The New York Times obituary for Thomas S. Monson missed the fact that he was a man known as a speaker, a great speaker, and a man who loved the poor, the elderly, the widow and reached out to the one.
Beyond this the article contained downright falsehoods.
This might not be so bad if all New York Times obituaries were hatchet jobs against the subject. Most are not. Here https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/sports/baseball/05harwell.html is an example of what the New York Times normally produces. Long obituaries with lots of details.
However with the rise of Kellerism do not hold your breath to see a balanced and humanizing obituary of any conservative religious leader anytime soon.
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Rusell M. Nelson: A witness to the world
It is hard to quantify, but President Nelson is possibly the most heavily traveled president of the Church to date. He has clearly spent more time in the nations of Eastern Euriope and Africa than President Hinckley did. although with how much President Hinckley traveled to Asia during his early time as a general authority and everywhere as President of the Church, President Nelson may not have yet traveled as much.
On the other hand, President Nelson did spent significant time in both Japan and Korea in the early 1950s. He visited every MASH location in Korea, and many other locations as well. As a medical doctor he traveled and made presentations all around the world.
Even back in 1974 President Nelson as general president of the Sunday School traveled to what was then Rhodesia on a Church assignment. His visit to Harare, Zimbabwe yesterday as part of his golbal ministry tour was at least his third visit to that city. He also went there in 2004 when he spoke at a stake conference, where the then stake president Edward Dube lamented that only 75% of his stake members showed up. Most stakes wish that 75% of the members entered a Church building even once a year.
In 1992 President Nelson dedicated Zambia for the preaching of the gospel. Weather he also was in Zimbabwe at all during that trip I do not know. It appears that this is the 3rd or 4th trip on the part of President Nelson to Zimbabwe.
Interestingly enough, no president of the Church has ever traveled to Francophone Africa while President.
It is hard to quantify, but President Nelson is possibly the most heavily traveled president of the Church to date. He has clearly spent more time in the nations of Eastern Euriope and Africa than President Hinckley did. although with how much President Hinckley traveled to Asia during his early time as a general authority and everywhere as President of the Church, President Nelson may not have yet traveled as much.
On the other hand, President Nelson did spent significant time in both Japan and Korea in the early 1950s. He visited every MASH location in Korea, and many other locations as well. As a medical doctor he traveled and made presentations all around the world.
Even back in 1974 President Nelson as general president of the Sunday School traveled to what was then Rhodesia on a Church assignment. His visit to Harare, Zimbabwe yesterday as part of his golbal ministry tour was at least his third visit to that city. He also went there in 2004 when he spoke at a stake conference, where the then stake president Edward Dube lamented that only 75% of his stake members showed up. Most stakes wish that 75% of the members entered a Church building even once a year.
In 1992 President Nelson dedicated Zambia for the preaching of the gospel. Weather he also was in Zimbabwe at all during that trip I do not know. It appears that this is the 3rd or 4th trip on the part of President Nelson to Zimbabwe.
Interestingly enough, no president of the Church has ever traveled to Francophone Africa while President.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Why the fall of Joseph L. Bishop does not worry me
The simple answer is of course, my faith is in Jesus Christ, I know men fail.
However the bigger answer is that God gives people agency, and allows them to misues it, to lie and to decieve. The gift of discernment does not mean false brethren and wolves in sheep clothing never have appointments in the Church. Otherwise Joseph Smith would have never put so much trusts in John C. Bennett, and Brigham Young would not have had to send Lorenzo Snow, Ezra T. Benson and Joseph F. Smith to Hawaii to remove Walter Gibson after he received communication from Jonathan Napela and probably other faithful Hawaiian brethren who reazlized that Gibson's actions, such as selling the priesthood, were not only out of line from the message they had learned from missionaries such as George Q. Cannon, but clearly violated the teachings of the Book of Mormon and New Testament. If there was ever a man who engaged in priestcraft in the Mormon Church it was Gibson, and Napela as the co-translator of the Book of Mormon into the Hawaiian langauge would clearly have realized that Gidson was guilty of this great evil.
Beyond this, the exact nature of Joseph L. Bishop's crimes are not clear. What he confessed to Robert E. Wells is less than clear. It seems alleged that while a missionary, presumably in the 1950s, Joseph Bishop confessed to his mission president inapropriate relations with females. To what extent these would fall under abuse of power and sexual harrassment is very hard to say, and what exactly he confessed, let alone what exatly he did is less than clear.
Some indications, such as one Deseret News article, suggest that while mission president in Argentina Bishop had some sort of connection with a woman that was not fully in line with the law of chastity especially for a married man. The exact nature of this relation is not clear, nor why it did not lead to his being released and excommunicated. The fact it didn't makes me think that at least the way he conveyed it to Elder Wells did not rise to the level of adultery.
