Endowment prior to 1-year of membership

In a recent audit, an error was identified when a membership record indicated that the church member had been endowed prior to being a member of the church for 12 months. The handbook indicates only the First Presidency can authorize exceptions to this rule. If the ordinance has already occurred, is First Presidency ratification required? Is there any specific location where that procedure is specified?

As you suggest, this is more than just a "tech" issue. In our part of the world (outside of the US), the stake president would seek direction from his Area leaders to clarify an exception like this, but the process may be different in the US. Hope this helps!

I think it would be worth carefully enquiring with the member. The only way I can see this happening is some type of clerical error. Either the data is incorrect, a rebaptism was incorrectly recorded, or the original baptism wasn't recorded and it had to be done over. The direction depends on what happened.

Just be warned you may be treading on sensitive ground.

lionelwalters wrote:In our part of the world (outside of the US), the stake president would seek direction from his Area leaders to clarify

I think that is the standard regardless of your location. But, I do think it is worth checking as suggested to make sure it wasn't an error in data entry first.

At least they were a member on the date they were endowed.

There was a case in my previous stake where a member was endowed without ever having a confirmation date recorded on their record. I don't know how it was resolved, though.

RussellHltn wrote:I think it would be worth carefully enquiring with the member. The only way I can see this happening is some type of clerical error. Either the data is incorrect, a rebaptism was incorrectly recorded, or the original baptism wasn't recorded and it had to be done over. The direction depends on what happened.

Just be warned you may be treading on sensitive ground.

Ummm, in re-reading, I think I misunderstood the original situation. My comments where based on the idea that the person was baptised after being endowed. Getting endowed after being a member for less then a year is a different situation. Although, I suppose there's still the possibility of the clerical errors I mentioned.

We had a similar situation. The fine point is that it is 365 days after Confirmation, not baptism. A husband of a part member family was baptized and then confirmed the next day (Sunday). All was lined up for him to receive his endowment and be sealed to his wife. When he got to the temple, there was a problem. A call was made to SLC and got permission to proceed on that day. So, not really a clerical problem in this case, but just an oversight/misunderstanding. But all is well and he was ordained a High Priest last Sunday.