[Excommunicated Mormons are not supposed to take communion.] A diligent historian, meanwhile, will come to see that the truth of the matter is complicated. Though the letter from the current First Presidency made up of church President Russell M. Nelson and counselors Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring offered no explanation for the rejection, Bowman speculates that there may be at least two possible answers history and dissent. She was told to pass along this message: Im tired of hearing him criticize the church. By then an assistant district attorney, Lambert later helped prosecute the case against Hofmann. He acknowledged to me that, of course, it is possible to find outlets for service outside of Mormonism. They are called to them by the men at the very top of the hierarchy. That's a good question. The church reports a worldwide membership of 16 million. 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. Even in the novels, he noticed, the gay characters came to terrible ends. 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. "But when I got to the point of priestly ordination, I pulled back. But he had a caring bishop that first year and decided on his own to serve a mission. 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. [5] She then attended the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California for two years, where she studied religious history. "Nobody asked me to disavow my book or stop writing," Hanks said. The truth is not uplifting. Thats according to Quinnmy request to speak with Packer, whose health has badly deteriorated in recent years, was declined. One theory on that first day of panic was that the bombings were connected with the business, an investment company called CFS. 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. While LDS leaders can be defensive about media attention, sustained criticism from the outside world seems to have an effect. Truth is, she has never stopped attending her Mormon ward. What's it like going to church for two decades as an excommunicated member? How did you find out about the impending disciplinary hearing? Few people had attended the talk itself, but an independent BYU newspaper ran a story about it, and copies of Quinns remarks, titled On Being a Mormon Historian, began to circulate.
September Six - Wikipedia . 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. He then announced that I was not a member in good standing and could not use my temple recommend. 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. By Peggy Fletcher Stack | Sep. 5, 2019, 1:20 p.m. | Updated: 11:59 p.m. . The noisy nonsense on-screen felt to Quinn like a rough equivalent of what the church was doing to him. This is not entirely uncommon in Mormon culture, but Quinn took it sincerely to heart. Quinn studied English literature in collegehe attended BYUbut during his three-year stint in the military he decided to become a historian, and make what had become a consuming pastime into his profession. And it was not popular with those of the brethren that Quinn had already angered with his talk on Mormon history four years before. While Packers precise involvement remains a matter of dispute, what little is known hints at his interference. . SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Laurie Lee Hall was excommunicated from the Mormon church for being a woman. 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. I am confident that my desire to be worthy of the temple is acceptable of the Lord. I love the church. Unresolved: Release in which this issue/RFE will be addressed. Paul Toscanos sister-in-law was excommunicated for her writings about the Heavenly Mother, a controversial aspect of Mormon theology. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax . Which has also, it seems, made Michael Quinns singular focus on the unspoken parts of the Mormon past less relevant to younger historians, who operate with more freedom and less pressureand who draw far more interest than their predecessors from the wider world, which has suddenly become fascinated by Mormonism.
He revised the story occasionally over the next decade, submitting it unsuccessfully to the Paris Review and the Atlantic. It went back to his college years. I hate him. . Lynne Kanavel Whitesides was not. (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.) Press J to jump to the feed. 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. Quinn wrote back more harshly this time, listing all the things Hanks had done that troubled him. I see her articles on here all the time and the Tribune has never really been a friend to the TSCC. 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. Paul usually sits on the outside of the pew, so when the sacrament comes, he shakes his head toward me so we don't have any socially embarrassing moments. Hofmann eventually became, in the words of one expert, the most skilled forger this country has ever seen. For LDS leaders nervous about church history, he was a nightmare personified: a lying, murderous man hell-bent on embarrassing the religion while glorifying and enriching himself. The churchs critics find the timing convenient: By 1890, the U.S. government had threatened to seize LDS property if polygamy wasnt renounced. Denver Snuffer . 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.. [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. 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 . They were eventually published, without Quinns permission, by two prominent anti-Mormon activists, Jerald and Sandra Tanner. In order to have her blessings fully restored, she had to meet with a general authority at church headquarters. Bad marriages had women running to and away from . I found this tl/dr written by Peggy Fletcher Stack in the Salt Lake Tribune:. TV and newspaper reporters came. He subsequently has . I did. 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. He stinks.. 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. They divorced soon after. If Peggy wanted to do some groundbreaking . The kindness of my ward members has been really important. I wouldn't give it up, but promised him I wouldn't use it. 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. This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. But by the fall of 92 he had to return to Salt Lake City to finish research on the book, and he had grown tired of hiding from church authorities. He was excommunicated by the LDS Church in 2013 for refusing to cease publication of his 2011 book, Passing the Heavenly Gift which challenges many points of LDS orthodoxy. He wrote a short story about two male missionaries in Louisiana who become attracted to each other and are stalked by a religious psychopath. From an early age, he felt within himself the presence of God, this burning of the spirit, as he says. The book won an award from the American Historical Association, but it brought Quinn more grief in Utah.
