Comments for Keepapitchinin, the Mormon History blog

Comment on Girls and the Sacrament Table: The View from 1950 by Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:28:52 +0000

That’s how I read it, reed. I think there may have been no universal practice before then, that perhaps the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthood handled in some cases, girls and women in other cases, custodians in other cases, according to the accidental circumstances in individual wards. (I haven’t read the Hartley article — it’s possible that directives similar to this one had been issued earlier but had not quite taken hold. That was the case with the dress and posture of deacons, for instance; those instructions had to be repeated several times. So I can’t be sure that this is absolutely the earliest formal policy on this matter, but it appears not to have been standard before this time, at least.)

Comment on Girls and the Sacrament Table: The View from 1950 by reed russell

reed russell — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:09:44 +0000

Does “it is recommended” imply that Teachers did not necessarily have this duty before 1950?

Comment on Girls and the Sacrament Table: The View from 1950 by Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:59:52 +0000

No, it doesn’t, SOF. If you wish to continue in such a vein, find another blog.

Comment on Girls and the Sacrament Table: The View from 1950 by Senile Old Fart

Senile Old Fart — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:45:40 +0000

Does Hartley discuss when Priests began to routinely administer the sacrament? D&C 20:50 forbids it.

Comment on Girls and the Sacrament Table: The View from 1950 by J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:51:23 +0000

Hartley’s “From Men to Boys” has some examples of women preparing the table.

Comment on Girls and the Sacrament Table: The View from 1950 by J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:49:55 +0000

Technically, table preparation can’t be part of the administration of the Lord’s Supper because the Doctrine and Covenants forbids teaches and deacons from doing so. Heber J. Grant once wrote a letter affirming that. However, once preparation and passing became associated with priesthood quorums they grew to be de facto priesthood duties.

Great find, Ardis.

Comment on Girls and the Sacrament Table: The View from 1950 by Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:49:08 +0000

I was expecting someone to complain that I was misrepresenting the item by focusing on a single line in it, HokieKate, as if that was the Church’s purpose in publishing it. Perhaps I needn’t have been so defensive, but I do want it clear that I understand the purpose of this announcement was to involve the teachers, not to restrict the girls.

Yeah, that’s the money quote, Paul. I’ve heard unverified reports that in some places the girls were baking the bread and setting the table as a means of being as involved in the service as their deacon/priest brothers were. I think this announcement confirms that, else there would have been no more reason to mention it than to say something like “and don’t put gold candlesticks on the table, either.”

Comment on Girls and the Sacrament Table: The View from 1950 by Paul

Paul — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:28:42 +0000

I’m intrigued by the phrasing: “It is preferred that this particular responsibility not be delegated either to LDS girls or their mothers,” as if that were a possibility.

I became a teacher in 1972 and from that time on, I was taught that preparation of the sacrament was part of the ordinance itself and therefore part of the priesthood duty.

Interesting item, Ardis.

Comment on Girls and the Sacrament Table: The View from 1950 by HokieKate

HokieKate — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:11:28 +0000

I see nothing offensive.

Comment on Quick Forgiveness by Researcher

Researcher — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:49:48 +0000

Rose Thomas Graham. That sounds familiar. Has she been on Keepa before? Nope. Oh, she wrote the Primary song, "The Golden Plates" and is in a Friend article I saw recently.