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. 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. Born in 1924 in Brigham City, Utah, the 10th of 11 children, Packer worked for years as a teacher and administrator in the Church Educational System. The all-male priesthood leaders in his Willow Creek Sandy LDS stake could have excommunicated the 64-year-old author, but chose instead a . He was excommunicated in 1911. While LDS leaders can be defensive about media attention, sustained criticism from the outside world seems to have an effect. c. 2014 Salt Lake Tribune(RNS) The Mormon Church insists that excommunication threats targeting activists Kate Kelly and John Dehlin were generated by their respective LDS leaders in Virginia and northern Utah.Others see the timing as evidence that the two disciplinary hearings are being coordinated from the faith's Salt Lake City headquarters.But this much is certain: If Mormon higher-ups . JDK-8141210 : Very slow loading of JavaScript file with recent JDK Paul Toscanos sister-in-law was excommunicated for her writings about the Heavenly Mother, a controversial aspect of Mormon theology. Peggy Fletcher Stack is the religion columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, and one of the founders of Sunstone. People named Peggy Fletcher. He referred to the pathos that I felt in your private letters to mea plea to not be discarded from something that you love. I want to help resolve that pathos, he added, and a sadness that seems to pervade your private writing to me.. Today, its Nelson, with a new counselor, Oaks, instead of Dieter F. Uchtdorf. The biggest thing that got me was the excommunication of bill reel segment of the Mormon stories podcast. 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. LDS Church wants to light up a temple in a place that prides itself on dark skies, For husband-and-wife team, this new restaurant is the culmination of a decadeslong dream, article she wrote in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Women and Authority: Re-Emerging Mormon Feminism, Kate Kelly, was excommunicated in June 2014. Mike Quinn in his Rancho Cucamonga home in California this summer. (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 . I prayed every article I wrote into print, he said, continually asking God what he should do. The truth is not uplifting. Thats according to Quinnmy request to speak with Packer, whose health has badly deteriorated in recent years, was declined. . He does not have friends in Rancho Cucamonga. It sent him down a rabbit hole. Michael Quinns final disciplinary council was held on Sept. 26, 1993, in the Salt Lake Stake Center, the headquarters for the oldest stake in Utah, founded by Brigham Young in 1847. Where else would I be but in the church? There are important aspects of Mormon life, such as temple ceremonies, that are open only to the truly faithful. Article type . ", Kelly goes on KUER's Radio West "A lot of people are asking me why I came forward [with the news of my disciplinary hearing]. He decided that only 16 of the changes were significant. I might have lost my soul, but at least I still have my mind. A second bomb that first day killed Kathy Sheets, the wife of one of Christensens former business partners. At first, his timing appeared serendipitous: In 1972, while he was completing a masters in history at the University of Utah, an academic named Leonard Arrington was appointed church historian. I have been taught a vision of a truly cooperative future where men and women are complete equals. He never wrote another work of fiction. 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. Quinns polygamy essay, meanwhile, produced more trouble for him with LDS leaders. He was the first academic to occupy the post, previously held only by high-ranking LDS leaders, and his appointment signaled a broader effort to reorganize the historians office along professional lines. The bearded dad, a father of 11 who was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 2015 for apostasy, suggests they sing hymns . "Mormon facing excommunication makes his living off his podcasts," by Peggy Fletcher Stack, Salt Lake Tribune, February 8, 2015 "On Attempts to Smear (i.e., Being 'Fair Gamed'") by John Dehlin ; Faith Transition episodes on Mormon Stories . Peggy Fletcher. Quinns status in the church remained unchanged. Dubbed the September Six, the group were mostly left-leaning writers and scholars who had published articles or given talks about the role of women in Mormonism and the way the churchs leaders handle dissent. I had never been treated as a liar before. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax In her paper, she mentioned an internal espionage system that creates and maintains secret files on members of the church. A BYU literature professor named Eugene England rose to speak as soon as Anderson finished. Peggy Fletcher Stack is an American journalist, editor, and author. Hed been told it was an unusually accepting congregation. LDS bloggers issue statement of support More than 70 Mormon bloggers, representing a dozen or more websites, have signed a document, "Room for All in This Church," calling for "clemency" in the upcoming disciplinary councils for Kate Kelly and John Dehlin. The church has control of my membership; I decide whether I'm Mormon or not. (He also, as it happens, officiated at the wedding of my parents.) Lavina Fielding Anderson, who was excommunicated in 1993 as part of the so-called September Six, has had her request for . Men only become gay in prison, or sometimes in the Navy. Taking the sacrament because it's an exclusion I feel every single week. memeorandum: High-ranking Mormon official, who twice spoke in General How did the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grow so fast She studied "traditional, sacramental Christianity and priesthood," Hanks said this week. ", This page was last edited on 30 November 2022, at 04:21. There are other matters that I need to talk with you about that are not related to your historical writings. That's a good question. 