The suit also attacks Bishop for his time as president of Weber State College (now University). I read the whole Ogden Standard-Examiner report on those accusations. It involves saying he was unethical, a bad example of a Church member, and some people felt he was dismissive of female employees, well one, and claims he tried to hound out lesbian students or something along those lines. It is not very clear at all. Two major problems with including that in the law suit. Trying to protray those actions as in any way a red flag that Bishop was likely to abuse power, sexually harrass and allegedly rape is a major stretch, and only vaguely works by 2018 definitions, not 1978 definitions. Beyond this, the suit avoids admitting that especially in Utah state educational institutions and hyper intent on showing distance from the LDS Church, so it is not clear the LDS Church could have obtained any direct information from Weber State.
When and how Bishop's accuser shared her claims is also a major point of contention. A man who apparently was her bishop in the 1980s only states that she told him the MTC president took her and her companion to a basement room in the MTC and showed them pornographic videos. His dismissal of this as a non-believable story is not the right reaction. However, that as a single incident as it seems to have been described would not constitute sexual harrassment per say, although it is clearly a violation of the rules and norms of the LDS Church, especially for mission leadership. Now if the woman had included other allegations of what Bishop did during this time, either sexually explicit actions or statements, or even how he looked at them, it might rise to sexual harrassment, but showing a pornographic video on one occasion does not in and of itself constitute sexual harrassment, especially as the term was understood in the 1980s.
What if anything the woman ever told Carlos E. Asay is not knowable, since he is dead and if he met with her he never made any report of it to any other person with the Church leadership.
On the other hand, in 2010 the Church reported the issue to police. Due to various factors the police only focused on the current threat, not the then 26 year old rape allegations. In 2017 a report was given to the BYU police, who then forwarded it to the Utah County Prosecutor's office. In this case it was seen as a criminal probe against Bishop. However although at least these people felt the accusations were credible, they did not pursue criminal charges due to the statute of limitations on rape in the 1980s.
What Bishop ever admitted to is still contested. Bishop's son says the only thing Bishop admits to is that the woman exposed her breasts to him at a meeting they had after her service as a missionary. What is not clear from this is weather anyone has followed up on this admission with intensive questions of Bishop to see if he touched her at all in any way during this exchange. If she voluntarily exposed herself after she was a missionary, with no prompting from him, and he responded by touching her exposed breats, would this count as a sex crime. If a man and woman are standing in close proximity and the women trears open her shirt in a suggestive way, is consent to touch assumed, at least in a tentative way, or is there a need for clear consent.
Now there is a claim by BYU police that Bishop told them he asked the woman to expose her breasts. The woman claims rape. What did actually happen is one big question.
The other issue is her suit seems to be proceeding on the grounds that the LDS Church not excommunicating Bishop is somehow an actionable tort for the woman. The very reasoning of the logic, that you can sue to financially punish a Church for not imposing excomunication on someone, is highly questionable.
However the bigger answer is that God gives people agency, and allows them to misues it, to lie and to decieve. The gift of discernment does not mean false brethren and wolves in sheep clothing never have appointments in the Church. Otherwise Joseph Smith would have never put so much trusts in John C. Bennett, and Brigham Young would not have had to send Lorenzo Snow, Ezra T. Benson and Joseph F. Smith to Hawaii to remove Walter Gibson after he received communication from Jonathan Napela and probably other faithful Hawaiian brethren who reazlized that Gibson's actions, such as selling the priesthood, were not only out of line from the message they had learned from missionaries such as George Q. Cannon, but clearly violated the teachings of the Book of Mormon and New Testament. If there was ever a man who engaged in priestcraft in the Mormon Church it was Gibson, and Napela as the co-translator of the Book of Mormon into the Hawaiian langauge would clearly have realized that Gidson was guilty of this great evil.
Beyond this, the exact nature of Joseph L. Bishop's crimes are not clear. What he confessed to Robert E. Wells is less than clear. It seems alleged that while a missionary, presumably in the 1950s, Joseph Bishop confessed to his mission president inapropriate relations with females. To what extent these would fall under abuse of power and sexual harrassment is very hard to say, and what exactly he confessed, let alone what exatly he did is less than clear.
Some indications, such as one Deseret News article, suggest that while mission president in Argentina Bishop had some sort of connection with a woman that was not fully in line with the law of chastity especially for a married man. The exact nature of this relation is not clear, nor why it did not lead to his being released and excommunicated. The fact it didn't makes me think that at least the way he conveyed it to Elder Wells did not rise to the level of adultery.
