(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. But he could no longer go to the temple. Lavina Fielding Anderson, who was excommunicated in 1993 as part of the so-called September Six, has had her request for rebaptism into the LDS Church rejected by the faith's governing First Presidency after being approved by her local lay leaders. Her explorations gave Hanks a new level of understanding and "testimony" of Mormonism. At Sunstone, Hanks described her path back to Mormonism as a heros journey, la Joseph Campbell. Just before his excommunication, in the spring of 1993, Quinn bore his testimony at the singles ward he was attending each week in Westwood, near UCLA. The prophet at the time was Ezra Taft Benson, who, at age 94, was mostly incapacitated. Dated Oct. 23, 1830, the letter was addressed to an early Mormon convert named W.W. Phelps and signed Martin Harris. This other Quinn was not home when the call came, and a baby-sitter answered the phone. He himself did not even stay in town. A page of the so-called Salamander Letter, forged by Mark Hofmann. A view of the Salt Lake Temple outside Olympic Medals Plaza in Salt Lake City, Utah. 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. At the pinnacle of the Mormon hierarchy is the First Presidencythe churchs prophet and his two counselorsand the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. What's it like going to church for two decades as an excommunicated member? How did you find out about the impending disciplinary hearing? sltrib.com. [5] She met Mike Stack when he volunteered as a photographer for Sunstone in 1984, and they married in October 1985. And the Tribune is changing with it. We appreciate the search for knowledge and the discussion of gospel subjects, the First Presidency said. At Yale, while serving as one of two counselors to the local bishop, he found unanswered letters in the wards files from people who wished to leave the church. Quinn went to Californiahe had another fellowship at the Huntington Librarystaying this time with his mother. Box 15 miles from where he was staying, and in New Orleans he had it delivered to a receiving center a little ways from his apartment. When they left, they said, "Have a nice day," to which I replied, "You have just assured that I will not.". There are other matters that I need to talk with you about that are not related to your historical writings. But Packer certainly said similar things before larger audiences. I could imagine the First Presidency thinking that this is not an episode worth revisiting, Bowman wrote in an email. Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example, published in 1996, argues that same-sex intimacy was much more accepted by early Mormonsincluding Joseph Smiththan it is today. Stack is an advisor on religion to the Public Broadcasting Service,[2] and has written two books. Peggy Fletcher. Arrington). deductible, Report a missed paper by emailingsubscribe@sltrib.comor calling801-237-2900, For e-edition questions or comments, contact customer support801-237-2900or emailsubscribe@sltrib.com. (These soon-to-be former Mormons were not required to attend.) When Benson asked why no one had stopped him, Oaks allegedly replied, You cant stage manage a grizzly bear. Benson resigned his Mormon membership shortly afterward and became a vocal opponent of the church his grandfather ostensibly led. I love John and I support him, but I have never made any claim against truth claims of the church. [Excommunicated Mormons are not supposed to take communion.] It was held by the stake high council, and so my bishop and ward members took the position that that was their doing. The field has grown and appears to have moved on, even though the research that Quinn did, and the fights that he picked, were crucial to what has come in his wake. 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. Looking back, it was a real blessing. England said he knew about this espionage systemit was called the Strengthening Church Members Committee, and it compiled documents and highlighted statements considered critical of the church. In the first few days after the bombings, several people who had come into contact with Hofmann feared for their lives. However, we believe that Latter-day Saints who are committed to the mission of their Church and the well-being of their fellow members will strive to be sensitive to those matters that are more appropriate for private conferring and correction than for public debate. There are times, they added, when public discussion of sacred or personal matters is inappropriate., The Statement on Symposia was another tear in the already fraying relationship between church leaders and scholars. The bishops next comment was, Whats wrong with those people up in Salt Lake? He was thrilled to have Quinn in his ward. The high council also heard from Andersons son, Christian, who offered his personal assessment. ``It was like `We're here to support you, Brother Gileadi,' '' he said of the atmosphere at the . I felt they were not going to drive me away. Sometimes Stack refers to Salt Lake City . Going to the temple, but I feel that it's more important to have the temple in me than for me to be in the temple. 