. What's happening is so wrong. (Quinn attempted to reach this friend through a third party before my piece was finished, but declined to give me his name before speaking to him.) The bishops next comment was, Whats wrong with those people up in Salt Lake? He was thrilled to have Quinn in his ward. One of Ordain Womens founders, Kate Kelly, was excommunicated in June 2014. At least, that's how Hall sees it. Though a lifelong Latter-day Saint, Hanks had not been attending a Mormon ward for several years. Paul Toscanos sister-in-law was excommunicated for her writings about the Heavenly Mother, a controversial aspect of Mormon theology. By declining to talk with any priesthood leaders, he wrote, you are cutting yourself off from the blessings of the Temple and the blessings of the priesthood. He insinuated that the churchs problems with Quinn were not all theological. [15], Stack wrote a children's book about religion with artist Kathleen B. Petersen, entitled A World of Faith, published in 1998.[4][16]. by Peggy Fletcher Stack. If you've picked up a copy of the Salt Lake Tribune in the last 26 years, you know Peggy Fletcher Stack's name. There are other matters that I need to talk with you about that are not related to your historical writings. Salt Lake City Laurie Lee Hall was excommunicated from the LDS Church for being a woman. He turned 65 two years later, making him eligible for Social Security and Medicare. Her sincere belief in Jesus and determination to follow him no matter the adversity faced within or without the church should be commended, and this good and faithful servant should be rewarded, he wrote. Quinn wrote back more harshly this time, listing all the things Hanks had done that troubled him. This has been intentional. 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. This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. The Bible and the Book of Mormon, which depict flawed, human prophets, are, Quinn said, an absolute refutation of the kind of history Packer advocated. LDS officials disciplined Anderson and five other Mormon intellectuals in and around the fall of 1993. What to him and others that is so threatening is that this [Ordain Women movement] is coming from a very faithful, devout perspective. "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. According the her Wikipedia page: She is a great-granddaughter of Heber J. Religion Two decades after she was "exed," Utah writer still attends her LDS ward. I felt they were not going to drive me away. Paul's mother was great. The entry for perversion said See homosexuality, and he read all the available books in that categorynot a lot in a small public library in 1956, though fairly heady stuff for a 12-year-old: Kinseys Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, some Freud, some Havelock Ellis. The Mormon church is organized into congregations called wards; a group of these is called a stake. 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. The movie was a live-action adaptation of the Nintendo game Super Mario Bros. Maybe she wants to be, though. [5] She then received a fellowship to work in the Church History Division of the LDS Church (then run by Leonard J. She won the Cornell Award for Excellence in Religion ReportingMid-sized Newspapers from the Religious News Association in 2004, 2012, 2017, 2018, and 2022. The church declined to comment on the decision. By Peggy Fletcher Stack The Salt Lake Tribune. She studied "traditional, sacramental Christianity and priesthood," Hanks said this week. Daryl Peveto/Luceo Images for Slate. After it was published, Hugh West, the president of his stake in Salt Lake CityQuinn never moved to Provo, finding the hourlong commute worth it to live in Utahs one metropolisasked to see him. Supposedly Nelson, like Benson, was a supporter of the John Birch Society, a radically right-wing, conspiracy-mongering, anti-Communist group. In 2004, after a series of fellowships and visiting appointments, he was the only finalist for a tenured position at the University of Utah. In the early 90s, when he was living in New Orleans, Quinn, nearing his 50th birthday, tried his hand at fiction, going back to the literature he once studied as an undergraduate. They were receptive. ", Kelly goes on KUER's Radio West "A lot of people are asking me why I came forward [with the news of my disciplinary hearing]. . Peggy Fletcher Stack, David Noyce 3/23/2022. [9] She started the "Faith" column after a discussion with Tribune editor Jay Shelledy. Peggy Fletcher Stack is an American journalist, editor, and author. The Mormon church, he said, drew him out of his largely monastic life and compelled him to help the men and women he saw every Sunday. "But when I got to the point of priestly ordination, I pulled back. I did. 