Hello again, everyone! I am posting with the answer to the anomaly I noted in how different Church resources referred to Dieter F. Uchtdorf in preparation for tonight's Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults, which is now in progress. In the introduction of the Uchtdorfs, the former Second Counselor to President Monson was introduced by the honorific title of "Elder", and it was mentioned that he was there as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
And while it might have been easy for him (had he been given leave to do so) to mention how and if the First Presidency has been reorganized, he neatly sidestepped any mention of that by saying that he brought with him the love and greetings of all the other members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He then offered another beautiful tribute to our beloved prophet, and went on to testify and reemphasize to all in attendance that the Lord controls who comes to the Church presidency and when that occurs. And that was just about all he said, which, in my opinion, was very nicely done. Clearly the Church has been very careful about revealing any specifics until Tuesday, and that is as it should be.
So that settles the question for now. While I anticipate blogging again on Tuesday with the specific report of President Nelson's address and my reaction to the press conference that will follow, if anything else comes up in terms of Church and temple news between now and then, I will be sure to pass that along as well.
That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Sunday, January 14, 2018
How Dieter F. Uchtdorf was introduced at the Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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Slight update to the above: At one point, Elder Uchtdorf used his trademark phrase: "You may be thinking" and before going on to his point, he called himself "President Uchtdorf". Time will tell if that was an oversight on his part, a deliberately veiled reference, or a mere slip of the tongue. Just wanted to note that, for what it might be worth to anyone reading this.
ReplyDeleteWhen I talked to my wife about what I noted above, she reminded me that, since he has been known as President Uchtdorf for almost the last decade, however the First Presidency may have been reorganized, he would be in the habit of doing so. That is a point well taken. It will be interesting, to be sure, to see what happens there. In the entire history of the Church, the senior apostle has always been called as the next Church president, and it has not been since November 1985 that a new Church president has replaced one of his predecessor's counselors. I am therefore anticipating that President Nelson will retain both Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf, and that Elder Oaks will be announced as the new President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. But you can count on my reporting on the actual events on Tuesday. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteSince there is a full hour for President Nelson’s message before the press conference on Tuesday, it is plausible that there would be time to announce the reorganization of the First Presidency and call two new apostles. While it has been some time since apostles have been called outside of general conference, it has been done in the past. I believe that Neal A. Maxwell was called as an apostle in January. It would be exciting if that happens! Maybe not very likely, it is a possibility.
ReplyDeleteThere must be a reason for the hour of time that President Nelson has requested to speak to the members before the press conference on Tuesday. Recently there has simply been a press conference to announce a new First Presidency. But an additional hour suggests there may be something else. While most apostles tend to be called at General Conference, I know that Neal A. Maxwell was called In January. While not likely, could it be that President Nelson will announce two new apostles?
ReplyDeleteI am not sure to whom you are actually referring, but according to the September 1981 Ensign, President Hinckley's setting apart in the First Presidency (which in turn resulted in the call of Elder Maxwell to the apostleship) both took place on July 23, 1981, as you can see for yourself in the link below.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.lds.org/ensign/1981/09/news-of-the-church/elder-gordon-b-hinckley-called-to-first-presidency-elder-neal-a-maxwell-to-quorum-of-twelve?lang=eng
That said, you may be thinking of the changes President Kimball made to the First Presidency following the November 27, 1982 death of his First Counselor, President N. Eldon Tanner. Although he moved both Presidents Marion G. Romney and Gordon B. Hinckley up to be his First and Second Counselors in early December of that year, it was not announced in the Ensign until the January 1983 Ensign. Additionally, as was observed in another post, on January 11 a year apart, we had two deaths of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, LeGrand Richards on that day in 1983, and, on that exact same day one year later, Elder Richards' former apostolic seatmate Mark E. Petersen passed away as well.
Between the time the First Presidency was reconstituted and the time President Kimball was able to approve the April 1984 calls of Russell M. Nelson and Dallin H. Oaks, it appears that some difficulty with the health or President Kimball caused the vacancy to be left open, in much the same way as we did not see President Monson approve an apostle to fill the vacancy in the Quorum which was a result of the October 1, 2017 death of Robert D. Hales.
ReplyDeleteThe last time the call of an apostle was announced outside of General Conference was after Howard W. Hunter was ordained and set apart as Church President on June 5, 1994. 18 days later, he called Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. Every member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles called since that time has had their calls announced in General Conference.