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. There is a peace that comes with that kind of clarity. Kate Kelly, founder of the Ordain Women movement, was excommunicated in 2014 for her views on gender inequality in the Mormon Church . In the quarter-century since her ouster, Anderson consistently has attended weekly services at her Latter-day Saint congregation, the Whittier Ward. 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. He turned 65 two years later, making him eligible for Social Security and Medicare. ", "Guilt, pain, help and hope when Mormon missionaries come home early", "For a string of vivid reports revealing the perverse, punitive and cruel treatment given to sexual assault victims at Brigham Young University, one of Utah's most powerful institutions. Peggy Fletcher Stack is an American journalist, editor, and author. 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.. Within the past few years, Bradley had a change of heart and was rebaptized. People named Peggy Fletcher. They dont acquire these positions by filling out an application and sending in a rsum. But gradually, pressure on Mormon scholars eased, and today many write and publish without any obvious concern for what their stake presidents might think. 2012. Nor does it read like one. Quinn got hate mail. It went back to his college years. Kelly was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in June. But that was not how he experienced it. TV and newspaper reporters came. Stack has received and been nominated for multiple awards. Sunstone The spiritual journey of Maxine Hanks, one of the "September Six,'" comes full circle. He froze. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 . He moved back to Utah and began receiving mail at his actual address. [4], She won the 2004 Cornell Award for 'Excellence in Religion ReportingMid-sized Newspapers' from the Religion Newswriters Association in 2004, an award she also received in 2012, 2017, and 2018. If he doesnt, I have his phone number and I know where he lives. 1897 - First Presidency member George Q. Cannon used the media attention on the 1895 conviction and two-year imprisonment of famed Irish poet Oscar Wilde as an opportunity to pu In it, Harris, who paid for the first printing of the Book of Mormon, tells a story of that books origins strikingly different from Smiths later, official account. Peggy Fletcher. It had since become the premier event for the so-called scholars and intellectuals of Mormonism to gather and exchange ideas. Anderson was photographed at her Salt Lake City home with the work of her late husband, Paul L. Anderson, on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019. On March 23, 2018, Andersons husband, Paul, died of heart failure. Two decades ago, Maxine Hanks could not have imagined where her spiritual journey would take her, but she knew this much: She would not likely be walking into the waters of Mormon baptism. Look at Steve Benson, I suspect that there was no way they were going to ex him so he exed himself. Then he made copies of his letter and Hanks letter and dropped them off at the offices of Vern Anderson and Peggy Fletcher Stack, a former Sunstone editor who had become a religion reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune. Quinn wrote back more harshly this time, listing all the things Hanks had done that troubled him. The cabin has no phone access, so I had months [after her initial conversation with the stake president] to think about it. That higher-ranking leader, James Paramore, had further instructed West to say that the decision was Wests own, and had not come from above. By: Peggy Fletcher Stack. Vacillating Wildly From Dispiriting to Exhilarating, the worldwide effort to bring salvation to all of Gods children, Some things that are true are not very useful, LDS Authority and New Plural Marriages, 18901904, this growing conflict between leaders and intellectuals, Mormon Women Have Had the Priesthood Since 1843, Quinns paper about the Baseball Baptism Program, the responsibility to preserve the doctrinal purity of the church, critical pieces he had written about Mitt Romney, Hanks described her path back to Mormonism, the administration caved to pressure from Ira Fulton. Earlier this year, Maxine Hanks became the first of the September Six to fully return to the Mormon Church since the conservative outlier Avraham Gileadi was quietly rebaptized almost two decades ago. 