Of Apostles and Cardinals
The following was a post in response to a Get Religion article on the Catholic Church and Cardinals. I doubt my post there will get posted so I will post it here.
One of the few other worldwide religious organizations run like the Catholic Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However coverage of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints generally is less susceptible to being read along political lines. This is partly because President Russell M. Nelson, the early head of the Church engages in rhetoric, such as praising bridge building over wall making, that could be seen as anti-Trump. President Nelson like his predecessor has pushed an outreach program to refugees. However he also has very clearly stated the Church's teaching of man woman marriage and the inborn nature of sex, which in turn is not "assigned at birth" or more realistically created at conception but in the teachings of the restored Church of Jesus Christ sex was a premarital reality. Sine the head of the Church is always the apostle who has serve the longest there is no campaigning to be the new prophet and president of the Church. Thus a calling to apostle opens the way to head the Church. However most decisions of the Church are made either by the First Presidency and Quorum of 12 apostles combined, those two groups plus the Presiding bishopric or by the 1st presidency in consultation with the Presiding bishopric. The first presidency and presiding bishopric run the business side of the Church from land acquisitions for new buildings to land acquisitions to hold tithing money in reserve for when it is needed to a variety of business, many a legacy of when the Church sought to make Utah economically independent. This probably in part explains why there has not been a total changeover of all 3 members of the 1st presidency at once since 1977. In addition to the 3 groups I mentioned there are also general authority seventies. Combined there are around 120 general authorities. The seventies do many things, one is they run the 21 areas of the Church, which as a measure of number of members of the Church in them are like Catholic dioceses carrying from 2.1 million in the Utah Area to under 50,00 in the Europe East Area which covers Turkey, the Balkans, Ukraine, Russia and Central Asia. Only France, the United States and Canada are in multiple areas, and France only because its Carribean departments are in the Caribbean Area, which includes the Guianas and islands, with most members living on Hispanola and the next largest group living in Puerto Rico. The 6 areas that cover the United States (including Hawaii, but not Guam, Puerto Rico or American Samoa, which are in 3 different areas) are all headquartered in Salt Lake City, as is the 11,000 member Middle East/North Africa Area. The remaining areas are all headquartered in various places around the world. Area Presidents and their counselors sometimes come from that area but more often come from other areas. It is partly because more than half of all general authorities are from the US but less than a third are in the US. However area presidents in the US are at times from elsewhere. Also right now the area president of the North America Northwest Area based in Lima, Peru is a native of Guatemala. The way the Church is set up who the general authorities are is heavily followed. Their calls are announced in general conference, which is broadcast worldwide and members are encouraged to watch. The general authorities are the main speakers their and their talks are used as the base texts for much of the lessons at Church adult Church members receive. General Authorities also alternate with area seventies in speaking in stake conferences. Generally 1 stake conference a year has a visiting authority speak at it, the balance between general and area authorities is hard to balance.
One last thing the way things work in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not very comparable to Catholicism. I have seen way to many people compare stakes to Catholic dioceses. However the diocese of Orange in California has roughly the same number of Catholics as the Utah Area. Yet the Utah Area has 605 or so stakes. The Los Angeles Archdioces is bigger in term of membership. True the Catholic diocese of Utah is much smaller than the Utah Area, but it has parishes that have more members than any stake.
Areas are much more changing in number than dioceses. The areas only datexback to 1984, although there were similar units starting in the early 1960s. The units the areas replaced were more numerous but only had one man instead of a presidency running them.
Another cases of units lacking a presidency was many missions until the 1950s, and missions some places such as Russia until the late 1990s.
When the first mission, the British mission was formed it had a presidency. However this was not standard for the next century. However mission presidents like bishops have both counsel8rs and assistants.
Most mission presidents are called from outside their mission. There are exceptions. Haiti has had a mission President called from there for over a decade and Samoa and Tonga have had several. Paris France Mission, Salt Lake City Mission and a few others have had locally called mission presidents. In other places like New York City and Benin City there have been mission presidents called who had resided in the mission, but were not resident in the mission when called.
Up until the 1950s there were only missions where there were no stakes, and stakes ran fully involved missions where potential members were taught by stake missionaries.
Mission presidents and temple presidents are the only two leadership callings where it is a couple presiding. With temples the wife is the matron. We lack good wording for the wife of the mission president. Some places I have heard companion.