The suit also attacks Bishop for his time as president of Weber State College (now University). I read the whole Ogden Standard-Examiner report on those accusations. It involves saying he was unethical, a bad example of a Church member, and some people felt he was dismissive of female employees, well one, and claims he tried to hound out lesbian students or something along those lines. It is not very clear at all. Two major problems with including that in the law suit. Trying to protray those actions as in any way a red flag that Bishop was likely to abuse power, sexually harrass and allegedly rape is a major stretch, and only vaguely works by 2018 definitions, not 1978 definitions. Beyond this, the suit avoids admitting that especially in Utah state educational institutions and hyper intent on showing distance from the LDS Church, so it is not clear the LDS Church could have obtained any direct information from Weber State.
When and how Bishop's accuser shared her claims is also a major point of contention. A man who apparently was her bishop in the 1980s only states that she told him the MTC president took her and her companion to a basement room in the MTC and showed them pornographic videos. His dismissal of this as a non-believable story is not the right reaction. However, that as a single incident as it seems to have been described would not constitute sexual harrassment per say, although it is clearly a violation of the rules and norms of the LDS Church, especially for mission leadership. Now if the woman had included other allegations of what Bishop did during this time, either sexually explicit actions or statements, or even how he looked at them, it might rise to sexual harrassment, but showing a pornographic video on one occasion does not in and of itself constitute sexual harrassment, especially as the term was understood in the 1980s.
What if anything the woman ever told Carlos E. Asay is not knowable, since he is dead and if he met with her he never made any report of it to any other person with the Church leadership.
On the other hand, in 2010 the Church reported the issue to police. Due to various factors the police only focused on the current threat, not the then 26 year old rape allegations. In 2017 a report was given to the BYU police, who then forwarded it to the Utah County Prosecutor's office. In this case it was seen as a criminal probe against Bishop. However although at least these people felt the accusations were credible, they did not pursue criminal charges due to the statute of limitations on rape in the 1980s.
What Bishop ever admitted to is still contested. Bishop's son says the only thing Bishop admits to is that the woman exposed her breasts to him at a meeting they had after her service as a missionary. What is not clear from this is weather anyone has followed up on this admission with intensive questions of Bishop to see if he touched her at all in any way during this exchange. If she voluntarily exposed herself after she was a missionary, with no prompting from him, and he responded by touching her exposed breats, would this count as a sex crime. If a man and woman are standing in close proximity and the women trears open her shirt in a suggestive way, is consent to touch assumed, at least in a tentative way, or is there a need for clear consent.
Now there is a claim by BYU police that Bishop told them he asked the woman to expose her breasts. The woman claims rape. What did actually happen is one big question.
The other issue is her suit seems to be proceeding on the grounds that the LDS Church not excommunicating Bishop is somehow an actionable tort for the woman. The very reasoning of the logic, that you can sue to financially punish a Church for not imposing excomunication on someone, is highly questionable.
A non-white apostle
Elder Garret W. Gong is by almost no definition white. On the other hand, as an American of Chinese descent, he is excluded from most definitions of "underserved" and "underrepresented" minorities, and would be discrimanted against by most quota and affirmative action programs.
Elder Gong is clearly an American. Both of his parents were born in the US, so he is more American than David O. McKay and Joseph F. Smith and well as John Taylor, just to list presidents of the Church he exceeds in Americaness. If we look at apostles, his most recent immigrant ancestor may or may not have come more recently than David A. Bednar's. He is clearly more American than Dale E. Rendlund, both of whose parents were immigrants.
Also, President Eyring's father was born in Mexico, whith Mexican citizenship, and his great-grandfather, the one who met his Swiss great-grandmother in the company moving west when he was sick after a long mission in the realm of the Cherokee, was known as Enrique Eyring at the time of his death.
While Elder Gong's mother was not born in a state, that is because Hawaii was not yet a state at the time of her birth. His father was born in Merced where Elder Gong's grandparents, like many other Chinese-Americans, were small business owners, I can't remember for sure if it was a dry cleaners or restaurant they ran. On his father's side his ancestors came from China in the 19th-century. When his ancestors came to Hawaii on his mother's side is less clear.
Elder Gong's wife, Sister Susan Lindsay Gong, is the daughter of Richard P. Lindsay who was managing director of the Church's public affairs department for much of the 1980s and later a general authority sevcenty. Elder Lindsay has since died.
Elder Gong served his mission in Taiwan, was a Rhodes Schoolar after graduating from BYU, dated his wife while visiting Provo on a summer off from Oxford while his father, a professor at San Jose State University was a visiting professor at BYU. Walter Gong gave courses to faculty that influenced Stephen R. Covery enough that he quotes Walter Gong in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Elder Gong was on the factulty at Johns Hopkins, then worked for the US government both with an assignment to the embassy in Beijing and as an outside consultant with a think tank connected with George Washington University.