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. West did not formally revoke the recommend, he just put it in his drawer. Using the familiar Christian metaphor of a lost sheep who listens for the one voice that can guide it back home, Oaks said Mormons should beware of alternate voices whose avowed or secret object is to deceive and devour the flock. Among the voices Oaks warned about were the ones heard in magazines, journals, and newspapers and at lectures, symposia, and conferences. At the same General Conference, another apostle said that a true stalwart of the church would not lend his or her good name to periodicals, programs, or forums that feature offenders who do sow discord among brethren. , When the Sunstone Symposium next convened, in the summer of 92, Lavina Fielding Anderson presented a paper on this growing conflict between leaders and intellectuals. Whitesides says that Connie Chungs people asked her to take a hidden camera into her court. She and five other journalists at the Salt Lake Tribune won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.She won the Cornell Award for Excellence in Religion ReportingMid-sized Newspapers from the Religious News Association in 2004, 2012, 2017 . Paul Toscanos sister-in-law was excommunicated for her writings about the Heavenly Mother, a controversial aspect of Mormon theology. I had a spiritual prompting that summer staying at my cabin that I wasn't to go. (Benson died in 94, Hunter in 95.) Kate Kelly Shreds Peggy Fletcher Stack for Using Her as "Clickbait" Again, I'm reminded of a scene in "Schindler's List" where the Vern Anderson, the AP reporter, wrote an 800-word story about the essay in January, just before Hanks showed up at Quinns apartment. He had also just published an article titled The Mormon Succession Crisis of 1844, which detailed the confusion about who should succeed Joseph Smith after his assassination. Quinn had spent three years in the military in the late 60s, working in counterintelligence. Hed better start keeping it to himself. Gileadi, Toscano, Anderson, and Hanks were all excommunicated. The kindness of my ward members has been really important. She won the Cornell Award for Excellence in Religion ReportingMid-sized Newspapers from the Religious News Association in 2004, 2012, 2017, 2018, and 2022. It had been a difficult year. Ill come get him. Packer, the second-most senior among the 12, was the substitute president of the Quorum of the Twelve whenever Hunter was sidelined for medical reasons. She was struck by how frail he appeared, and found herself feeling nothing but compassion and love for a man who had once seemed like an enemy. By Peggy Fletcher Stack After an exhausting six-hour disciplinary hearing Sunday, Mormon leaders temporarily suspended Grant H. Palmer's membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What to him and others that is so threatening is that this [Ordain Women movement] is coming from a very faithful, devout perspective. The bombings and subsequent murder trial cast a pall over the practice of Mormon history. Packers involvement mattered because the Twelve Apostles are considered by devout Mormons to be prophets, seers, and revelators. If they directed the councils, then the excommunications were, essentially, a message from the churchs highest spiritual authorities about what Mormons were allowed to do andpublicly, at leastto say. It's a way for me to participate and contribute, almost like having a calling. Then he made copies of his letter and Hanks' letter and dropped them off at the offices of Vern Anderson and Peggy Fletcher Stack, a former Sunstone editor who had become a religion reporter for . He found me outside and was kind and helpful. The regional council forwarded her request to church headquarters, with the recommendation that she be approved for rebaptism. That's a good question. When the men from the stake presidency came to his door in February, Quinn was living three blocks from the Salt Lake Temple and the worldwide headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It will be published next year. He then expressed his gratitude to the church for providing, throughout his life, a vehicle for service. . During the hiring process, a college dean offered to protect him, Quinn says, from those peoplethe LDS leadersup in Salt Lake., Before he could be hired, though, he had to visit LDS headquarters at 47 East South Temple in downtown Salt Lake and sit for an interview with one of those peoplespecifically, a general authority, one of the 100 or so men who run the church. A candlelight vigil was held outside the Salt Lake City meetinghouse where it took place. The general authority assigned to interview Quinn in the spring of 1976 was Boyd K. Packer. This massive housecleaning may be one of the church's largest since the 1850s, when thousands were excommunicated for everything from poor hygiene . I feel like I am going by proxy for others who feel too damaged, too hurt and afraid to go. Today, its Nelson, with a new counselor, Oaks, instead of Dieter F. Uchtdorf. I always felt that I had Gods sanction and encouragement, so I went ahead following that path. Even early on, a fellow Mormon historian started telling Quinn he must have a death wish regarding his membership in the church. He slept on her futon and had no Internet access or health insurance. He normalized what many call "sinful" behavior, by admitting to looking at nudie mags, drinking, smoking, and intimated other transgressions, yet still going on a mission.
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