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. Peggy Fletcher Stack - The Salt Lake Tribune Gileadi, Toscano, Anderson, and Hanks were all excommunicated. Peggy Fletcher Profiles | Facebook Excommunication Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster If Peggy wanted to do some groundbreaking . Where a skeptic sees convenience, a believer may see Gods hand. The book opened Quinns teenage eyes to dissent within the highest echelons of LDS leadership, and to the apostles debateand apparent dissemblingabout plural marriage after 1890. Packer approved Quinns hiring, but he may have come to regret it five years later. On Sunday with similar church disciplinary actions threatening Mormon feminist Kate Kelly and blogger John Dehlin, Anderson discussed her spiritual journey: What triggered the LDS Church's disciplinary action against you? Two years later, he was called as an apostle. Disciplinary councils still happen, though they appear to be less frequent, particularly when it comes to apostasy. He froze. Unresolved: Release in which this issue/RFE will be addressed. During Quinns New Orleans years, the First Presidency put out a statement discouraging Mormons from participating in academic conferences and other independent forums devoted to the discussion of their faith. 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. Hebrew scholar Avraham Gileadi has been rebaptized into the LDS Church after being excommunicated for apostasy along with five other writers and scholars in September 1993. Many people do reside in the borderlands between Mormon and not. 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. 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. Bad marriages had women running to and away from . As the historian Ross Peterson said at the time, Comparing Sunstone and Dialogue folks to people who were shooting Mormons in 1839 Missouri is unfair. Peterson, after speaking about Mormon temple rites in the press, had been shown his own file during a conversation with local church leaders. Peggy Fletcher Stack. Quinn read Hanks letter that night and wrote a detailed response. She talks very vaguely when it comes to personal, specific spiritual beliefs and whether they align with doctrine, but she doesn't hesitate to call the church out on its shit at all. Quinn is no longer actively seeking an academic job. Peggy Fletcher Stack (@religiongal) / Twitter McMurrin Differed in Gentler Times. Not long after that, the bishop met with Anderson and asked her ever so gently if she would like to discuss reinstatement. Former Mormon leader is building a new life _ as a woman While serving it in England, he was tasked with cleaning up the results of the Baseball Baptism Program, in which missionaries used sports to attract young converts. 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. June 19, 2014 ; 1 of 9; They had the responsibility to preserve the doctrinal purity of the church, they said, adding that, because Mormon leaders are constrained by confidentiality rules, the media have relied on information supplied by those disciplined or by their sympathizers. Similar councils occurred more sporadically over the next few years. Sometimes Stack refers to Salt Lake City . When interviewing Quinn in 76, Packer said, I have a hard time with historians, because they idolize the truth. He has not been since. 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. I know how to avoid people I didnt want to be in contact with, he says. By: Peggy Fletcher Stack. The LDS church does not remove any name from the list unless the person is excommunicated, asks to be removed or is dead. Vern Anderson wrote an AP story about the book, and several Utah papers carried reviews. In 1961, when Michael Quinn was a devout Mormon of 17, his best friends girlfriend gave him a copy of Family Kingdom, a biography of the one-time apostle John W. Taylor. by Peggy Fletcher Stack (Salt Lake Tribune) 06-23-2015. Following the wave of media attention that greeted the September excommunications, the First Presidency defended what had taken place. In the spring, he had published LDS Authority and New Plural Marriages, 18901904, the culmination of his interest in post-1890 polygamy, first prompted a quarter-century before by Family Kingdom. 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. Peggy Fletcher Stack has been reporting on faith and religion since 1991. 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Since then, only one Avraham Gileadi, an Old Testament scholar who has spent his life researching and . By Peggy Fletcher Stack | Sep. 5, 2019, 1:20 p.m. | Updated: 11:59 p.m. . The timing of his career, which once appeared serendipitous, now seems almost cruel. The general authority assigned to interview Quinn in the spring of 1976 was Boyd K. Packer. Though he maintained a solemn belief in the Mormon gospel and in the sacrament partaken of by the faithful at Sunday services, he stopped attending church altogether. . Maybe she wants to be, though. She's been covering religion for the paper since 1991 taking on a variety of topics, but mostly the LDS Church. ", Hanks is a "genuinely spiritual person and quite insightful, who brings a type of spirituality with her that will resonate with lots of people," he said. 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 . 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. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. The noisy nonsense on-screen felt to Quinn like a rough equivalent of what the church was doing to him. How did you find out about the impending disciplinary hearing? Paul Toscano, a combative lawyer, showed up for his, at the Cottonwood Stake Center in the southern part of Salt Lake City.