Mormonopia» Mormon Church in the News

Hill Cumorah crew: A voluntary labor force

Graham — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:22:11 +0000

When the Latter-day Saints come to town, much work gets done — beyond Hill Cumorah.

During their stay, cast members from the pageant provide more than 1,800 hours of volunteer labor in Wayne and Ontario counties. They do everything from pull weeds and mulch gardens to clean high school lockers and paint picnic pavilions.

On an related note, last week I posted about how I wondered if the new passport laws would affect how many people from Ontario went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. There were several members of my ward who went last week, and they said the place was only half full. However, there was the normal group of protestors yelling crazy things at the visitors.

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LDS Newsroom – Faith Matters to NBA Champions’ General Manager

Graham — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:19:17 +0000

I’m a big basketball fan. I don’t really have a favourite team, but I love playing, and I regularly listen to the Toronto Raptors games on the radio during the season. If you can combine basketball and Church, that’s even better

Well, it is fairly well known that Danny Ainge is a Mormon. He is also the General Manager of the Boston Celtics (as well as former Toronto Blue Jay baseball player). The LDS Newsroom has a nice article about him that includes a mention that he is in the bishopric in his ward. That would be something to sit down for a temple recommend interview and have him asking the questions!

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Mormons affirm new church leader

Graham — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:40:03 +0000

From MSNBC:

Faithful Mormons stood by the thousands with upraised hands Saturday, officially installing the newly appointed head of their first new leader in 13 years.

Thomas S. Monson took over The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in February after the death of Gordon B. Hinckley, but the faith traditionally calls for a sustaining vote by members in a ceremony known as the solemn assembly.

Each church organization took its turn — from its top leaders down to youth groups — standing when called to cast votes in the packed conference center, which holds 21,000 people. The ceremony has been practiced since 1880, when John Taylor was named president of the church.

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New official picture of the First Presidency

Graham — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:52:28 +0000

Although the posting is dated from Friday, today an official picture of the new First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was released. I quite like it.

You can download a large version of the picture from the Newsroom.

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Mormons Confront Negative Ideas About Their Faith

Graham — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:08:32 +0000

On Tuesday, Morning Edition from NPR had a 5-minute segment on the Church. The campaign of Mitt Romney brought a lot of attention to the Church. Unfortunately, we’ve found out that there are still a lot of misconceptions out there, as well as a lot of people who just don’t want to hear the truth of what we believe.

Howard Berkes, the chief Rural Affairs correspondent (who is based in Salt Lake City), talks with Elder M. Russell Ballard, Richard Bushman, Jan Shipps, and others in talking about what we learned and what we need to do.

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PETA Urges New Mormon President to Promote Humane, Scriptural Vegetarian Diets

Graham — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:04:30 +0000

Normally when I think of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), I think of them protesting outside a KFC or similar establishment. However, just the other day they issued a press release directed at the Church, and wrote a letter to President Monson. The press release is as follows, followed by the content of the letter (which you can read on their site):

This morning, PETA sent a letter to newly elected Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Thomas Monson wishing him well in his new position and urging him to emphasize God’s requirement to protect His creatures and treat our bodies as sacred gifts by urging all Mormons to go vegetarian.

“As you know, the Doctrine and Covenants states, ‘And [animals] hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger,’” writes PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich, a lifelong Christian, in his letter to Monson. “Adopting a vegetarian diet is a wonderful Christian response to the unholy abuse of billions of animals every year by today’s industrialized meat industry.”

To help Mormons adhere to scripture, achieve better health, and save animals from bleak lives and painful deaths, PETA is offering to work with Monson to design a Mormon-focused version of PETA’s “Vegetarian Starter Kit” to be distributed at various temples and church events.

It might seem like an odd association, but there is a connection there. I don’t think we need to be vegetarians, but I do think we need to be more aware of how we treat all of God’s creatures. The same goes for “green” causes. God created the earth… shouldn’t we care for it? Whatever cause we support, I still don’t think they’ll be handing out a “Vegetarian Starter Kit” at the temple any time soon

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“Mormon Rock Star”

Graham — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:51:41 +0000

I still have a couple of things that I need to post about President Hinckley…

On Monday, January 28, NPR’s Talk of the Nation covered the passing of President Hinckley. There is an article about this on the NPR site called Mormon Rock Star. You can also download the podcast of that episode. From approximately 1:17:48 to 1:30:08, Howard Berkes, the chief Rural Affairs correspondent (who is based in Salt Lake City) is on. It’s not even 13 minutes long, but I thought it was a positive segment on the Church.

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Former Executive Named to Lead Mormon Church

Graham — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 01:05:48 +0000

From the New York Times:

An 80-year-old former advertising and publishing executive, Thomas S. Monson, was named on Monday to be the 16th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one week after the death of the previous president, Gordon B. Hinckley.

Mr. Monson’s appointment was expected. Leadership changes in the 13-million member Mormon Church are based on seniority in the upper ranks, which makes the transition free of politics, but also guarantees a certain mantle of age. Mr. Hinckley was 84 when he got the job in 1995. He died at age 97.

In a news conference at church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Mr. Monson said he had worked with Mr. Hinckley for more than four decades in various assignments, and hinted at no significant departures.

“He blazed the trail,” Mr. Monson said of his predecessor.

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And so the work moves on…

Graham — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:58:31 +0000

It really is one of the beautiful things about the Church… a change in the First Presidency is smooth and simple. Today at a press conference (which I watched on the BYU TV web site) it was announced that Thomas S. Monson is the new President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with Henry B. Eyring as 1st Counselor and Dieter F. Uchtdorf as 2nd Counselor.

After a statement from each member of the First Presidency, there were questions from the assembled media. President Monson answered almost all of them. Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf just beamed through the entire thing. The whole press conference was quite nice. They made it quite clear that there would be no major changes in doctrine, and that they would continue to expand across the world.

President Monson, President Eyring, and President Uchtdorf… our prayers are with you all!

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60 Minutes interview with President Hinckley

Graham — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:49:00 +0000

Last night CBS replayed the 60 Minutes interview that Mike Wallace had with President Hinckley in 1996.

The president and prophet of the Mormon church, Gordon B. Hinckley, died last Sunday at age 97. He was buried Saturday in Salt Lake City. The church broadcast his memorial service around the world in 69 languages.

President Hinckley presided over the global expansion of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is one of the fastest growing religions in the world, and the fourth largest religion in the United States. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is a Mormon.

The church used to be known for polygamy, but it gave up the practice more than 100 years ago when Utah became a state. Faithful Mormons don’t have premarital sex, and they don’t smoke or drink-even coffee is prohibited. And heads of the church did not give interviews, until Hinckley decided to sit down with Mike Wallace 11 years ago. Their conversation began with the beginning of the church: Mormons believe that God and Jesus appeared one day in New York state, before a 14-year-old farm boy.

You can view it online, or download it from the CBS News web site.

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