Elder Gong thus becomes the second apostle born in California, second only to Elder Bednar. Both were born in California, went to BYU, and spent their adult life first as a professor/government consultant in the US east of the Rocky mountains, and then came to the intermountain west with an assignment with a Church institution of higher education. Elder Bednar was a business professor and then president of Ricks. His career involves much more understandable roles.
Elder Gong was involved in foriegn policy development circles, and his Wikipedia article lists several papers he wrote. What he actually did is not always easy to understand, partly because of the sensitive nature of some foriegn policy discussion. If I understood what he said at a forum on the pros and cons of going to war in Iraq I went to in 2003 that he spoke at at BYU, he was involved with some government bodies that analized the appropriate response to the actions of North Korea.
Where Elder Bednar was president of Ricks College and then BYU-Idaho, Elder Gong was assistant to the President of BYU for planning and assessment. He served as such with both President Bateman and President Samuelson.
Elder Gong is clearly an American. Both of his parents were born in the US, so he is more American than David O. McKay and Joseph F. Smith and well as John Taylor, just to list presidents of the Church he exceeds in Americaness. If we look at apostles, his most recent immigrant ancestor may or may not have come more recently than David A. Bednar's. He is clearly more American than Dale E. Rendlund, both of whose parents were immigrants.
Also, President Eyring's father was born in Mexico, whith Mexican citizenship, and his great-grandfather, the one who met his Swiss great-grandmother in the company moving west when he was sick after a long mission in the realm of the Cherokee, was known as Enrique Eyring at the time of his death.
While Elder Gong's mother was not born in a state, that is because Hawaii was not yet a state at the time of her birth. His father was born in Merced where Elder Gong's grandparents, like many other Chinese-Americans, were small business owners, I can't remember for sure if it was a dry cleaners or restaurant they ran. On his father's side his ancestors came from China in the 19th-century. When his ancestors came to Hawaii on his mother's side is less clear.
Elder Gong's wife, Sister Susan Lindsay Gong, is the daughter of Richard P. Lindsay who was managing director of the Church's public affairs department for much of the 1980s and later a general authority sevcenty. Elder Lindsay has since died.
Elder Gong served his mission in Taiwan, was a Rhodes Schoolar after graduating from BYU, dated his wife while visiting Provo on a summer off from Oxford while his father, a professor at San Jose State University was a visiting professor at BYU. Walter Gong gave courses to faculty that influenced Stephen R. Covery enough that he quotes Walter Gong in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Elder Gong was on the factulty at Johns Hopkins, then worked for the US government both with an assignment to the embassy in Beijing and as an outside consultant with a think tank connected with George Washington University.
Elder Gong thus becomes the second apostle born in California, second only to Elder Bednar. Both were born in California, went to BYU, and spent their adult life first as a professor/government consultant in the US east of the Rocky mountains, and then came to the intermountain west with an assignment with a Church institution of higher education. Elder Bednar was a business professor and then president of Ricks. His career involves much more understandable roles.
Elder Gong was involved in foriegn policy development circles, and his Wikipedia article lists several papers he wrote. What he actually did is not always easy to understand, partly because of the sensitive nature of some foriegn policy discussion. If I understood what he said at a forum on the pros and cons of going to war in Iraq I went to in 2003 that he spoke at at BYU, he was involved with some government bodies that analized the appropriate response to the actions of North Korea.
Where Elder Bednar was president of Ricks College and then BYU-Idaho, Elder Gong was assistant to the President of BYU for planning and assessment. He served as such with both President Bateman and President Samuelson.
The new apostles
The new apostles are only 50% Americans, as opposed to the new General Authorities called, who are 62.5% American. The new members of the Presidency of the 70 called are 40% American, and they will make it as of August that only 3 of the 7 president will be American.
The Quorum of the 12 is now having two non-Americans for the first time since John A. Widstoe and Charles A. Callis were members, although since both Callis and Widstoe were US citizens who immigrated to the US at ages 10 and 11, they were for all intents and purposes Americans.
N. Eldon Tanner was born in the US because his mother was visiting her parents, but his family was resident in Canada. Marion G. Romney was born in Mexico, but came to the US as a youth, and his parents were of American origin.
Elder Uchtdorf had been to the US for pilot training prior to his call as a general authority, but had basically always been a resident of Germany. Elder Soares was living in Utah doing a special assignment for the Office of the Presiding Bishopric at the time of his call as a general authority. However he was born and raised, served his mission in and worked up until his call as a mission president in Brazil, some of that time as Director of Temporal Affairs for the Brazil South Area. Elder Soares was mission president in Portugal.
