First Presidency (LDS Church)

This article is about First Presidency of the LDS Church. For information about the First Presidency in the wider Latter Day Saint movement, see First Presidency.
The First Presidency of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Thomas S. Monson
President of the Church
Henry B. Eyring
First Counselor
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Second Counselor

The First Presidency (also called the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church[1] or simply the Presidency)[2] is the presiding or governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors. The First Presidency currently consists of Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors, Henry B. Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

Membership

The First Presidency is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors. Historically, and as mandated by church scripture,[1] the First Presidency has been composed of the president and two counselors, but circumstances have occasionally required additional counselors (for example, David O. McKay had five during the final years of his presidency and at one point Brigham Young had eight).

Counselors must be high priests[1] and are usually chosen from among the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, although there have been a number of exceptions where members of the church's Presiding Bishopric or the church at large were called to be counselors. Any high priest of the church is eligible to be called as a counselor in the First Presidency. There have also been a few cases where counselors have been ordained to the priesthood office of apostle and became members of the Quorum of the Twelve after already being set apart as counselors in the First Presidency (e.g., J. Reuben Clark). There have been other cases where counselors have been ordained to the office of apostle but not set apart as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve (e.g., Alvin R. Dyer). Other counselors in the First Presidency were never ordained to the office of apostle (e.g., Charles W. Nibley; John R. Winder). Whether or not a counselor is an apostle, all members of the First Presidency are sustained by the church as prophets, seers, and revelators.

Counselors are formally designated as "First Counselor in the First Presidency" and "Second Counselor in the First Presidency" based on the order they were selected by the president. Additional counselors have been designated in different ways, including "Third Counselor in the First Presidency" (e.g., Hugh B. Brown), "Assistant Counselor to the President" (e.g., John Willard Young), and simply "Counselor in the First Presidency" (e.g., Thorpe B. Isaacson).

Counselors serve in the First Presidency until their own deaths, until the death of the church president who called them, or until they are released by the church president. The death of a church president dissolves the First Presidency, and leaves the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as the senior leader of the church. The death or release of a counselor does not dissolve the First Presidency.

Often, the surviving counselors of the late president will be called as counselors in the new First Presidency, and a notably infirm counselor may revert to his place among the Twelve Apostles with a healthier man called as counselor in his place. On the death or release of a first counselor, the second counselor usually succeeds and a new second counselor is named. Although these are fairly common occurrences, there are no hard and fast rules about such practices and each president is free to choose the counselors he prefers. (See Counselors Not Retained, below.)

Title of members

Like the church president and President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, counselors in the First Presidency are appropriately referred to by the title "President".

Removal

Though there has not been a popular movement in the church to have a member of the First Presidency removed or punished for many years, a member could theoretically be removed from his position or otherwise disciplined by the Common Council of the Church.

Duties

The First Presidency is the highest ranking priesthood quorum of the church. The counselors assist the church president and work closely with him in guiding the entire church and carrying out the duties of the president of the church. The First Presidency has the theoretical authority to make the final decision on nearly all issues which might affect the church or its operations, though in practice the First Presidency has delegated much of its decision-making power to members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Seventy, the Presiding Bishopric, and local leaders of the church. Nevertheless, the First Presidency has retained its overarching decision-making power in a number of significant areas and may at any time choose to overrule the decisions of a lesser church quorum or authority.

In the case of an infirm president, his counselors may be called upon to perform more of the duties of the First Presidency that would normally be performed by the president. If needed, any number of additional counselors may be called to assist them, though the president of the church remains the only person on the earth authorized to use all priesthood keys. All members of the First Presidency are sustained by the membership of the church as prophets, seers, and revelators and given the keys of the kingdom when ordained as an apostle.

All members of the First Presidency are also members of the church's Council on the Disposition of the Tithes, a body which determines how the tithing funds of the church are spent.

Chronology of the First Presidency

Members of the First Presidency who were not Apostles

There is no requirement that counselors in the First Presidency be apostles of the church. The following men served as a counselor in the First Presidency during the years indicated and were never ordained to the priesthood office of Apostle:[3]

Counselors in the First Presidency not retained upon reorganization

Secretary to the First Presidency

The church employs a secretary to assist the First Presidency in its administrative duties. The position is paid employment position and the incumbent is not a member of the First Presidency or a general authority of the church. However, it is common for letters from the office of the First Presidency to private individuals to bear the signature of the secretary as opposed to members of the First Presidency.

The First Presidency also employs assistant secretaries and press secretaries. When David O. McKay became President of the Church in 1951, he continued with his longtime personal secretary, Clare Middlemiss, and moved the existing secretary, Joseph Anderson, into the newly created First Presidency's office.[4] D. Arthur Haycock also served as personal secretary to several church presidents in the 20th century.

Chronology of secretaries

See also

Notes

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  1. 1 2 3 Doctrine and Covenants 107:22.
  2. ↑ Doctrine and Covenants 107:36.
  3. ↑ J. Reuben Clark was not an apostle when he became second counselor in the First Presidency on April 6, 1933, but eighteen months later he was ordained as an apostle and became a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles for one day on October 11, 1934.
  4. ↑ Prince, Gregory A.; William Robert Wright (2005). David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism. University of Utah Press. p. 407. ISBN 978-0-87480-822-3. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
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