Researching past ordinations...

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lcdesigns
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Researching past ordinations...

#1

Post by lcdesigns »

Is there a way to find the history of past priesthood ordinations that a member has received? An in-active member, who is making progress in becoming active again, indicated he was ordained to the office of Priest, but his current records do not indicate that. (Only showing his baptism and confirmation date.)

Is there a department at CHQ that I can contact that will have that information?

Thanks in advance!
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aebrown
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Re: Researching past ordinations...

#2

Post by aebrown »

lcdesigns wrote:Is there a way to find the history of past priesthood ordinations that a member has received? An in-active member, who is making progress in becoming active again, indicated he was ordained to the office of Priest, but his current records do not indicate that. (Only showing his baptism and confirmation date.)

Is there a department at CHQ that I can contact that will have that information?
I really doubt it. If the membership record doesn't show that ordination, then it's highly likely that the ordination was never recorded by the ward where it was performed, and so CHQ won't have any record that it happened.

I would advise a careful reading of Handbook 1, 16.1.10. That section describes in what cases CHQ might be able to help (only for pre-1984 ordinances), and what your options are for verifying the ordinance by finding appropriate witnesses and/or documentation. It also explains that if all the above methods fail, then the ordinance has to be performed again in order to be valid.

In this particular scenario, that may actually be a good thing -- this good brother would have the opportunity (once again) to experience the worthiness interview followed by the conferral of the priesthood by the laying on of hands.
BarryHill
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Similar question abt PH ordination date

#3

Post by BarryHill »

We have a young man that we know was ordained a priest (in 2013) by his father but it was not properly recorded and we cannot accurately reconstruct the date. I tried to enter it in MLS with just the year since handbook 1 seems to state that only the year is required. MLS requires the specific date however.

Is there a way around this or does he have to be ordained again?

Thanks
russellhltn
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Re: Similar question abt PH ordination date

#4

Post by russellhltn »

barryhill wrote:I tried to enter it in MLS with just the year since handbook 1 seems to state that only the year is required. MLS requires the specific date however.
I'd take that up with Local Unit support. They may be able to enter it on their end.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
lajackson
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Re: Similar question abt PH ordination date

#5

Post by lajackson »

barryhill wrote:We have a young man that we know was ordained a priest (in 2013) by his father but it was not properly recorded and we cannot accurately reconstruct the date. I tried to enter it in MLS with just the year since handbook 1 seems to state that only the year is required. MLS requires the specific date however.

Is there a way around this or does he have to be ordained again?
If you have determined that the ordination is valid according to the instructions in Handbook 1, but there is not enough information to record the ordination in MLS, send the information you have in an MLS request and headquarters will update the record for you.
BarryHill
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Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 6:08 am
Location: Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA

Re: Researching past ordinations...

#6

Post by BarryHill »

Thanks for the replies.

Your suggested solutions worked.

Barry
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