Ordination required prior to youth baptism?

Hi, does a new 12 yr old boy need to be ordained to the Aaronic priesthood before being able to participate in baptisms for the dead (he will have a limited use recommend)?
Thank you

Yes, he must have it before issuing the recommend. See Handbook 1 section 3.3.5.

thanks!

Thinking on this a little more... here's my situation... I'm a Bishop, I have a young man who turns 12 on a Friday night. His family's travels will have him near a temple the next day, Saturday, and they are hoping to do baptisms for the dead. However, in order for this young man to enter he'll need to complete a priesthood advancement interview with me (or a counselor) and limited use temple recommend interview (can be combined with the priesthood interview), and then receive the priesthood w/ ordination to office of Deacon. But... he cannot be ordained until we present him during sacrament meeting for sustaining, correct?

This means, he would not be able to participate in the baptisms the day after his birthday because we will not have had a chance to sustain him yet. Or, is it possible for us to confer the priesthood on him the evening of his birthday and ordain to office of deacon prior to sustaining? Similar to what happens for High priest ordination that occurs and is then ratified during stake conference?

Just double checking before I tell the parents it won't be possible. Thank you.

colbyj wrote:Thinking on this a little more... here's my situation... I'm a Bishop, I have a young man who turns 12 on a Friday night. His family's travels will have him near a temple the next day, Saturday, and they are hoping to do baptisms for the dead. However, in order for this young man to enter he'll need to complete a priesthood advancement interview with me (or a counselor) and limited use temple recommend interview (can be combined with the priesthood interview), and then receive the priesthood w/ ordination to office of Deacon. But... he cannot be ordained until we present him during sacrament meeting for sustaining, correct?

Correct. See Handbook 1 Section 16.7.2. However, I don't know of anything that says the sustaining can't happen before they turn 12 as long as the ordination doesn't happen until after. So as long you're not talking about this Friday, it should be possible.

colbyj wrote:This means, he would not be able to participate in the baptisms the day after his birthday because we will not have had a chance to sustain him yet. Or, is it possible for us to confer the priesthood on him the evening of his birthday and ordain to office of deacon prior to sustaining? Similar to what happens for High priest ordination that occurs and is then ratified during stake conference?

Although the full ratification isn't done until stake conference, the high council still has to approve and the home ward has to sustain before ordination (Handbook 1 Section 16.7.1) and there is no such exception mentioned for the Aaronic Priesthood.

I would make sure your clerk records the ordination after it occurs but before they go to the temple just in case there is some check at the temple front desk.

I'm pretty sure LCR will not allow you to issue a limited-use recommend to a male whose ordination has not been recorded. I am also pretty sure that a bishop can record an AP ordination on LCR, just as easily as a clerk can do it. And I am fairly sure that AP ordinations may be ratified in Sacrament Meeting after the fact. In fact, my own bishop did just that with his 12-year-old son last year.

This sort of rush procedure presumes the outcome of the interview before it occurs. This puts an inordinate amount of stress upon the interviewee to answer the interview questions "correctly". This has the unintended side-effect of teaching the young man to give the "right" answers, rather than the "true" answers.

I think a bishop would be better served and better trained on this issue by his stake president, rather than an internet forum of LDS users.

colbyj wrote:Thinking on this a little more... here's my situation... I'm a Bishop, I have a young man who turns 12 on a Friday night. His family's travels will have him near a temple the next day, Saturday, and they are hoping to do baptisms for the dead. However, in order for this young man to enter he'll need to complete a priesthood advancement interview with me (or a counselor) and limited use temple recommend interview (can be combined with the priesthood interview), and then receive the priesthood w/ ordination to office of Deacon. But... he cannot be ordained until we present him during sacrament meeting for sustaining, correct?

LCR will not let you record the ordination before his 12th birthday and it will not let you issue the recommend until his ordination has been recorded.

There is nothing that precludes you from interviewing him and presenting him to be sustained before his birthday, but you will not be able to record the ordinance or issue the recommend until he is the appropriate age.

yes, agree, helpful feedback all around. We have more than two months before his birthday, so I get the point about not rushing it...his parents and I are trying to plan in advance. I am certainly planning to engage w/ my Stake President but wanted to have a sense of what may be possible before doing so. I appreciate the insight offered here.

I was ordained a Deacon in the Birmingham Alabama Temple waiting room on a youth temple trip, on my 12th birthday.

drepouille wrote:I am also pretty sure that a bishop can record an AP ordination on LCR, just as easily as a clerk can do it.

Yes, a bishop definitely has the ability to record an ordination and could do it as easily if they are comfortable with LCR. But in my experience, they don't do that kind of thing often and would rather have a clerk do it to make sure it's done right. But if the bishop feels comfortable doing so, it could reduce any time lag.

drepouille wrote:I think a bishop would be better served and better trained on this issue by his stake president, rather than an internet forum of LDS users.

Very true, but what the handbook says and what LCR requires are both good things to know and the stake president shouldn't have to tell a bishop where to find things in the handbook or know how LCR works. But those are things we can help out with. That's why I always try to give handbook references so others can check for themselves (and then possibly ask their stake president) and not rely on my interpretation.

sbradshaw wrote:I was ordained a Deacon in the Birmingham Alabama Temple waiting room on a youth temple trip, on my 12th birthday.

Which was back in the days of MIS which didn't handle temple recommends. [grin]

With today's IT system, that would be a little more difficult since the recommend can't be issued before the ordination.