Since the 1950s most counselors in mission presidencies have been men serving on a Church service part time basis. My mission had three counselors in large part because of geographical size.
My mission President also had at least 2 but at one point 4 full time missionaries who were designated as assistants. In addition there were 2 office elders who carried out some functions that in other missions in the past were done by the mission president's assistant.
Some missions the counselors to the mission President are full time senior missionaries but this is rare. 100 years ago or a little more in some missions the mission President would be advanced from among the serving missionaries. This us how Hugh Nibley's father was made mission president in the Netherlands.
To be fair though Hugh Nibley's father was rare for the time as a single mission President. Most missionaries in 1910 were married men serving away from their families. Joseph Fielding Smith was the last president of the Church to serve such a mission. Well, technically Ezra Taft Benson was, as he went with a designated companion on a mission to Europe just after World War II, leaving his wife and children in Salt Kake City. However Elder Benson by then was an apostle and had previously served a mission as a single young man as had his wife as a single young woman. I believe Flira Benson is the only wife of a prophet to date who was hus wife while he was prophet to have served a fully time mission.
Harold B. Lee and his wife met while they were both missionaries in Colorado but she died before Elder Kee became president of the Church. Lucy Smith, George Albert Smith's wife, served a mission with him in the southern US not long after their marriage, and her grandmother Phoebe Carter Woodruff was set apart as a missionary to serve with Wilford Woodruff when he presided over the Eastern States Mission in the late 1840s.
Augusta Winters Grant went with Heber J. Grant as a missionary to open Japan to the gospel. Although the prime reason for sending her was the hope she would have a son. That intention did not work. Frances Monson served with her husband when he was mission President. I think President Monson was the only president of the Church to have been mission president prior to being an apostle. However George Albert Smith was acting mission President when J. Golden Kimball was gone from the mission for about nine months straight.
Gordon B. Hinckley remains the only President of the Church to have served as a general authority other than apostle. Jeffrey R. Holland will probably be the next president of the Church to have this distinction, although M. Russell Ballard could be, but he would have to outlive not just Russell M . Nelson but also Dallin H. Oaks who is 4 years his junior.
One of the few other worldwide religious organizations run like the Catholic Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However coverage of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints generally is less susceptible to being read along political lines. This is partly because President Russell M. Nelson, the early head of the Church engages in rhetoric, such as praising bridge building over wall making, that could be seen as anti-Trump. President Nelson like his predecessor has pushed an outreach program to refugees. However he also has very clearly stated the Church's teaching of man woman marriage and the inborn nature of sex, which in turn is not "assigned at birth" or more realistically created at conception but in the teachings of the restored Church of Jesus Christ sex was a premarital reality. Sine the head of the Church is always the apostle who has serve the longest there is no campaigning to be the new prophet and president of the Church. Thus a calling to apostle opens the way to head the Church. However most decisions of the Church are made either by the First Presidency and Quorum of 12 apostles combined, those two groups plus the Presiding bishopric or by the 1st presidency in consultation with the Presiding bishopric. The first presidency and presiding bishopric run the business side of the Church from land acquisitions for new buildings to land acquisitions to hold tithing money in reserve for when it is needed to a variety of business, many a legacy of when the Church sought to make Utah economically independent. This probably in part explains why there has not been a total changeover of all 3 members of the 1st presidency at once since 1977. In addition to the 3 groups I mentioned there are also general authority seventies. Combined there are around 120 general authorities. The seventies do many things, one is they run the 21 areas of the Church, which as a measure of number of members of the Church in them are like Catholic dioceses carrying from 2.1 million in the Utah Area to under 50,00 in the Europe East Area which covers Turkey, the Balkans, Ukraine, Russia and Central Asia. Only France, the United States and Canada are in multiple areas, and France only because its Carribean departments are in the Caribbean Area, which includes the Guianas and islands, with most members living on Hispanola and the next largest group living in Puerto Rico. The 6 areas that cover the United States (including Hawaii, but not Guam, Puerto Rico or American Samoa, which are in 3 different areas) are all headquartered in Salt Lake City, as is the 11,000 member Middle East/North Africa Area. The remaining areas are all headquartered in various places around the world. Area Presidents and their counselors sometimes come from that area but more often come from other areas. It is partly because more than half of all general authorities are from the US but less than a third are in the US. However area presidents in the US are at times from elsewhere. Also right now the area president of the North America Northwest Area based in Lima, Peru is a native of Guatemala. The way the Church is set up who the general authorities are is heavily followed. Their calls are announced in general conference, which is broadcast worldwide and members are encouraged to watch. The general authorities are the main speakers their and their talks are used as the base texts for much of the lessons at Church adult Church members receive. General Authorities also alternate with area seventies in speaking in stake conferences. Generally 1 stake conference a year has a visiting authority speak at it, the balance between general and area authorities is hard to balance.
