More painfully, as a high councilor in a Utah stake several years later, Quinn was part of courts prompted by personal sinsuch as engaging in homosexual acts. "Given who I was, there was no place to go but out," Hanks said in 2003, on the 10th anniversary of the excommunications. Neither Paul nor I nor Christian had to field a single negative comment the next week, when we went to church in our ward. All rights reserved. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. (In 1985, an Arizona man filed an $18 million lawsuit against the LDS church for not allowing him to do so. When Benson asked why no one had stopped him, Oaks allegedly replied, You cant stage manage a grizzly bear. Benson resigned his Mormon membership shortly afterward and became a vocal opponent of the church his grandfather ostensibly led. But that was not how he experienced it. His wife Margaret, an English professor and feminist who attracted attention from church leaders before her husband did, was excommunicated in 2000. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. Anderson was photographed at her Salt Lake City home on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019. 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. The suit was settled out of court and a process for voluntary withdrawal was established in 1989.). I don't think I could have done that graciously. It was the papers second article in two weeks about a series of church courts held across 13 days in September and reported in media outlets across the country. At its worst, such talk is sometimes called speaking evil of the Lords anointed.. They dont acquire these positions by filling out an application and sending in a rsum. I was removed from that situation. He left it up to local leaders to come up with a reason. 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. Where else would I be but in the church? Peggy Fletcher Stack: How I report on Utah's changing faith landscape Paul's mother was great. They can't ex someone with that king of lineage. Quinn was already on the alert for such wrinkles in the churchs history. Ordain Women's Kate Kelly loses last appeal; husband to resign from Mormon church . See Photos. Hanks was accused of apostasy for editing an anthology, Women and Authority: Re-Emerging Mormon Feminism, which included a discussion of the all-male priesthood and womens relationship to it. He wrote a short story about two male missionaries in Louisiana who become attracted to each other and are stalked by a religious psychopath. Salt Lake City Laurie Lee Hall was excommunicated from the LDS Church for being a woman. Lavina Fielding Anderson, who was excommunicated in 1993 as part of the so-called September Six, has had her request for . I heard she's not Mormon at all. Today, LDS leaders seem more inclined to recognize, said Wotherspoon, now host of the "Mormon Matters" podcast, "that Zion is made up of people of all types. The bombings and subsequent murder trial cast a pall over the practice of Mormon history. By the time Quinn arrived, the program had been disavowed, and many of these baptisms needed to be undone. An Excommunication, And The Future Of The Church Of Jesus Christ - WBUR . He makes fun of the church by making fun of himself and stodgy rank and file, as well as cultural absurdities. (These soon-to-be former Mormons were not required to attend.) Peggy Fletcher Stack was born and raised in New Jersey; studied at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California; traveled through Africa for two years with her news-photographer husband; and worked at Books and Religion in Manhattan before settling down as a religion writer at The Salt Lake Tribune. (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) 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. Later that evening, having dinner alone, he felt a new sense of relief about what had happened so far and what he believed was about to happen. Mystery! sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. 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. That has been a blessing truly fulfilled. 1511: Mormon Stories Transparency Q&A for Peggy Fletcher Stack and Tony A history full of benignly angelic church leaders apparently advocated by Elders Benson and Packer would, he said, border on idolatry.. [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. Using the familiar Christian metaphor of a lost sheep who listens for the one voice that can guide it back home, Oaks said Mormons should beware of alternate voices whose avowed or secret object is to deceive and devour the flock. Among the voices Oaks warned about were the ones heard in magazines, journals, and newspapers and at lectures, symposia, and conferences. At the same General Conference, another apostle said that a true stalwart of the church would not lend his or her good name to periodicals, programs, or forums that feature offenders who do sow discord among brethren. , When the Sunstone Symposium next convened, in the summer of 92, Lavina Fielding Anderson presented a paper on this growing conflict between leaders and intellectuals. The institutional churchs position toward its intellectual community has shifted slowly and subtly but in real ways in the past 30 years; it is possible that there is a worry that allowing for her rebaptism would unearth battles the present First Presidency would like to let lie buried and spur a public relitigation of the issue., Secondly, the controversies surrounding Anderson had a great deal to do with feminism in the church and with ecclesiastical dissent, he said. A diligent historian, meanwhile, will come to see that the truth of the matter is complicated. He got up in front of the congregation and declared his belief in the Mormon gospel, in Joseph Smiths status as a prophet of God, and in the Book of Mormon as divine scripture. 