So there are two possibilities: Either there is more that President Nelson is wanting to announce than just the reconstitution of the First Presidency, or this is simply President Nelson acting in accordance with the Church's recently announced intention to more fully utilize technology. But if it is the first, then I could see him taking early action to announce who his counselors will be, the two new apostles, any other changes in Church leadership, and perhaps also any new temples (in view of the statement I have previously referenced where Elder Larry Y. Wilson said in late April last year that the Church had a list of 80 potential temples that could be announced within the 15 years from the time of that statement, which would mean that any (if not all) of those 80 could be announced between late April 2017 and late April 2032. In view of the fact that the Church also previously announced that many missions would be consolidates as the Church moves towards finding religiously-minded individuals by the utilization of that same advancing technology. And that is without even taking into account any other policies or changes that President Nelson could potentially announce. It has been observed that President Nelson likely will not use the full hour, which might be true, but I doubt he would have scheduled the full hour for that address if it was not his intention to use it. This is a very new development, as only the press conference has been traditional for new Church presidents. It will be interesting to see. But it would not surprise me at all to find out that, in any one of the two traditional Thursday meetings the Quorum of the twelve Apostles have had since President Monson's passing, the subject of recommendations for apostolic vacancies came up. Since we have had two times recently where new apostles were called, sustained, announced, and ordained outside of General Conference.
Sorry for this lengthy reply on my part. I just wanted to do my level best to provide an adequate answer to your question. Whatever does occur on Tuesday, you can catch my report of it here on this blog ASAP after we know more. Thanks for taking time to comment, Nate, and hope I have not overwhelmed you with this lengthy reply to your excellent question.
Yes, thank you for the correction. I must have confused Neal A. Maxwell with Melvin J. Ballard or someone else who was called in January. I really enjoy your blog! Thanks for the reply and for the thorough analysis!
ReplyDeleteThat is possible. Melvin J. was ordained in January, which I just verified. Interestingly enough, it has seemed to be the Church's practice to always have someone directly descended from the family line of first Church president Joseph Smith. At the time Melvin J. Ballard served, while he had no personal connection to the Smith family, there were three other apostles that did: The son of Joseph's brother Hyrum's son (Joseph F.) was the Church President, and Joseph F. Smith's sons, Hyrum M. Smith and Joseph Fielding served in the Quorum at that time as well. Hyrum M. was the first of those to pass away, which occurred in January 1918. Because of the fact that his son was just 45 at the time of his death, the unexpected trauma of that loss ultimately led to the death of Joseph F. just 10 months later, in November 1918. It would be another 20 years until the death of Melvin J. Ballard (who died near the end of July in 1939. The last Smith descendant of the three to die as Josewph Fielding, and his death in early July of 1972 meant no other apostles (that I am aware of, at least) had that connection to the Smith family.
ReplyDeleteThe next apostle with a connection to the Smith family (if I have my facts straight) was an interesting case. If memory serves, prior to the death of Joseph Fielding, he had promised his son-in-law, Bruce R. McConkie, that he would be called to fill the next vacancy, as he (President Smith) had felt that should happen. Following the death of President Smith, President Lee was considering who to call to the apostleship, and was reminded (or informed somehow) of his predecessor's promise to Elder McConkie. After confirming with Elder McConkie that that promise had been made to him, President Lee followed through with it by making the appointment official. So for the duration of Elder McConkie's life, he was the apostle connected to the Smith family.
Then of course, his own death in April 1985 led to the appointment of the current apostle descended from the Smith family, M. Russell Ballard, who is uniquely related to both Hyrum M. Smith (his maternal grandfather) and Melvin J. Ballard (his paternal grandfather). So his two grandfathers served as apostles, sharing Quorum membership for a time, and he is the currently-serving apostle with a connection to the Smith family.
Whenever Elder Ballard passes away, it will be interesting to see who the next apostle with a connection to the Smith family might be. Thanks for wading through this. Researching these kinds of things has long been a passion of mine, and I could do it all day every day (and sometimes have done). I am really enjoying this opportunity to have established a blog where, in either posts or comments, I can pass such information on to readers like you. Thanks for this additional comment, and I hope this extra information is helpful to you.
Incidentally, Nate, I wanted to let you know that the reason I have been delayed in responding to your excellent comments is that they keep somehow ending up in the spam section of my blogger admin area. I will be looking into how to fix that so hopefully it will not happen in the future. Just wanted to let you know I was working on that.
ReplyDeleteJust looked into it, and I believe I have fixed the issue. I will be sure to notify you of any other problems. Again, sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your great comments, Nate.
ReplyDelete