How is Peggy Fletcher Stack still Mormon? : r/exmormon - reddit He slept on her futon and had no Internet access or health insurance. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. I have been doing that for 18 years. During Quinns college years, BYUs president, Ernest Wilkinson, organized a student spy ring intended to catch out professors with communist leanings. Photo by George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Hanks became less diplomatic. My own name remains on the rolls of the church, and I plan to leave it there, though I stopped believing in the Mormon gospel 15 years ago. I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land, it says. 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. These three shocks to Quinns testimonyabout the Book of Mormon, polygamy, and LDS theologyspurred a pursuit to unearth and understand those parts of his religions past that complicated the simpler story of the faith he had learned as a child. 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. Instead, he simply took away Quinns temple recommend. Temples, distinct from regular meetinghouses, are reserved for sacred rituals, and require a recommend, a small card indicating ones worthiness, to enter. It struck him as an old missionarys trick. 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. Devout Mormons consider these callings divinely inspired. (He also, as it happens, officiated at the wedding of my parents.) He has not been since. Though a lifelong Latter-day Saint, Hanks had not been attending a Mormon ward for several years. [9] She started the "Faith" column after a discussion with Tribune editor Jay Shelledy. Quinns status in the church remained unchanged. Groundbreaking Emma Smith biographer, a 'giant' in Mormon scholarship, dies at 82. That last comment became the caption for a Newsweek photo three months later, when the magazines religion reporter, Kenneth L. Woodward, wrote a 1,000-word story about Quinns talk and the controversy it prompted. Still, he sought out the scriptures first edition himself, and did his own comparison. The intellectual climate had improved under Oaks, people said. One of the articles came from an anthology called Women and Authority: Re-Emerging Mormon Feminism, edited by Maxine Hanks, a distant relative of Pauland his uncle Marionand, soon, one of the September Six herself.
Peggy Fletcher Stack - The Salt Lake Tribune He was excommunicated in 1911. I moved into recognizing the value and power of a lay priesthood in the body of Christ and Christian community. Maybe, I suggested, he was trying to bring his full self out into the open.
The Unholy Practice of Excommunication - Exponent II It really hurt my feelings. by Peggy Fletcher Stack (Salt Lake Tribune) 06-23-2015. Ill come get him. 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 writes for The Salt Lake Tribune.) His father was never Mormon: The son of Mexican immigrants, he changed his namethough never legallyfrom Daniel Pea to Donald Quinn, apparently wanting to escape his heritage as well as his poverty. [10][11][12][13] The American Academy of Religion awarded her a first place Journalism Award in 2014 for her reporting on LDS missionaries who return home early from their volunteer missions. Experts authenticated the letter, and Christensen, a devout Mormon, bought it from Hofmann, with plans to donate it to the church. 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. By Peggy Fletcher Stack. In October, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that a threatening phone call had been made to the home of a local man named Michael D. Quinn. The church keeps fairly careful records of its membership, for one thing, records that play a part in the worldwide effort to bring salvation to all of Gods children.
Excommunication Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster July 26, 2012 12:03 pm . 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? sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. As a Mormon, he also knew that same-sex attraction was considered unfortunate at bestsomething to be struggled with, and, if possible, overcome. Fixed: Release in which this issue/RFE has been fixed.The release containing this fix may be available for download as an Early Access Release or a General Availability Release. He rejected the idea that his writings and his comments to reporters about Mormon history warranted disciplinary action, and he had come to a kind of peace about what he was sure awaited him. According the her Wikipedia page: She is a great-granddaughter of Heber J. Her explorations gave Hanks a new level of understanding and "testimony" of Mormonism. She said hello, but he did not recognize her. 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. Quinn told friends that he did not want anyone to lobby on his behalf. So she met with local and high Mormon leaders and, after several months, they set a baptismal date. [5] She then received a fellowship to work in the Church History Division of the LDS Church (then run by Leonard J. This new knowledge sent Quinn to the Journal of Discourses, a 26-volume collection of Mormon sermons. Excommunication is a complicated and multi-layered process for sexual minorities in the church who choose to marry in a way that the church considers a "same sex" marriage. In the field of Mormon history the changes are particularly pronounced. My stake president said in an email, if I [didn't] come forward and tell people that I am not a member in good standing, he would. In California, Quinn had picked up his mail at a P.O. I prayed every article I wrote into print, he said, continually asking God what he should do. Once in a while such a case will hit the press.
