They can't ex someone with that king of lineage. The temple president tried to make it as good an experience as he could for my parents, Paul, Christian and Marina [his bride] and me. The regional council forwarded her request to church headquarters, with the recommendation that she be approved for rebaptism. The most senior apostle, Howard W. Hunter, also suffered from serious health problems. Peggy Fletcher. According the her Wikipedia page: She is a great-granddaughter of Heber J. The timing of his career, which once appeared serendipitous, now seems almost cruel. Quinn refused. 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. Lynne Kanavel Whitesides was not. It's a way for me to participate and contribute, almost like having a calling. KRE/AMB END STACK 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. These are very sensitive and highly confidential and this is why I have not mentioned them before in writing. Hanks alluded to these matters in subsequent letters, but never explicitly said that he had Quinns sexuality in mind. 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. The church declined to comment on the decision. "Nobody asked me to disavow my book or stop writing," Hanks told The Salt Lake Tribune that year. 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. 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. By Peggy Fletcher Stack. 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. At least, that's how Hall sees it. After a prayer, the stake president explains to them the details of the case. A beaming Bishop Madrigal said I should expect very soon to get a telephone call scheduling an interview with a general authority, she wrote. He also criticized Ezra Taft Benson, then a senior apostle, who had made comments similar to Packers. 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. Despite his productivity, though, hes never broken back into academia. 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 . But it also betrayed tensions within the church that may never entirely go away. At Sunstone, Hanks described her path back to Mormonism as a heros journey, la Joseph Campbell. Hanks had already held one church court in Quinns absence, in July, at which Quinn was disfellowshipped. But Packer certainly said similar things before larger audiences. Many people do reside in the borderlands between Mormon and not. (These soon-to-be former Mormons were not required to attend.) The president in 2012, when Hanks was readmitted, was Thomas S. Monson. Today my story was picked up by the Salt Lake Tribune in Peggy Fletcher Stack's thoughtful article about excommunication. By Peggy Fletcher Stack | Sep. 5, 2019, 1:20 p.m. | Updated: 11:59 p.m. . Look at Steve Benson, I suspect that there was no way they were going to ex him so he exed himself. Peggy Fletcher. Hanks worked for the Church Educational System, where Packer had long been an administrator, and Quinn heard that Loren C. Dunn, a friend of Packers and fellow general authority, had spoken to Hanks personally. In hindsight, the purge of September 1993 looks like the last big push for a kind of control that LDS leaders will probably never have again. Mike Quinn in his Rancho Cucamonga home in California this summer. Even after that, a few high-ranking Mormons continued to authorize such marriages. Dated Oct. 23, 1830, the letter was addressed to an early Mormon convert named W.W. Phelps and signed Martin Harris. 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. Wearing a bathrobe, he answered after several rings and found three men in suits and ties on his doorstep. Knowing her personally (not closely, but we're acquainted) I get the feeling that she is much more culturally LDS than actually LDS. Hanks told him he had been excommunicated, and said that the court lasted six hours. The field has grown and appears to have moved on, even though the research that Quinn did, and the fights that he picked, were crucial to what has come in his wake. See Photos. I admire her. 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? This massive housecleaning may be one of the church's largest since the 1850s, when thousands were excommunicated for everything from poor hygiene . 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 . Hanks was excommunicated in 1993, one of the "September Six," Mormon writers and scholars who were disciplined by their local LDS officials in the same month. With no regular income to speak of, Quinn moved into his mothers condo in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. In the past, many Mormon officials had a sense, he said, that the church must protect its members from "wolves among them.". We were sitting in the front room of a house owned by a gay couple he knows in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Salt Lake City. They can't ex someone with that king of lineage. The accused is called in, another prayer is offered, and the court proceeds. He developed a fervent testimony not only that God exists but that God spoke to Joseph Smith face to face and that the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants are, like the Old and New Testaments, divinely inspired. In his Yale dissertation, Quinn examined the highest leadership of the LDS church as a social elite, focusing on the extensive family ties within the hierarchy, the considerable wealth of Mormon authorities, and their long-standing involvement in politics. Stack has been the lead religion writer for The Salt Lake Tribune since 1991. . Peggy Fletcher Stack is an American journalist, editor, and author. She studied "traditional, sacramental Christianity and priesthood," Hanks said this week. But he had a caring bishop that first year and decided on his own to serve a mission. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. Before the first court, Whitesides and Anderson alerted friends and the press, and word spread quickly. Once in a while such a case will hit the press. In 1989, Dallin H. Oaks, the onetime law professor and BYU president who was now an apostle, had given a talk called Alternate Voices at the churchs semiannual General Conference. My parents never blamed me, but they were heartbroken. He then announced that I was not a member in good standing and could not use my temple recommend. He then expressed his gratitude to the church for providing, throughout his life, a vehicle for service. As a Mormon, he also knew that same-sex attraction was considered unfortunate at bestsomething to be struggled with, and, if possible, overcome. [5][6], Fletcher initially attended Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, for a year,[1] then transferred to the University of Utah, where she earned a BA in English literature. He asked Quinn to come see him in his office after work one day, Quinn says. Many religions have strictures that establish who is in and who is out, but the Mormon church draws a brighter line than most. >Two years after an excommunicated Kate Kelly sought a giant leap, Mormon feminists keep making small steps toward equity . (He took the surname from actor Anthony Quinn, whom he knew growing up in the Los Angeles barrio.) . 