NOM

Five years after top Latter-day Saint leaders refused to readmit excommunicated member Lavina Fielding Anderson to the fold, she finally got her wish.

The faith’s governing First Presidency now has granted Anderson, one of the famed “September Six,” a rebaptism and restoration of her temple “blessings” and membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

No telling how it will affect her, though, because, well, she died a year ago.

Latter-day Saints believe in doing vicarious rituals for the dead, including for those who were no longer members when alive — but only with approval from the top.

“If persons either had their church membership withdrawn or had resigned membership before they died,” the General Handbook explains, “First Presidency approval is required before temple ordinances, including restoration of blessings when applicable, can be performed for them.”

A family member may seek this approval, the handbook instructs, “after one year has passed since the person’s death.”

As the first anniversary of Anderson’s Oct. 29, 2023, death at age 79 approached, her son, Christian Anderson, wished to see her be rebaptized by a living participant.

“I, naturally, wanted to be involved in (or at least aware of) my own mother’s restored blessings,” he says. “So, on Oct. 29, I logged into FamilySearch.org [the church’s genealogical arm] to try to register to perform baptisms for the dead. There was a lock on the record, and I was told to contact their help desk. ... I filled out a brief form that included my FamilySearch ID and hers and a bit of contact information.”

(Christian Anderson) Christian Anderson, son of Lavina Fielding Anderson, was notified of her posthumous readmission into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Christian also added a brief note: “I would like to fulfill her wish to be rebaptized in a holy temple. I would like to emphasize that though she was excommunicated in 1993, she continued to attend her ward faithfully for nearly 30 years until prevented by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent declining health.”

Instead, the First Presidency authorized others to do the rituals, known as “ordinances,” without inviting him to be included in any way or informing him it was happening until eight days after it was a fait accompli.

The good word comes


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“We are pleased to inform you,” a temple department director wrote to Christian, “that the following ordinances were completed under the direction of the First Presidency, in the Jordan River Utah Temple, on behalf of Sister Lavina Anderson:

• Readmission by baptism: November 12, 2024.

• Restoration of temple blessings: Nov. 12, 2024.”

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The baptistry in the Jordan River Temple.

The son received the letter, dated Nov. 19, in an email, notifying him that his mother’s long-sought restoration, including her temple sealing to her husband, Paul, were back in place. In addition, the previous restriction would be removed from her records.

“We are grateful for your diligent efforts,” the letter states, “in making temple blessings available for your deceased mother.”

Christian wanted to do it himself, he says ruefully, “but I’m going to take the win.”

Still, he holds “deeply ambivalent feelings about this.”

“On the one hand, the outcome is exactly what I think she would have wanted (the original ordinances are restored as if the last three decades were just one big misunderstanding),” Christian says. “On the other hand, I feel like I was denied the chance to be part of the reconciliation process, and somehow the restoration feels like something that happened to her (and, secondarily to me), just like the excommunication was something that happened to her.”