Obtaining a blessing certificate

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andriafox24
New Member
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed May 06, 2015 12:08 am

Obtaining a blessing certificate

#1

Post by andriafox24 »

I am trying to figure out how to go about getting a blessing certificate for my son. He was blessed almost sixteen years ago in a different city than I live now. At the time I was inactive and for some reason I never got a blessing certificate. I tracked down all the information that needs to be on the certificate and went to see my ward clerk. He told me that it "wasn't legal" to print one for me because he wasn't blessed in my current ward. I would really like to get one since he's my only child who doesn't have one in his book. Do I need to try to contact the other ward (which is over 200 miles away)? Can they even help me since the bishop at the time of the blessing has moved? Do they store these somewhere that I could request one? Or is this a lost cause? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me :)
eblood66
Senior Member
Posts: 3907
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:17 am
Location: Cumming, GA, USA

Re: Obtaining a blessing certificate

#2

Post by eblood66 »

andriafox24 wrote:I am trying to figure out how to go about getting a blessing certificate for my son. He was blessed almost sixteen years ago in a different city than I live now. At the time I was inactive and for some reason I never got a blessing certificate. I tracked down all the information that needs to be on the certificate and went to see my ward clerk. He told me that it "wasn't legal" to print one for me because he wasn't blessed in my current ward. I would really like to get one since he's my only child who doesn't have one in his book. Do I need to try to contact the other ward (which is over 200 miles away)? Can they even help me since the bishop at the time of the blessing has moved? Do they store these somewhere that I could request one? Or is this a lost cause? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me :)
I'm sorry but blessing information isn't retained by the church. It isn't a saving ordinance so a permanent record is not kept.

And generally recreating certificates for any ordinance is difficult if not impossible. Often the person who needs to sign the certificate has moved (sometimes to the next life even). And even if that person is available if they have been released from that calling then they really no longer have the keys to sign such official documents.

Having said that I know of no specific policies regarding recreating a blessing certificate and since a blessing is not a saving ordinance your local leaders may be inclined to be liberal in how they interpret what is appropriate. With the permission of your bishop and stake president the clerk might print the certificate and provide it without signatures. It wouldn't be 'official' but it would still have the information and the nice look of a certificate. Or, if you can track down the original bishop at the time, with the permission of your current bishop and stake president he might be willing to sign it even though he has been released. If it were a certificate for a baptism or ordination that would be inappropriate but a blessing is more informal. As a clerk we did that once (although the old bishop was still in our ward at the time).

But since interpretation of things that aren't spelled out directly in the handbooks is up to local leaders, if the bishop or stake president isn't comfortable with any of those options then you'll have to go without. But you could still design and print a similar 'certificate' yourself just to show the information in a nice format.
dlukesmith
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Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:05 am

Re: Obtaining a blessing certificate

#3

Post by dlukesmith »

This is helpful, Thank you.
Chrystal1
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Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2021 3:18 pm

Re: Obtaining a blessing certificate

#4

Post by Chrystal1 »

I think the church should be able to re-create the blessing as this is one of the forms that can be used to apply for a social security number. It would be very, very helpful to be able to get one. We certainly could use one, since the name at the time of birth was legally changed in court as well as with church records. The name on the certificate is now wrong--legally. Even if it isn't a saving ordinance it is a legal one.
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