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Updating Baptism/Confirmations and Priesthood Ordinations

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:43 am
by mocastro1
I am a new Ward Clerk about a month into the calling. I am really grateful for the clerk resources on LDS.org and for this forum. One of the first things I am tackling is to update baptisms/confirmations for children who would have been baptized as a child of record. For example there is a family that have 4 children and I will list that as daughter(D) or son (S) and their current age (D1-18, S1-16, S2-15, D2-14). The parents are members and were sealed after D1 was born with the other children being born in the covenant. They went through a period of inactivity so D1, S1 were not baptized when they turned 8. The parents became active again and D1, S1 and S2 were all baptized on the same day and their ages were 11, 9 and 8 respectively at the time. The issue is S2 is showing up on the Bishopric Action list as being Unbaptized. After speaking with the father, I know the date S2 was baptized and confirmed and that he baptized all 3 of them. However he told me he could not recall if confirmed them. He had the MP at the time so it's possible he did the confirmations at the time but cannot recall for sure. BTW this occurred 7 years ago in another ward. The father indicated that he probably did confirm them but can I go on a maybe? I have done a lot of reading on the importance of church records and ordinances and it sounds like I need to be certain as to who performed the ordinance. The next thing I was going to do was to ask D1 and S1 if they remember their father confirming them. Even if I knew for sure that the father confirmed S2, I would still need statements from 2 witnesses since the father indicated they probably don't have the certificate?

Now for the next issue with regards to S2. Since he is being indicated as unbaptized, he is also showing up as being Overdue Aaronic Priesthood Ordination. He is 15 right now and will be turning 16 in May and is active in passing the sacrament. The family has been in our ward for 2 years so he would have been conferred the AP in prior ward. Once I clear the baptism/confirmation issue I would have to input the information of when he was conferred the AP and ordained to the office of a Deacon correct? Fortunately our ward has kept since 2011, Sacrament Meeting agendas so I noticed in a May 2011 meeting mention of S2 being sustained as a Teacher so I have that date and will confirm with the father if he performed that ordination. I just want to clear these issues up before S2 turns 16 and is ordained to the office of Priest.

I know its a long post, please advise if there is anything else I need to consider. Thanks

Re: Updating Baptism/Confirmations and Priesthood Ordination

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:32 am
by eblood66
mocastro1 wrote:After speaking with the father, I know the date S2 was baptized and confirmed and that he baptized all 3 of them. However he told me he could not recall if confirmed them. He had the MP at the time so it's possible he did the confirmations at the time but cannot recall for sure. BTW this occurred 7 years ago in another ward. The father indicated that he probably did confirm them but can I go on a maybe? I have done a lot of reading on the importance of church records and ordinances and it sounds like I need to be certain as to who performed the ordinance. The next thing I was going to do was to ask D1 and S1 if they remember their father confirming them. Even if I knew for sure that the father confirmed S2, I would still need statements from 2 witnesses since the father indicated they probably don't have the certificate?
If you read item #4 in section 16.1.10 of Handbook 1, you'll see that if 2 eligible witness can identify the complete date of the ordinance then you don't have to know who performed the ordinance for it to be considered valid. The church doesn't actually keep a permanent record of who performed the baptism or confirmation so it isn't needed for historical purposes either. But you will need two eligible witnesses (as defined in that section) to provide a written statement.

However, MLS probably won't let you record it even then. Even though the handbook indicates you don't have to know the person who performed the ordinance, MLS does require it. So you'll probably have to send a special request and ask CHQ to record the ordinance. You'll probably want to include a note that you have the statements and they have been reviewed and approved by the bishop.

Re: Updating Baptism/Confirmations and Priesthood Ordination

Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:25 am
by rontilby
If the children were baptized after turning age 9, then the missionaries were likely involved, even though they were children of record. I've had at least two cases where missionary involvement in a child of record baptism (over age 9) resulted in creation of a duplicate membership record by the mission office. I suggest that you work with CHQ to make sure that there aren't duplicate membership records (that DO have the baptism recorded) for these children before you proceed.

Re: Updating Baptism/Confirmations and Priesthood Ordination

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 2:05 pm
by mocastro1
Thanks for the replies. I will contact CHQ to check on there being a duplicate record before requesting them to record the ordinance.