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. Once the kids were interested, the missionaries were supposed to contact their parents, with the aim of converting whole families. Most people don't know I've been excommunicated. Hanks told him he had been excommunicated, and said that the court lasted six hours. Gileadi was not part of the Sunstone and Dialogue circles that the others moved in; he had been writing and teaching popular workshops about biblical and Book of Mormon prophecies, which appear to have been deemed false doctrine by LDS leaders. She was also the only one whose disciplinary council was overseen by her bishop, rather than her stake president. Quinn told friends that he did not want anyone to lobby on his behalf. Though a lifelong Latter-day Saint, Hanks had not been attending a Mormon ward for several years. Hed been told it was an unusually accepting congregation. [5] She met Mike Stack when he volunteered as a photographer for Sunstone in 1984, and they married in October 1985. In 1981, Quinn was asked by the colleges chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, a national honor society for history students, to respond to The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect. He did not pull his punches. In the past, many Mormon officials had a sense, he said, that the church must protect its members from "wolves among them.". They are called to them by the men at the very top of the hierarchy. In 1975, partly at Packers urging, Leonard Arringtons role at the church historians office was greatly diminished. 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. For the next year and a half, Quinn spent hours every week in the archives, taking detailed notes on diaries that belonged to 19th-century Mormon leaders, among other documents. There is a peace that comes with that kind of clarity. When interviewing Quinn in 76, Packer said, I have a hard time with historians, because they idolize the truth. I did the very best I knew how to do, the thing that I felt was the right thing to do., Donate to the newsroom now. I didn't have to look at the councilmen and wonder what they said about me. In 1999, she joined the Interfaith Roundtable for the 2002 Winter Olympics, where she enjoyed the association of representatives from various faiths and led the annual Interfaith Week. The Salt Lake Tribune's Peggy Fletcher Stack, a . Groundbreaking Emma Smith biographer, a 'giant' in Mormon scholarship, dies at 82. Before the first court, Whitesides and Anderson alerted friends and the press, and word spread quickly. The demographics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints include statistical data relating to the church's population and particular groups within it.. But Robertson is especially pleased with the "Pillars" session. I go over the temple ceremony and the covenants in my mind and remake them before the Lord often. I might have lost my soul, but at least I still have my mind. Men only become gay in prison, or sometimes in the Navy. The church reports a worldwide membership of 16 million. The handbook doesn't say you can't speak in class, just over the pulpit. Hed better start keeping it to himself. Not long before Hofmann sold that forged document, he approached Quinn in the church archives, and asked about the succession crisis and the article. I hate him. McLean invited her, she said, to describe her faith in a letter, which includes her conviction that God cherishes everyone. [5] She then attended the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California for two years, where she studied religious history. According the her Wikipedia page: She is a great-granddaughter of Heber J. . Anderson was photographed at her Salt Lake City home with the work of her late husband, Paul L. Anderson, on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019. Quinn went over local church rolls and found addresses of kids who didnt come to Sunday services. Her testimony was that of a believer, Madrigal later told her. Fawn Brodie was related to David O. McKay. The church has control of my membership; I decide whether I'm Mormon or not. There are other matters that I need to talk with you about that are not related to your historical writings. It did not happen overnight, but many LDS leaders seemed to regret the furor and the hurt that surrounded those excommunications. But 90 percent of the ward has changed since my court. Even after that, a few high-ranking Mormons continued to authorize such marriages. (KUTV) Peggy Fletcher Stack is the religion writer for the The Salt Lake Tribune.It's the best beat on the paper, she said.Stack fell into the job when she was hired in 1991.I have no degree in . She was told to pass along this message: Im tired of hearing him criticize the church. But Packer certainly said similar things before larger audiences. (Quinn is known professionally as D. Michael Quinn; the first name on his birth certificate is Dennis.) Maxine Hanks was held in the same stake center one week before, though she did not attend it. A church spokesman told him that it did exist, and the First Presidency issued a formal statement about it the following week. Independent publicationsmost notably Dialogue (founded in 1966) and Sunstone (1974)provided forums for scholarship and reflection about Mormon history and theology. 