Exponent II friend (and guest blogger) Christian Anderson recently authored an excellent blog post showing the underrepresentation of women in our general conference meetings with pie charts and graphs. This week he also learned that his late mother (the well-loved Lavina Fielding Anderson) had her temple blessings restored to her by the first presidency without his knowledge. He submitted a request to do her temple work after the one-year anniversary of her death and was surprised to learn it had already been completed without anyone’s knowledge from the family only a few days before.
Pulitzer Prize winning Peggy Fletcher Stack wrote a story in the Salt Lake Tribune with all of the details. Check it out and share your love for Christian and his family!
This photo is Christian on his baptism day in Calf Creek Falls in Southern Utah. Lavina kept a copy of this next to her computer, then next to her bed for at least the last six years of her life.
Christian with his wife Marina and Lavina. ❤️
5 Responses
So sad, wish she could have been given that desire to be rebaptuzed while living.
I don’t know if people being rebaptized after death are baptized in the same way as others who never had thr chance or if it was a separate ceremony. Just seems like our leaders could have done better for this faithful lady.
Prayers for her family.
My thoughts go out to her family and son. I can only imagine the emotions in him finding this out … Sending wishes of peace and comfort to her family..
The Church seems to do so much behind the scenes, in the dark, anything to keep touchy subjects from resurfacing, anything to hurt individual members and their families. Their load of guilt must be Heavy and impossible to shed, much like the stalking of me my stepsons do after the horrible way they treated their Dad when he was alive.
As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said in 1913, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” https://sunlightfoundation.com/2009/05/26/brandeis-and-the-history-of-transparency/
First of all, I am delighted for the family that the restoration work has been completed. However, there is a point I would like to clarify for all readers. In the case of my parents (who were excommunicated for MORE THAN JUST CAUSE) in the 1970s, when their post-mortality temple work was done, it was explained to me that their work was not done by family members, as they had been to the temple, and received their temple blessings, such as endowment sealing to spouse.
That being said in those circumstances, hand-picked ordinance workers are called upon to take part in these ordinances in the Salt Lake (for now, Jordan River) Temple, with the completion of such work leading to their original baptism date, endowment date, and all other temple-related status restored, as if no disciplinary action had ever been taken.
In the case of an unendowed person who died out of the Church, doing their temple work one year later can be done by any family member with a valid temple recommend,.
Tim, that’s a very nice clarification and I’m sure it’s really appreciated by readers. Seriously. Although the situation must still have hurt in some degree.
My question is:, without intending to pry, of course: Generally speaking only, how can anyone be excommunicated for “more than just cause”? I would think there’s “with cause” and “without cause” but it almost sounds like someone started a vendetta against your parents. My sincere apologies if I poked a wound.
Please also excuse my cranky mindset. My own situation is a tad ridiculous. Family nutcases., intent on causing trouble? Sometimes, our trials make little, if any, sense. 🙂 🙁 So, I just have to wait and see why Heavenly Father is allowing this to happen. (As opposed to grabbing them by the short hairs and dumping them out over the Gulf of Mexico.)