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. Peggy Fletcher Stack has been reporting on faith and religion since 1991. The Quarum of 12 Apostles wanted to ex her, but the Quarum of Public Relations blocked their move. At the pinnacle of the Mormon hierarchy is the First Presidencythe churchs prophet and his two counselorsand the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The same group of local church leaders who participated in Gileadi's excommunication were present at the baptism service. Maxine Hanks was held in the same stake center one week before, though she did not attend it. 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. At least, that's how Hall sees it. 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. By the time Quinn arrived, the program had been disavowed, and many of these baptisms needed to be undone. . The movie was a live-action adaptation of the Nintendo game Super Mario Bros. This other Quinn was not home when the call came, and a baby-sitter answered the phone. The cabin has no phone access, so I had months [after her initial conversation with the stake president] to think about it. While Packers precise involvement remains a matter of dispute, what little is known hints at his interference. Hundreds of other members joined him at gatherings and in small groups, and thus was born the "remnant movement ," which today touts 1000s of adherents. This is maybe where John and I are very different. 2) I would very gladly swap my OSF compensation package with any member of the LDS First Presidency, Quorum of the 12 Apostles, or 1st Quorum of the Seventy. It was really important to Paul and me that Christian grow up in a religious community, and the church was the one we chose. 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. They don't feel safe enough to keep going it's such a terrible, terrible loss. Hed better start keeping it to himself. Hired in 1991 to cover Utah's various faiths, particularly Mormonism, Peggy has talked forgiveness with Archbishop Desmond Tutu . Woodwards piece, headlined Apostles vs. Historians, called Quinns talk a stirring defense of intellectual integrity that had put Benson and Packer on the defensive. It was illustrated with a large photograph of Quinn up top, and a considerably smaller one of Packer. Nowadays, anyone can Google Mormon polygamy and learn more than theyd ever need to know about that practice, about its abandonment, the subsequent fallout, and so on. But some simply baptized the boysa few without explaining what the baptisms were for. Groundbreaking Emma Smith biographer, a 'giant' in Mormon scholarship, dies at 82. 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. The church reports a worldwide membership of 16 million. After organizing a massive campaign to pass Proposition 8 and make gay marriage illegal in California, for instance, the church suffered a massive backlash and has since appeared more tolerant toward gay rights activism. With his background in education, he became interested in how the church taught its own past, and decided he did not like what was going on at the church historians office. That came out in early 1993. On March 23, 2018, Andersons husband, Paul, died of heart failure. If he doesnt, I have his phone number and I know where he lives. 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.. 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. If you've picked up a copy of the Salt Lake Tribune in the last 26 years, you know Peggy Fletcher Stack's name. The nature of religion reporting in Utah is changing. Mormon higher-ups hold keys to excommunication process against two activists. The intellectual climate had improved under Oaks, people said. The Mormon intellectual community far and wide is mourning the loss of Linda King Newell. That's like solving obesity by turning MacDonald's into a gym. Fawn Brodie was related to David O. McKay. Maybe, I suggested, he was trying to bring his full self out into the open. In what dissidents have described as a purge, church leaders took severe disciplinary action in September against six Mormon scholars and feminists, the New York Times reported on Oct. 2, 1993. I imagine she walks a careful, thin line to avoid being exed. Most people don't know I've been excommunicated. 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. He froze. I prayed every article I wrote into print, he said, continually asking God what he should do. 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. It had since become the premier event for the so-called scholars and intellectuals of Mormonism to gather and exchange ideas. 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. The former LDS stake president, who oversaw a group of congregations in Tooele for eight years and worked as an architect on her faith's most sacred spaces, faced, in her mind, an . 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.. 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. 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. It is also worth noting that the church president in 1993 was an ailing Ezra Taft Benson. Packer approved Quinns hiring, but he may have come to regret it five years later. Anderson wrote another piece that was again picked up by multiple papers, including the Los Angeles Times, which ran it under the headline Mormons Investigating Him, Critic Says.. It took several hoursa vigil was held outside for the first few, with candles and hymns and hot chocolate. Peggy Fletcher Stack is the religion columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, and one of the founders of Sunstone. My searching was complete. ", This page was last edited on 30 November 2022, at 04:21. 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. Mystery! 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. 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. 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 9:30AM EDT 8/29/2017 Peggy Fletcher Stack/RNS. There he told a story about the time Packer embarrassed him in front of fellow church leaders as apparent payback for a slight from six years before.
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