Comments on: Questions from the Grass Roots, 1948 (10)

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:43:00 +0000

@4: In our stake the patriarch sits on the stand for stake conference and is recognized (always as “our beloved patriarch…” — a child might wonder if that is his title) and he is regularly asked to speak in conference and in wards in the stake.

By: Maurine Ward

Maurine Ward — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:19:17 +0000

Our stake patriarchs are very visable. They sit on the stand at conferences, have given prayers and talks.

My mother and mother-in-law did not go to Sunday School, but stayed home with the youngest children and prepared the Sunday meal. My husband thinks that his mother and father took turns going to Sacrament Meeting while the other one stayed home with the kids. I can’t remember what my mom and dad did for Sacrament Meeting when I was young. By the time was was in my teens, mom and dad both attended both meetings.

By: KLC

KLC — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 03:28:54 +0000

Signature published a book about the last church patriarch, Eldred Smith. It was the last vestige of inherited office in the church. Quinn made a point in one of his books that correlation concentrated power in the church in the quorum of the 12.

By: Clark

Clark — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 02:49:45 +0000

@#4 I think the decline in the perceived importance of the calling of patriarch is reflected at the general church level. in Joseph and Hyrum’s day, they were viewed as equal. In Utah, the office of “patriarch to the church” slowly but steadily declined in importance until, under President Kimball, the last holder of the office was given emeritus status and not replaced. Now he’s not even listed among the general authorities. So it’s no surprise to me to see a similar shift at the stake level.

By: kevinf

kevinf — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:23:41 +0000

Tithing in kind still exists, but I think Bishop’s have to contact someone at church HQ for instructions on how to accept those kinds of things. I can’t imagine trying to give a member of the bishopric a bunch of yearling lambs in the fall between sacrament meeting and sunday school. I have a friend who collected some objects of art and donated some of them as tithing in kind, one of which I have seen on display at the church Museum of Art & History on West Temple.

By: KLC

KLC — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 22:12:25 +0000

The first question about patriarchal blessings makes me think that we as a church today are much less preoccupied with these blessings and much less preoccupied with the person tasked with giving them than we were 60 years ago. When I was a kid, late 60s and early 70s, the stake patriarch was on par with the stake presidency in my mind. He was on the stand at stake conference, he spoke at most conferences, and people regularly spoke about their patriarchal blessings in lessons, talks and conversations.

I honestly don’t know who the patriarch is in my stake. His name is never mentioned, he never speaks in conference. People don’t talk about blessings with the same frequency, they don’t encourage them with the same fervor. I wonder what it will be like 50 years from now?

By: Clark

Clark — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 18:00:42 +0000

I, for one, was kind of hoping for an excuse to avoid the hassle of getting the kids dressed and off to Sacrament Meeting on time…

The answer on tithing is interesting to me, as I know of no scriptural commandment on the tithing being the “firstlings” a term usually associated with blood sacrifice. Similarly, the insistence on giving the church the very best, and in exact proportion to what was harvested seem extra-scriptural. I’m glad current church policy is less Mosaic, and leaves it between the payer and the Lord.

By: J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 17:26:57 +0000

Evidence for the shifting view of Sacrament Meeting participation. Awesome.

By: Bruce Crow

Bruce Crow — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:18:45 +0000

My great grandfather was a patriarch in the mid 20th century in a stake that included temple square in SLC. He was asked many, many times to give patriarchal blessings for visitors from areas with no patriarch. It had never occurred to me, but I don’t think he was ever asked to leave the stake to do so. Interesting.