Helllo again, everyone! Just 20 minutes ago, the Church officially announced that Presiding Bishop (now) Elder Gérald Caussé is the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He was ordained an apostle today by President Dallin H. Oaks and the other 13 apostles. I am thrilled by this news. Bishop Caussé (now Elder Caussé again) was one of my top 3 theorized candidates for the existing apostolic vacancy.
And I had a feeling the new apostle would be announced in short order after the First Presidency was reorganized. In fact, when the only temple news this week was about the Burley Idaho Temple media day, I theorized (I can't remember whether publicly or privately) that the newest apostle might be announced this week.
Elder Caussé becomes the third current European apostle of the Church (joining Germany's Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf and England's Elder Patrick Kearon). Elder Caussé was born on May 20, 1963, so he is now also the Church's newest youngest apostle. Elder Caussé is also the second current apostle (after Elder Gary E. Stevenson) to have been the Presiding Bishop at the time of his apostolic call.
Elder Caussé is also the second current apostle with a May birthday, joining President Henry B. Eyring (whose birthday is on May 31). His impressive biography speaks for itself. His wife is also a French native, so they join Elder and Sister Uchtdorf to become the second current apostolic couple where both spouses were born outside the US (if memory serves, Sister Jennifer Kearon is American).
The Presiding Bishopric will be reorganized at a later date. Until that time, Elder Causse's counselors will together share the load of the Presiding Bishopric. I could not have been more surprised, elated, and excited by this news. I just knew that the Church wouldn't leave the apostolic vacancy unfilled until April.
I will let the rest of Elder Causee's impressive biography speak for itself. I am pleased by this news of the newest apostle and by the opportunity to share it with you all here. I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per the established guidelines.
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Now, just like we are dealing with in my Bishopric comes the aftereffects of extending a new calling. They have to extend the call to someone to replace Elder Causse as Presiding Bishop. Depending on who it is, that person will need to be replaced in their calling.
ReplyDeleteHey, Scott. That is correct. I think that the most likely scenario is that Bishop W. Christopher Waddell will be called as the new Presiding Bishop (probabluy within the next week or less), with Bishop L. Todd Budge replacing Bishop Waddell, and any current GA Seventy or male General Officer called as the new Second Counselor. Given that both Bishops Waddell and Budge were called when they were serving as GA Seventies, there seems to be some precedent there. As to which GA Seventy or male General Officer could be called, that's harder to say. I could also see a "new" Second Counselor called from the Church at large, including from the Auditing Department or an employee of the Presiding Bishopric, as was the case with Bishop Davies. Hope these thoughts are helpful, Scott! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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