Grave Dedication, Not Associated With A Service

I will be visiting the grave of a relative who died in 1915 during WWI service, and is buried in France. I desire to dedicate his grave. Per the General Handbook 18.3, the grave dedication "must be authorized by the priesthood officer who conducts the service". I have found the local Bishop, Bishop Derone of the Calais Ward, in meeting house locator, but I dont know how to contact him. As this dedication is not in conjunction with a service, may I proceed with the grave dedication without authorization?

Section 18.16.1 gives a little more detail but doesn't really answer the question.

The Handbook seems pretty clear that using the Priesthood to dedicate a grave, is done as part of a "service". I expect a service can be as simple as the priesthood holder showing up, performing the dedication, and then leaving. I don't see anything allowing me as a priesthood holder to simply show up at a gravesite and perform the dedication. That said, it's interesting to consider whether the "presiding over the service" aspect requires that priesthood leader be physically present. It does say "over the service" and not "at the service", so perhaps the local Bishop can give authorization and then not have any local priesthood leader there when the dedication occurs.

If you ask your local clerk, he can use CDOL to provide the email for the First Counselor (it's interesting that there's no email listed for the Bishop in the meetinghouse locator or in CDOL, but at least CDOL has emails for his counselor and his clerk). And I hope that you can share your experience here on the Forum -- I expect that this is a fairly common occurrence for the Calais Ward, and perhaps the Bishop has additional instruction he's aware of, if this is something that occurs fairly regularly for fallen soldiers buried there.

I've also not heard of a grave being dedicated after the burial. I'm not sure if that would be standard procedure for the ordinance.

BrianEdwards wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 8:35 am The Handbook seems pretty clear that using the Priesthood to dedicate a grave, is done as part of a "service". I expect a service can be as simple as the priesthood holder showing up, performing the dedication, and then leaving. I don't see anything allowing me as a priesthood holder to simply show up at a gravesite and perform the dedication.

sbradshaw wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 2:22 pm I've also not heard of a grave being dedicated after the burial. I'm not sure if that would be standard procedure for the ordinance.

While unusual, I have been involved with dedicating a grave after a graveside service. I was asked to do it by the priesthood leader who received a request from the family.

In this particular case (or any other), I would gain permission from the appropriate local leader before performing the ordinance.

As far as a priesthood leader being physically present to preside, Elder Bednar presided virtually at the groundbreaking of the Bentonville Arkansas Temple.

The person who presides exercises the priesthood keys to allow the performance of an activity or ordinance. Although he is ultimately responsible for the outcome of the event, it does not mean the person presiding needs to be physically present, as long as he is satisfied that everything is in order and will be done properly.

I agree with lajackson's point about the person presiding not necessarily needing to be physically present. In this digital age, we have seen many instances where leaders preside over events virtually.