Elder Gong while the first clearly non-white apostle is without question American. Elder Soares is phenotypically white. The nature of his actual ancestry I am not aware of, so I can not rule out indigenous American or slightly more likely African ancestry. However other factors suggest to me that Elder Soares probably does not have any known African ancestry. Since he was born in 1958 he would have been just over minimum mission age at the time of the 1978 revelation, but I have not come across any suggestion that he has African ancestry, and even though there are lots of people with some level of African ancestry in Sao Paulo, it is people from places like Forteleza that are even more likely to have it. There are lots of people of fully traceable European ancestry in souther Brazil.
This does not change the fact that Elder Soares is clearly culturally distrinct from many Utah Mormons, although the number of people of Brazilian origin and descent in Utah is higher than some realize.
Elder Soares is another step in internationalizing the Quorum of the 12 along with Elder Uchtdorf, although I still think looking at it this way unreasonably minimizes the importance of other general authorities and of general officers.
At present the Church still calls General Officers exclusively from those living in Utah. The newly called general officers at this conference were all white Americans. Sister Craig was raised in Provo where her dad was a BYU professor, except her last two years in high school when he father was president of the Pennsylvania Harrisburg Mission. Her father was born in Logan, Utah but raised in New Brunswick, New Jersey where her grandfather was a professor at Rutgers University. Her grandparents were in the same ward as Elder Christopherson when he was a teenager and incluenced him enough that he mentioned Sister Craig's grandmother in one of his general conference talks, as an example of what faithful women in the Church can do.
Sister Craven, the new second counselor in the Young women general presidency was born in Ohio. Her father was in the US military. Her mother's maiden name was Kaszuk, a slavic name that fits with common names in parts of Ohio. Her parents joined the Church later while living in Texas, the family was sealed in the Swiss Temple while her father was stationed in Germany. She was however baptized in Utah, while her father was on a tour of duty in Vietnam. Growing up she lived in 7 US states and Germany and England.
The Quorum of the 12 is now having two non-Americans for the first time since John A. Widstoe and Charles A. Callis were members, although since both Callis and Widstoe were US citizens who immigrated to the US at ages 10 and 11, they were for all intents and purposes Americans.
N. Eldon Tanner was born in the US because his mother was visiting her parents, but his family was resident in Canada. Marion G. Romney was born in Mexico, but came to the US as a youth, and his parents were of American origin.
Elder Uchtdorf had been to the US for pilot training prior to his call as a general authority, but had basically always been a resident of Germany. Elder Soares was living in Utah doing a special assignment for the Office of the Presiding Bishopric at the time of his call as a general authority. However he was born and raised, served his mission in and worked up until his call as a mission president in Brazil, some of that time as Director of Temporal Affairs for the Brazil South Area. Elder Soares was mission president in Portugal.
Elder Gong while the first clearly non-white apostle is without question American. Elder Soares is phenotypically white. The nature of his actual ancestry I am not aware of, so I can not rule out indigenous American or slightly more likely African ancestry. However other factors suggest to me that Elder Soares probably does not have any known African ancestry. Since he was born in 1958 he would have been just over minimum mission age at the time of the 1978 revelation, but I have not come across any suggestion that he has African ancestry, and even though there are lots of people with some level of African ancestry in Sao Paulo, it is people from places like Forteleza that are even more likely to have it. There are lots of people of fully traceable European ancestry in souther Brazil.
This does not change the fact that Elder Soares is clearly culturally distrinct from many Utah Mormons, although the number of people of Brazilian origin and descent in Utah is higher than some realize.
Elder Soares is another step in internationalizing the Quorum of the 12 along with Elder Uchtdorf, although I still think looking at it this way unreasonably minimizes the importance of other general authorities and of general officers.
At present the Church still calls General Officers exclusively from those living in Utah. The newly called general officers at this conference were all white Americans. Sister Craig was raised in Provo where her dad was a BYU professor, except her last two years in high school when he father was president of the Pennsylvania Harrisburg Mission. Her father was born in Logan, Utah but raised in New Brunswick, New Jersey where her grandfather was a professor at Rutgers University. Her grandparents were in the same ward as Elder Christopherson when he was a teenager and incluenced him enough that he mentioned Sister Craig's grandmother in one of his general conference talks, as an example of what faithful women in the Church can do.
Sister Craven, the new second counselor in the Young women general presidency was born in Ohio. Her father was in the US military. Her mother's maiden name was Kaszuk, a slavic name that fits with common names in parts of Ohio. Her parents joined the Church later while living in Texas, the family was sealed in the Swiss Temple while her father was stationed in Germany. She was however baptized in Utah, while her father was on a tour of duty in Vietnam. Growing up she lived in 7 US states and Germany and England.
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Why I am not a Utah Expatriate
With it having been over 80 years since the first stake was formed in Chicago, and over 65 since the first stake was formed in Detroit, one would think we would be past the era of the Utah Expatriate. However I don't feel it.