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. Hanks officially came back into the fold in 2012. For details, go to http://www.sunstonemagazine.com/symposium. "All they asked me about was my relationship to Jesus Christ. She declined. I found this tl/dr written by Peggy Fletcher Stack in the Salt Lake Tribune:. Boyd Packer, left, and Dallin Oaks, right, Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wait for the start of the first session of the 181st Semiannual General Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011. I had a spiritual prompting that summer staying at my cabin that I wasn't to go. When he came to understand this aspect of himself, and learned a name for it, he did what was already typical of him at that age: He went to the library. Kelly was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in June. TV and newspaper reporters came. I asked Quinn this past summer if he thought the provocations he penned as a historian might have been fueled on some level by his own inner conflict with Mormon teachingsif perhaps, unconsciously, he wanted to force a showdown with church authorities. After the Newsweek article ran, Quinn got a phone call from Marion D. Hanks. For her part, Anderson always has felt a great sense of peace that I made a moral decision, an ethical decision, a decision of integrity and conscience, she wrote. By Peggy Fletcher Stack After an exhausting six-hour disciplinary hearing Sunday, Mormon leaders temporarily suspended Grant H. Palmer's membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quinns religious status wouldofficially, at leastbe decided by his own stake president, not by the higher-ups in Salt Lake City. The high council also heard from Andersons son, Christian, who offered his personal assessment. But that was not how he experienced it. Peggy Fletcher Fletcher (Peggy Bennett Fletcher) See Photos. But 90 percent of the ward has changed since my court. It struck him as an old missionarys trick. The charge stems from Palmer's 2002 book, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, which challenges the traditional explanations of the faith's founding . My stake president said in an email, if I [didn't] come forward and tell people that I am not a member in good standing, he would. 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. She was upset that he was not attending church, and so he drove 45 minutes to a singles ward, a Mormon congregation specifically for unmarried adults, near UCLA. Then I went away to my cabin for the summer and he called all the temples in Utah, saying he was canceling my recommend. I could listen to the spirit there. Grant, an LDS Church president, a granddaughter of United States Senator from Utah, Wallace F. Bennett, and a granddaughter of American physicist Harvey Fletcher. It was really important to Paul and me that Christian grow up in a religious community, and the church was the one we chose. Men only become gay in prison, or sometimes in the Navy. Not long after that, the bishop met with Anderson and asked her ever so gently if she would like to discuss reinstatement. >Two years after an excommunicated Kate Kelly sought a giant leap, Mormon feminists keep making small steps toward equity . The book won an award from the American Historical Association, but it brought Quinn more grief in Utah. 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. Following his excommunication, he finished The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power and turned his attention to another scholarly book with deep personal meaning. 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. After high school, Christian went to Stanford, and we thought, "This may be where we hear bad news." I assumed there was a way to work it out. He then announced that I was not a member in good standing and could not use my temple recommend. Peggy Fletcher Stack is an American journalist, editor, and author. Once in a while such a case will hit the press. It was already, in the minds of some, a dangerous pursuit, and it had now become a deadly one, marred by fraud and riddled with errors. Dated Oct. 23, 1830, the letter was addressed to an early Mormon convert named W.W. Phelps and signed Martin Harris. I assured him I did not. [4], She won the 2004 Cornell Award for 'Excellence in Religion ReportingMid-sized Newspapers' from the Religion Newswriters Association in 2004, an award she also received in 2012, 2017, and 2018. Ironically, this testimony only ever deserted him on his Mormon mission. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. Experts authenticated the letter, and Christensen, a devout Mormon, bought it from Hofmann, with plans to donate it to the church. By Peggy Fletcher Stack January 16, 2015 SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) John Dehlin, known to support same-sex marriage and the Ordain Women movement, said he expects "either disfellowshipment (i.e .
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