Missing Priesthood "Ordained By"

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brotherfor-p40
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Missing Priesthood "Ordained By"

#1

Post by brotherfor-p40 »

A recent validation report has yielded that three of our ward's members are missing the "ordained by" information to the status of Elder. Other than that, their ordinations appear valid.

The following thread:

http://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1701

...has helpful information in it, but I am wondering one thing:

The elders state that they know the names of who ordained them, yet the ordinations were many years ago, no contact with previous wards, no ordination records available, etc.

The tutorials state the importance of proper dates and order of such things, but make no reference to the importance of the name of the priesthood holder performing the ordinance. Again the previous thread contains a post stating:

Validity of Your Priesthood Ordination
Because of missing information a priesthood line of authority may be incomplete. In such a case, your individual priesthood is nevertheless valid because:
  • Your stake president, through the priesthood keys he held at the time, authorized your ordination.
  • Your ordination was recorded in the official records of the Church.
This leads me to believe that the name of the person performing the ordination is not a vital part of the validity of the ordination. Hence could I accept and record the names the Elders tell me, or would this still require the testimony of two witnesses?
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aebrown
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Location: Draper, Utah

#2

Post by aebrown »

brotherfor wrote:A recent validation report has yielded that three of our ward's members are missing the "ordained by" information to the status of Elder. Other than that, their ordinations appear valid.
...
the name of the person performing the ordination is not a vital part of the validity of the ordination. Hence could I accept and record the names the Elders tell me, or would this still require the testimony of two witnesses?
You are correct that the name of the person performing the ordination does not affect the validity of the ordination. However, for the Church to be able to reconstruct the Priesthood Line of Authority for an individual, it is essential that the names and dates of priesthood ordinations are properly recorded for everyone in his line of authority.

Because the information on "ordained by" is not essential to validity, I don't know if the Handbook requirements for witnesses in lieu of formal documentation would apply in this case. But in any case, great care should be exercised to make sure the information is accurate. Because these individuals may well ordain other individuals, future generations of priesthood holders may trace their lines of authority through these individuals, so if you record inaccurate information, those future generations will have inaccurate lines of authority.
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johnshaw
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Location: Syracuse, UT

#3

Post by johnshaw »

In my experience (%100 of the time) the Ordained by information that is missing only includes the individual. The date is recorded, but not the name. There was only one person that couldn't tell me who it was, and I had to contact the former ward.

One caution is that memory can be tricky, and I usually question the person in a narrative style. Rather than asking who ordained them expecting a name, I ask about the circumstances. Just helps the recollection a little. If it turns out to be anyone other than family (father, brother, uncle), I try and be a little more digging in my questions.
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