While not all the people I hometeach have connections to Utah, they all connect to Utah, Idaho or Washington State. Some people at times think of The Belle Isle Branch as white Utah Expatriates and black Michigan born converts, but it is more complex than that.
A classic example of the Utah expatriate is Sister Jean B. Bingham. True, she has been resident in Utah for the last 9 years, and was born in Provo. She also started her undergraduate education at BYU and met her husband there. However she went to high school in New Jersey, and elementary school in Minnesota and Texas. She spent most of her married life in Illinois and Wisconsin.
However she was raised a Utah expatriate. Her parents were from Tooelle and Grantsville and every summer her family would spend 4 weeks visiting relatives and family in Utah. It is that constant return to Utah that makes someone a Utah exapatriate, and the key in me not being one.
My first trip to Utah was when I was one. I have no recollection of it. The next time I went to Utah was a age 15. I had by that time made three trips to California, so I was closer to a California expatriate with three of my grandparents living there, and my parents having come close to moving back there in the late 1980s.
Of course when Sister Bingham was growing up from 1952 even until the time she was married in 1972, the closest temples were in Utah. When I was growing up the closest temples were in DC until I was 4, Chicago until I was 9, Toronto until I was 19, and I was thus endowed in the Detroit Temple.
Thus it is the building of the DC Temple in 1974, not the first stake in the east, that allows us to start moving beyond being Utah Expatriates.
While not all the people I hometeach have connections to Utah, they all connect to Utah, Idaho or Washington State. Some people at times think of The Belle Isle Branch as white Utah Expatriates and black Michigan born converts, but it is more complex than that.
A classic example of the Utah expatriate is Sister Jean B. Bingham. True, she has been resident in Utah for the last 9 years, and was born in Provo. She also started her undergraduate education at BYU and met her husband there. However she went to high school in New Jersey, and elementary school in Minnesota and Texas. She spent most of her married life in Illinois and Wisconsin.
However she was raised a Utah expatriate. Her parents were from Tooelle and Grantsville and every summer her family would spend 4 weeks visiting relatives and family in Utah. It is that constant return to Utah that makes someone a Utah exapatriate, and the key in me not being one.
My first trip to Utah was when I was one. I have no recollection of it. The next time I went to Utah was a age 15. I had by that time made three trips to California, so I was closer to a California expatriate with three of my grandparents living there, and my parents having come close to moving back there in the late 1980s.
Of course when Sister Bingham was growing up from 1952 even until the time she was married in 1972, the closest temples were in Utah. When I was growing up the closest temples were in DC until I was 4, Chicago until I was 9, Toronto until I was 19, and I was thus endowed in the Detroit Temple.
Thus it is the building of the DC Temple in 1974, not the first stake in the east, that allows us to start moving beyond being Utah Expatriates.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Thomas S. Monson, rest in peace
Thomas S. Monson passed away last night. Although when he died was just after midnight Michigan time.
It is hard at this juncture to say a lot. I am saddened by the passing and glad he has rejoined his belowed Frances.
President Monson was first called as an apostle in 1963. The president of the Quorum of the 12 then was Joseph Fielding Smith, whose parents had lived in exile in Hawaii for some of his formative years, and who was a teenaged before the Salt Lake Temple was completed.
The president of the Church who called President Monson was David O. McKay. When President McKay had become president of the Church all stakes were in the US, Albetrta, Canada or the Mormon colonies in Hawaii. No stake operated in a language other than English. It was only while President Monson was president of the Canadian mission that missionary work to French-speakers in Canada was initiatiated.
In 1971 Elder Monson was one of the apostles involved in setting apart the leadership of the Genesis Group. This group was created to serve the needs of African-American Latter-day Saints. In 1973 in his journal as noted in a Deseret News article published today, Elder Monson expressed the hope that the African-American brethren leading the Genesis Group could soon receive the priesthood. He was the last man alive who had been present in 1978 when President Kimball received the revelation on the priesthood. He was also present at the first sacrament meeting of the Genesis Group, and performed the first temple sealing involving a couple including an African-American. Also as a member of the Priesthood Executive Committee he was involved in issueing the first mission calls to people of African-descent in the 20th century (Elijah Able had been a missionary in the 19th-century). Among those then called was Marcus Martins who would be called as a mission president by President Monson.
President Monson dedicated Haiti for the preaching of the gospel in 1982. His first assignments as an apostle had been to Oceania. He organized the first stake in Tonga for example.
President Monson had a vision of a church where all wards and branches were lead by local brethren, and not by full-time missionaries. Where as many people as possible lived in stakes and could receive patriarchal blessings and where no members lived more than 200 miles from the temple.