Timeline of teachings on homosexuality in the Church of Jesus Christ of I was removed from that situation. Quinn is no longer actively seeking an academic job. Whether Quinns fate had truly been sealed is hard to say. I admire her. As she entered the building at 47 East South Temple, she happened to pass Boyd K. Packer on his way out. Hired in 1991 to cover Utah's various faiths, particularly Mormonism, Peggy has talked forgiveness with Archbishop Desmond Tutu . It was his death and funeral that prompted the couples current bishop to bring up the possibility of her rejoining the church. All rights reserved. In 1975 Stack helped found Sunstone, an independent magazine of Mormon studies, and steered it for its first eleven years.
memeorandum: High-ranking Mormon official, who twice spoke in General 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. Anderson was excommunicated for an article she wrote in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought that described episodes of what she called ecclesiastical abuse of Latter-day Saint intellectuals. Some church leaders continued to marry multiple wives, which is why there was a Second Manifesto in 1904, during the Reed Smoot congressional hearings. It was a long time coming: Quinn had known he was gay since he was 12 years old. Packer approved Quinns hiring, but he may have come to regret it five years later. The church has control of my membership; I decide whether I'm Mormon or not. Did the Utah Legislature do enough to save the Great Salt Lake? The LDS archives became more open to scholars than ever before, and Arrington oversaw research and writing by fellow academics and graduate studentsincluding Quinn, then 28, whom he hired as an assistant. Mormons devote one sacrament meeting each month to personal testimonies, and Quinn was sure this would be his last opportunity to offer his in church. 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. 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. I love the gospel. A forum for ex-mormons and others who have been affected by mormonism to get support and share news, commentary, and comedy about the Mormon church. Especially considering that in a lot of cases she's the one doing the exposing My guess is she's a let's-reform-this-baby-from-within progressive. My dad was a bishop twice. Now I see that he just didn't appreciate the dishonesty associated with his grandpa. In the past, many Mormon officials had a sense, he said, that the church must protect its members from "wolves among them.". Down in Provo, Avraham Gileadi met more quietly with his local leaders. He put down in words his sincere testimony in the Mormon gospel and in Ezra Taft Bensons status as a true prophet of God. . By Peggy Fletcher Stack June 23, 2015 Many Mormon feminists experienced Kate Kelly's excommunication as a harsh slap felt around the world. 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. Like Robert Kirby, it would be a shit storm to ex her. Snuffer was excommunicated. Stack has been the lead religion writer for The Salt Lake Tribune since 1991. . Even after that, a few high-ranking Mormons continued to authorize such marriages. ", This page was last edited on 30 November 2022, at 04:21. In 1981, he produced a blessing allegedly given by Joseph Smith to his son Joseph Smith III, declaring him my successor in the Presidency of the High Priesthood. The document was partly inspired, it appears, by The Mormon Succession Crisis of 1844, which refers to such a blessing. At the time, he was grieving the death of his son, who had gone missing and was found weeks later hanging from a tree by an extension cord. Peggy Fletcher Stack is an American journalist, editor, and author. 2012. Vern Anderson, the AP reporter, wrote an 800-word story about the essay in January, just before Hanks showed up at Quinns apartment. News. Hired in 1991 to cover Utah's various faiths, particularly Mormonism, Peggy has talked forgiveness with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, nearly fainted waiting for the Dalai Lama, fasted with Muslims during Ramadan and has reported on 50 consecutive semiannual LDS General Conferences. ", 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]. Elder Packer, he told Quinn, will never get over this.. The second thing that happens is members learn to be afraid of leaders, and leaders learn to be afraid of members. It had been a difficult year. He froze.
