membership audit - unfixable issue

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marcfromm
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membership audit - unfixable issue

#1

Post by marcfromm »

Every year the membership audit reports a certain record as, "A person should not be sealed to a spouse before being a member of the Church for a year. "

The member's record shows:
Baptism 24 Aug 1969
Sealed to Spouse 6 Aug 1970

There is a note on a piece of paper stating "special permission given." Is there a way to flag this record as such so that it does not come up every year during the audit, with the message to fix this within 30 days? It obviously can never be "fixed," unless one of the two dates are altered to an incorrect date to make the duration over 1 year.
russellhltn
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Re: memebership audit - unfixable issue

#2

Post by russellhltn »

My understanding is that the exception has to be ratified by the First Presidency. I'd look into who gave the special permission and then call CHQ to see if that's sufficient. There's a flag on the record that CHQ can set that should prevent it from coming up in future audits.
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lajackson
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Re: membership audit - unfixable issue

#3

Post by lajackson »

marcfromm wrote:Is there a way to flag this record
Check the date of the endowment. It should also have thrown a flag. If it was a year from baptism, then the date of sealing to spouse is probably wrong. If the endowment was also early, and you do not have a copy of the letter authorizing the early ordinances, I would suggest contacting Local Unit Support for instructions.

There is a way to flag the record, but it must be done by headquarters.
scgallafent
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Re: membership audit - unfixable issue

#4

Post by scgallafent »

The solution to this is to request ratification by the First Presidency. Review the information in Handbook 1, 16.1.10. This is similar to the case when an ordinance is performed before the member has reached the appropriate age.
scgallafent
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Re: membership audit - unfixable issue

#5

Post by scgallafent »

Follow-up thought: When the stake president sends the request to the Office of the First Presidency to have this reviewed, he should include as much detail as possible. Since approval was previously given, the ordinance does not need to be ratified, but that won't be clear unless that information is in the request sent to the First Presidency.
sjr570
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Re: membership audit - unfixable issue

#6

Post by sjr570 »

I have just finished my first audit and seeking answers for the same question above. The family says they received permission from the office of the First Presidency to get sealed one day prior to the one year mark. Is there a way to unflag them so they do not have to address the point every time they move or when someone new is called to be the clerk?
lajackson
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Re: membership audit - unfixable issue

#7

Post by lajackson »

sjr570 wrote:Is there a way to unflag them
The current process is to request ratification by the First Presidency according to the procedure in Handbook 1, 16.1.10. In the letter, include as much information as possible. If the information can be verified, the record will be unflagged. If the information cannot be verified, the ordinance will be ratified, which will also result in the record being unflagged.

See the two posts before yours by scgallafent.
marcfromm
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Re: membership audit - unfixable issue

#8

Post by marcfromm »

this all happened 47 years ago. there are no records, no paperwork of any kind.
lajackson
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Re: membership audit - unfixable issue

#9

Post by lajackson »

marcfromm wrote:this all happened 47 years ago. there are no records, no paperwork of any kind.
Have the stake president send the letter to the First Presidency. It will get fixed. The temple has records.
scgallafent
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Re: membership audit - unfixable issue

#10

Post by scgallafent »

marcfromm wrote:Is there a way to flag this record as such so that it does not come up every year during the audit, with the message to fix this within 30 days?
sjr570 wrote:Is there a way to unflag them so they do not have to address the point every time they move or when someone new is called to be the clerk?
Reviewing this thread this afternoon, there is one thought I would like to add.

There is no concept of "flagging something so that it goes away on an audit." The instructions in Handbook 1 16.1.10 describe how to handle these situations and talk about when an ordinance is not valid. I do not fully understand how the Lord plans to reconcile our record-keeping errors, but Church leaders with a responsibility for membership records have a scriptural mandate to ensure, to the best of our ability, that an accurate record is kept.

Part of the purpose of the membership audit is to help those with record-keeping responsibilities to identify situations where information has not or may not have been properly recorded and reconcile those issues. Rather than looking for a way to remove the "pain" we are experiencing by having to deal with these issues on an audit, I believe it is our responsibility to do the work necessary to investigate the situation and then ensure that the record is as correct as we can make it.
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