From about 1969-1985 President Monson oversaw the Church in Eastern Europe. It was truly a labor of love. He was centrally involved in the negotiations that lead to missionaries in East German before the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germans called as missionaries, and the building of the Friberg Germany Temple. While most of the major progress in eastern Europe happened after President Monson was called to the First Presidency, and it was Elder Russell M. Nelson who was the main point man on that, President Monson was key in laying the groundwork.
President Monson was also a key figure in the LDS edition of the scriptures that came out from 1979-1981.
He was a man who had a vision of ministry to the one.
His role while a counselor to Presidents Benson, Hunter and Hinckley is hard for me to directly assess.
As preisdent of the Church, he oversaw many major developments, although many were continuances of policies of those before.
The biggest change under his administration was the lowering of the missionary age, especially for young women. This also lead to a reformating of mission counsels. There were also major advances in missionary use of technology and changes in various other guidelines for misisonaries.
Another big change was seen in major revisions of Church curriculum. This started in 2013 with new youth curriculum. The CES curriculum went through major revisions as well. Then in 2016 came teacher councils. The 2010 revision of the Church Handbook of instructions also emphasized more the importance of the ward council. The Church moved to be more strongly governed by councils at all levels. The new melchizedek preisthood and relief society curriculum move this central role of councils and new approach to curriculum even more broadly. The adult Sunday School curriculum has not seen much revision. The Doctrine and Covenants online materials did include some very useful connections and additional material, but I have to say it was not uniformly utilized. On the other hand the online edition of the Old Testament student manual still uses the Old Bible dictionary name for an article, not even reflecting the alterations in the Bible Dictionary published in I believe 2013.
On the political and social issues front President Monson has largely reflected a continuation of policies from before. The 2008 support of Proposition 8 and similar measures in other states was in line with previous support. The move of the Church voicing its support for legal protection of man/woman marriage outside of the US may have been new under President Monson, but was a result more of the issue being voiced in areas where there was a chance for public comment combined with situations like an all Mexican area presidency in Mexico being about the only group that could have lead out on the issue in the political climate of Mexico. The Church seems to have possibly been more vocal in its support for finding solutions to immigration issues that would allow families to remain together, but I have not studied the issue in depth enough to be able to time Church statements on this issue very clearly.
While the Church has clearly endorsed a level of housing and employment protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation that I do not think was announced before, it has signaled that man/woman marriage will remain the only accepted place for sexual interaction in Church policy. The policy to excommunicate those who enter same-sex marriage has caused outrage to some, and others to misrepresent it.
The Church has also lead out in interfaith work, and a push for religious freedom.
At the same time the Church has majorly increased its openess and scholarly publications. The Chuirch Historians Press was launched under President Monson, although much of the initial legwork for this initiatiate was started under President Hinckley. Starting in 2013 the Church published several gospel topic essays, that dealt frankly with difficult subjects like race and the priesthood. The fact that a few weeks ago I was able to show such to an active Church member who had never read them shows that they have not been read as much as they need to be.
The role of women in the Church has also beeen changed in significant if not fully comprehended ways. Women giving prayers in regular sessions of general conference, and the women's conference being made for all women 8 and up and being clearly indicated as part of general conference are significant changes. The most recent, with the alternating general priesthood meeting and general women's meeting on Saturday evenings of general conference is also a big one. Also the role of the mission president's companion (wife) has been given a more formal place in mission structure, and the mission council now includes female missionaries, and there is the new leadership title for sister missionaries (the exact name escapes me at the moment).
The BYU pathway program has been another major initiative during President Monson's presidency.
Lastly, we have seen a push forward in the number of temples. Not on the level of what we saw under President Hinckley, but still a major push forward. We have seen temples announced for several places very far from existing temples.
I know there are lots more things to cover, but I think this is a good start.
Latly, President Monson was a man of compasion who was able to lead to Church to better reach out in service and caring to meet the needs of the individual.
It is hard at this juncture to say a lot. I am saddened by the passing and glad he has rejoined his belowed Frances.
President Monson was first called as an apostle in 1963. The president of the Quorum of the 12 then was Joseph Fielding Smith, whose parents had lived in exile in Hawaii for some of his formative years, and who was a teenaged before the Salt Lake Temple was completed.
The president of the Church who called President Monson was David O. McKay. When President McKay had become president of the Church all stakes were in the US, Albetrta, Canada or the Mormon colonies in Hawaii. No stake operated in a language other than English. It was only while President Monson was president of the Canadian mission that missionary work to French-speakers in Canada was initiatiated.