An Excommunication, And The Future Of The Church Of Jesus Christ - WBUR Once the kids were interested, the missionaries were supposed to contact their parents, with the aim of converting whole families. 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. Independent publicationsmost notably Dialogue (founded in 1966) and Sunstone (1974)provided forums for scholarship and reflection about Mormon history and theology. He found me outside and was kind and helpful. Dave: We remind our listeners about a new way to support Mormon Land. Peggy Fletcher Stack Senior religion reporter. This is all lies! he told the friend who showed it to him. by Peggy Fletcher Stack. The stake president, a man named Paul Hanks, tried to step into the apartment as he said hello, Quinn recalls. A second bomb that first day killed Kathy Sheets, the wife of one of Christensens former business partners. "It will be a chance for a larger audience to hear this story," she said, and to hear how people can wrestle with their faith and then live it out.
D. Michael Quinn and Mormon excommunication: The complicated life of a Peggy Fletcher Stack - Wikipedia We had stake [regional] conference in September. Knowing her personally (not closely, but we're acquainted) I get the feeling that she is much more culturally LDS than actually LDS. 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. 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.
Demographics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. The Salt Lake Tribune/June 16, 2014. This year he completed the third and final volume in his trilogy on the Mormon hierarchy, which examines the churchs business and financial activities from 1830 to 2010. The regional council forwarded her request to church headquarters, with the recommendation that she be approved for rebaptism.
Peggy Fletcher Stack - WikiMili, The Best Wikipedia Reader Quinn was convinced, in any case, that his fate in any disciplinary council was predetermined, that Boyd K. Packer wanted him out of the church and Hanks was going to make it happen. The Mormon church is organized into congregations called wards; a group of these is called a stake. Since I'm there every Sunday, I don't fit their model of an excommunicated member. After Quinn finished his lunch at BYU, he decided not to go home. After high school, Christian went to Stanford, and we thought, "This may be where we hear bad news." Looking back, it was a real blessing. He asked Quinn to come see him in his office after work one day, Quinn says. Ultimately, the events of September 1993 may have helped broaden those borderlands, encouraging other members of the faith to openly question Mormon orthodoxy without entirely leaving the religion behind. [5], The Stacks traveled in Africa for a year,[5] then settled in New York City for five years,[1] where she worked as the editor of the Hastings Center Report while her husband attended film school.
High-Ranking Mormon Official, is Excommunicated - Coercion Code But gradually, pressure on Mormon scholars eased, and today many write and publish without any obvious concern for what their stake presidents might think. Some, perhaps, simply regretted the bad press. In 1981, he gave an address to church educators called The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect, which was organized around four cautions. The second of them is this: There is a temptation for the writer or teacher of church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith-promoting or not. I feel like I am going by proxy for others who feel too damaged, too hurt and afraid to go. The movie was a live-action adaptation of the Nintendo game Super Mario Bros. It was held by the stake high council, and so my bishop and ward members took the position that that was their doing. With no regular income to speak of, Quinn moved into his mothers condo in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. He left it up to local leaders to come up with a reason.
Writer excommunicated during 'September Six' purge loses her bid to A page of the so-called Salamander Letter, forged by Mark Hofmann. Running almost 100 pages and including nearly 400 footnotes, the essay was the fruit of decades of thought and research. And he continued to correspond with Paul Hanks, who had written to express his displeasure at seeing his words quoted in the newspaper. The Mormon church holds two different kinds of disciplinary councils: a more elaborate process that is often reserved for those who hold the Melchizedek priesthoodgenerally speaking, all devout adult menand a simpler process mostly used for those who dontmeaning women and men who have not advanced far in the church. People named Peggy Fletcher. 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. A candlelight vigil was held outside the Salt Lake City meetinghouse where it took place. Peggy Fletcher Stack has been reporting on faith and religion since 1991. We embedded him as thoroughly in the church as we ourselves had been. Kate Kelly, founder of the Ordain Women movement, was excommunicated in 2014 for her views on gender inequality in the Mormon Church . He wept as he read it aloud to others. Many religions have strictures that establish who is in and who is out, but the Mormon church draws a brighter line than most. Quinn refused. Stack is an advisor on religion to the Public Broadcasting Service,[2] and has written two books. Excommunication opened the door to a larger cosmos, inside and outside myself.". The suit was settled out of court and a process for voluntary withdrawal was established in 1989.).
Unto Dust Shalt Thou Return | Out of Obscurity The handbook doesn't say you can't speak in class, just over the pulpit. If you've picked up a copy of the Salt Lake Tribune in the last 26 years, you know Peggy Fletcher Stack's name.