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. A missionary who doesn't want to preach false doctrine Nor does it read like one. 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. Today, its Nelson, with a new counselor, Oaks, instead of Dieter F. Uchtdorf. 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. He froze. disciplined Anderson and five other Mormon intellectuals, church disciplinary actions threatening Mormon feminist Kate Kelly and blogger John Dehlin. He asked Quinn to come see him in his office after work one day, Quinn says. If he doesnt, I have his phone number and I know where he lives. Quinn read Hanks letter that night and wrote a detailed response. Peggy Fletcher. 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. The latter, a smaller school, offered less money, but BYU had its own drawbacks: It was and is a conservative place, politically as well as religiously. 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. Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example, published in 1996, argues that same-sex intimacy was much more accepted by early Mormonsincluding Joseph Smiththan it is today. It was run by William O. Nelson, he said, once an assistant to Ezra Taft Benson who now reported to Boyd K. Packer. I have been taught a vision of a truly cooperative future where men and women are complete equals. I had a spiritual prompting that summer staying at my cabin that I wasn't to go. (Benson died in 94, Hunter in 95.) Bradley and Hanks are friends who trod a lot of common ground, Robertson said. Experts authenticated the letter, and Christensen, a devout Mormon, bought it from Hofmann, with plans to donate it to 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. [5] She then received a fellowship to work in the Church History Division of the LDS Church (then run by Leonard J. Ironically, this testimony only ever deserted him on his Mormon mission. 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. That was my decision. I found this tl/dr written by Peggy Fletcher Stack in the Salt Lake Tribune:. 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. Peggy Fletcher. Peggy Fletcher Stack / Salt Lake Tribune: High-ranking Mormon official, who twice spoke in General Conference, is excommunicated Check out Mini-memeorandum for simple mobiles or memeorandum Mobile for modern smartphones. He had become a father figure of sorts, even officiating at Quinns marriage ceremony. Hanks became less diplomatic. He was 32; he and his wife, Jan, were expecting their fourth child. They were receptive. A candlelight vigil was held outside the Salt Lake City meetinghouse where it took place. 1) I am very proud that, unlike the LDS Church, I have been transparent regarding OSF finances and my own compensation. In the field of Mormon history the changes are particularly pronounced. 1897 - First Presidency member George Q. Cannon used the media attention on the 1895 conviction and two-year imprisonment of famed Irish poet Oscar Wilde as an opportunity to pu (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.) When he went into his office, the bishop, a man named Tom Andersen, said hed read this article in the L.A. Times, Quinn told me. It was his death and funeral that prompted the couples current bishop to bring up the possibility of her rejoining the church. 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. Like Quinn, hed first become interested in Mormon history when he learned that polygamy had gone on for years after its public abandonmenthe knew about this because his mothers parents were among the secret polygamists. By Peggy Fletcher Stack. 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. That higher-ranking leader, James Paramore, had further instructed West to say that the decision was Wests own, and had not come from above. Threat of Excommunication 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. Peggy Fletcher Stack is an American journalist, editor, and author. The church's definition of "membership" includes all persons who were ever baptized, or whose parents were members while the person was under the age of eight (called "members . He wept as he read it aloud to others. The other five people who were by then being referred to as the September Six had already faced their courts. Stack has received and been nominated for multiple awards. The Salt Lake Tribune/June 16, 2014. by Peggy Fletcher Stack. "Nobody asked me to disavow my book or stop writing," Hanks told The Salt Lake Tribune that year. 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. He visited these homes with his missionary companion and asked the boys if they still wanted to be Mormons. I see her articles on here all the time and the Tribune has never really been a friend to the TSCC. No telephone call came., On Aug. 27, McLean delivered the First Presidency denial. He has continued to publish articles about Mormon history and to participate in the Sunstone Symposium. 