In 1971 Elder Monson was one of the apostles involved in setting apart the leadership of the Genesis Group. This group was created to serve the needs of African-American Latter-day Saints. In 1973 in his journal as noted in a Deseret News article published today, Elder Monson expressed the hope that the African-American brethren leading the Genesis Group could soon receive the priesthood. He was the last man alive who had been present in 1978 when President Kimball received the revelation on the priesthood. He was also present at the first sacrament meeting of the Genesis Group, and performed the first temple sealing involving a couple including an African-American. Also as a member of the Priesthood Executive Committee he was involved in issueing the first mission calls to people of African-descent in the 20th century (Elijah Able had been a missionary in the 19th-century). Among those then called was Marcus Martins who would be called as a mission president by President Monson.
President Monson dedicated Haiti for the preaching of the gospel in 1982. His first assignments as an apostle had been to Oceania. He organized the first stake in Tonga for example.
President Monson had a vision of a church where all wards and branches were lead by local brethren, and not by full-time missionaries. Where as many people as possible lived in stakes and could receive patriarchal blessings and where no members lived more than 200 miles from the temple.
From about 1969-1985 President Monson oversaw the Church in Eastern Europe. It was truly a labor of love. He was centrally involved in the negotiations that lead to missionaries in East German before the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germans called as missionaries, and the building of the Friberg Germany Temple. While most of the major progress in eastern Europe happened after President Monson was called to the First Presidency, and it was Elder Russell M. Nelson who was the main point man on that, President Monson was key in laying the groundwork.
President Monson was also a key figure in the LDS edition of the scriptures that came out from 1979-1981.
He was a man who had a vision of ministry to the one.
His role while a counselor to Presidents Benson, Hunter and Hinckley is hard for me to directly assess.
As preisdent of the Church, he oversaw many major developments, although many were continuances of policies of those before.
The biggest change under his administration was the lowering of the missionary age, especially for young women. This also lead to a reformating of mission counsels. There were also major advances in missionary use of technology and changes in various other guidelines for misisonaries.
Another big change was seen in major revisions of Church curriculum. This started in 2013 with new youth curriculum. The CES curriculum went through major revisions as well. Then in 2016 came teacher councils. The 2010 revision of the Church Handbook of instructions also emphasized more the importance of the ward council. The Church moved to be more strongly governed by councils at all levels. The new melchizedek preisthood and relief society curriculum move this central role of councils and new approach to curriculum even more broadly. The adult Sunday School curriculum has not seen much revision. The Doctrine and Covenants online materials did include some very useful connections and additional material, but I have to say it was not uniformly utilized. On the other hand the online edition of the Old Testament student manual still uses the Old Bible dictionary name for an article, not even reflecting the alterations in the Bible Dictionary published in I believe 2013.
On the political and social issues front President Monson has largely reflected a continuation of policies from before. The 2008 support of Proposition 8 and similar measures in other states was in line with previous support. The move of the Church voicing its support for legal protection of man/woman marriage outside of the US may have been new under President Monson, but was a result more of the issue being voiced in areas where there was a chance for public comment combined with situations like an all Mexican area presidency in Mexico being about the only group that could have lead out on the issue in the political climate of Mexico. The Church seems to have possibly been more vocal in its support for finding solutions to immigration issues that would allow families to remain together, but I have not studied the issue in depth enough to be able to time Church statements on this issue very clearly.
While the Church has clearly endorsed a level of housing and employment protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation that I do not think was announced before, it has signaled that man/woman marriage will remain the only accepted place for sexual interaction in Church policy. The policy to excommunicate those who enter same-sex marriage has caused outrage to some, and others to misrepresent it.
The Church has also lead out in interfaith work, and a push for religious freedom.
At the same time the Church has majorly increased its openess and scholarly publications. The Chuirch Historians Press was launched under President Monson, although much of the initial legwork for this initiatiate was started under President Hinckley. Starting in 2013 the Church published several gospel topic essays, that dealt frankly with difficult subjects like race and the priesthood. The fact that a few weeks ago I was able to show such to an active Church member who had never read them shows that they have not been read as much as they need to be.
The role of women in the Church has also beeen changed in significant if not fully comprehended ways. Women giving prayers in regular sessions of general conference, and the women's conference being made for all women 8 and up and being clearly indicated as part of general conference are significant changes. The most recent, with the alternating general priesthood meeting and general women's meeting on Saturday evenings of general conference is also a big one. Also the role of the mission president's companion (wife) has been given a more formal place in mission structure, and the mission council now includes female missionaries, and there is the new leadership title for sister missionaries (the exact name escapes me at the moment).
The BYU pathway program has been another major initiative during President Monson's presidency.
Lastly, we have seen a push forward in the number of temples. Not on the level of what we saw under President Hinckley, but still a major push forward. We have seen temples announced for several places very far from existing temples.
I know there are lots more things to cover, but I think this is a good start.
Latly, President Monson was a man of compasion who was able to lead to Church to better reach out in service and caring to meet the needs of the individual.
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