One last thing the way things work in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not very comparable to Catholicism. I have seen way to many people compare stakes to Catholic dioceses. However the diocese of Orange in California has roughly the same number of Catholics as the Utah Area. Yet the Utah Area has 605 or so stakes. The Los Angeles Archdioces is bigger in term of membership. True the Catholic diocese of Utah is much smaller than the Utah Area, but it has parishes that have more members than any stake.
Areas are much more changing in number than dioceses. The areas only datexback to 1984, although there were similar units starting in the early 1960s. The units the areas replaced were more numerous but only had one man instead of a presidency running them.
Another cases of units lacking a presidency was many missions until the 1950s, and missions some places such as Russia until the late 1990s.
When the first mission, the British mission was formed it had a presidency. However this was not standard for the next century. However mission presidents like bishops have both counsel8rs and assistants.
Most mission presidents are called from outside their mission. There are exceptions. Haiti has had a mission President called from there for over a decade and Samoa and Tonga have had several. Paris France Mission, Salt Lake City Mission and a few others have had locally called mission presidents. In other places like New York City and Benin City there have been mission presidents called who had resided in the mission, but were not resident in the mission when called.
Up until the 1950s there were only missions where there were no stakes, and stakes ran fully involved missions where potential members were taught by stake missionaries.
Mission presidents and temple presidents are the only two leadership callings where it is a couple presiding. With temples the wife is the matron. We lack good wording for the wife of the mission president. Some places I have heard companion.
Since the 1950s most counselors in mission presidencies have been men serving on a Church service part time basis. My mission had three counselors in large part because of geographical size.
My mission President also had at least 2 but at one point 4 full time missionaries who were designated as assistants. In addition there were 2 office elders who carried out some functions that in other missions in the past were done by the mission president's assistant.
Some missions the counselors to the mission President are full time senior missionaries but this is rare. 100 years ago or a little more in some missions the mission President would be advanced from among the serving missionaries. This us how Hugh Nibley's father was made mission president in the Netherlands.
To be fair though Hugh Nibley's father was rare for the time as a single mission President. Most missionaries in 1910 were married men serving away from their families. Joseph Fielding Smith was the last president of the Church to serve such a mission. Well, technically Ezra Taft Benson was, as he went with a designated companion on a mission to Europe just after World War II, leaving his wife and children in Salt Kake City. However Elder Benson by then was an apostle and had previously served a mission as a single young man as had his wife as a single young woman. I believe Flira Benson is the only wife of a prophet to date who was hus wife while he was prophet to have served a fully time mission.
Harold B. Lee and his wife met while they were both missionaries in Colorado but she died before Elder Kee became president of the Church. Lucy Smith, George Albert Smith's wife, served a mission with him in the southern US not long after their marriage, and her grandmother Phoebe Carter Woodruff was set apart as a missionary to serve with Wilford Woodruff when he presided over the Eastern States Mission in the late 1840s.
Augusta Winters Grant went with Heber J. Grant as a missionary to open Japan to the gospel. Although the prime reason for sending her was the hope she would have a son. That intention did not work. Frances Monson served with her husband when he was mission President. I think President Monson was the only president of the Church to have been mission president prior to being an apostle. However George Albert Smith was acting mission President when J. Golden Kimball was gone from the mission for about nine months straight.
Gordon B. Hinckley remains the only President of the Church to have served as a general authority other than apostle. Jeffrey R. Holland will probably be the next president of the Church to have this distinction, although M. Russell Ballard could be, but he would have to outlive not just Russell M . Nelson but also Dallin H. Oaks who is 4 years his junior.
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