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. I love the gospel. The main target of the statement, issued in August 1991, was the Sunstone Symposium, an annual gathering started by Sunstone magazine 12 years before. Kate Kelly, founder of the Ordain Women movement, was excommunicated in 2014 for her views on gender inequality in the Mormon Church . How did the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grow so fast See Photos. The LDS church does not remove any name from the list unless the person is excommunicated, asks to be removed or is dead. While the simpler approach is handled by a bishop and his two counselors, the more elaborate version is run by a stake president, and it involves not only his two counselors but the stakes high council, a group of 12 men. Quinns mother, on the other hand, was a sixth-generation Mormon: She had an ancestor who converted when the Mormons were still in Nauvoo, Ill., and who is mentioned in Joseph Smiths journals. I prayed every article I wrote into print, he said, continually asking God what he should do. Something similar, if more protracted, took place after September 1993. Peggy Fletcher. Quinns polygamy essay, meanwhile, produced more trouble for him with LDS leaders. Hed read the essay about women and the priesthood, and he asked Quinn to speak on the subject at an upcoming fireside, an informal evening meeting often held at Mormon meetinghouses. I felt they were not going to drive me away. Quinn went to Californiahe had another fellowship at the Huntington Librarystaying this time with his mother. 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. He turned 65 two years later, making him eligible for Social Security and Medicare. 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. As a Mormon, he also knew that same-sex attraction was considered unfortunate at bestsomething to be struggled with, and, if possible, overcome. Quinn attended that ward in Westwood every week while he was in California. Knowing her personally (not closely, but we're acquainted) I get the feeling that she is much more culturally LDS than actually LDS. The most threatening thing about Ordain Women to people in the church is that it is coming from faithful, devout, courageous, wonderful women and that's more threatening than anything could be. While preparing for the retired Brigham Young University artists memorial service, Bishop Mahonri Madrigal read Pauls written testimony, or statements of faith, that the ward had compiled in 2000. After Quinn finished his lunch at BYU, he decided not to go home. He was excommunicated in 1911. Denver Snuffer . He revised the story occasionally over the next decade, submitting it unsuccessfully to the Paris Review and the Atlantic. His hiring was vetoed by the ASU administration, and many observers believe the administration caved to pressure from Ira Fulton, a Mormon donor who between 2003 and 2006 gave at least $155 million to the school. By Peggy Fletcher Stack January 3, 2013. The bishops next comment was, Whats wrong with those people up in Salt Lake? He was thrilled to have Quinn in his ward. That was established definitively in 1986 after Hofmann confessed to the murders of Christensen and Sheets as part of a plea to avoid the death penalty. Bad marriages had women running to and away from . Wilkinson was reprimanded, though, and in 1970 he was replaced by Dallin H. Oaks, a law professor at the University of Chicago who had clerked for Chief Justice Earl Warren at the U.S. Supreme Court. An interview from January 1983: Sterling M. McMurrin : mormon It is also worth noting that the church president in 1993 was an ailing Ezra Taft Benson. They were eventually published, without Quinns permission, by two prominent anti-Mormon activists, Jerald and Sandra Tanner. There would be quite a number of people in the Mormon community who would look unfavorably on that. Later that year, Quinn was recommended for a one-year appointment at Arizona State. The four-day symposium, which begins Wednesday evening, also will include dozens of sessions about Mormonism and politics, about how members grapple with contemporary issues such as gay rights and feminism, building online LDS communities, Mormon Latino views of the church's immigration stance and how the Utah-based faith has developed its "brand" in the past several decades. The bearded dad, a father of 11 who was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 2015 for apostasy, suggests they sing hymns . It was held by the stake high council, and so my bishop and ward members took the position that that was their doing. I am confident that my desire to be worthy of the temple is acceptable of the Lord. 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. The Version table provides details related to the release that this issue/RFE will be addressed. Peggy Fletcher Stack has been reporting on faith and religion since 1991. My guess is she has to be to keep the doors open so people willing to talk to her. The Mormon intellectual community far and wide is mourning the loss of Linda King Newell. 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. It's Judgment Day for Far Right: LDS Church Purges Survivalists She won the Cornell Award for Excellence in Religion ReportingMid-sized Newspapers from the Religious News Association in 2004, 2012, 2017, 2018, and 2022. This other Quinn was not home when the call came, and a baby-sitter answered the phone. He went to stay instead with an old college friend, Richard Lambert. "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. Leadership in Difficult Times: Critical Thinking and Wisdom (Part II)
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