Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

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Acting President Boyd K. Packer
Acting President Boyd K. Packer

Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is a priesthood calling in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Boyd K. Packer currently holds this position in the Church.

In general, the position of Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is only filled when the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is called as a counselor in the First Presidency of the Church. In such instances, the man who holds this calling is the most senior Apostle who is not serving in the First Presidency. Additionally, a person may be called as the Acting President of the Quorum when the actual President is unable to perform his duties due to ill health or incapacitation.

The formal calling of Acting President of the Quorum has been held by six men: Rudger Clawson, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Howard W. Hunter and Boyd K. Packer. Additionally, two earlier Apostles—Orson Hyde and Brigham Young, Jr.—have acted as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when they were not the second-most senior Apostle in the Church, and therefore may be said to have played the role of an Acting President of the Quorum before this specific title was created by the Church. To date, every former Acting President of the Quorum has eventually gone on to serve as the President of the Quorum.

Contents

[edit] Duties

As the Acting President of the Quorum, the person with this calling performs all of the duties that would normally be performed by the President of the Quorum. Primarily, these duties consist of presiding at and conducting the weekly meetings of the Quorum in the Salt Lake Temple; making decisions about the particular assignments to be made to the members of the Quorum; and acting as a liaison in coordinating the work of the Quorum with the First Presidency, the Quorums of the Seventy, and the Presiding Bishopric.

[edit] Six formal Acting Presidents

  • Howard W. Hunter (10 November 1985—20 May 1988) : Because of the ill health of Quorum President Marion G. Romney, Howard W. Hunter was called as Acting President of the Quorum when Romney was made the President of the Quorum. After Romney died in 1988, Hunter became President of the Quorum. Hunter is the only Apostle to have been made Acting President of the Quorum while the actual President was still a member of the Quorum.
  • Boyd K. Packer (5 June 1994—3 March 1995; 12 March 1995— ) : When Howard W. Hunter became President of the Church on June 5, 1994, Quorum President Gordon B. Hinckley was called as counselor in the First Presidency, as was the next senior Apostle, Thomas S. Monson. As a result, Boyd K. Packer was called as the Acting President of the Quorum. When Hunter died and Hinckley became Church President in March 1995, Quorum President Monson was again asked to be a counselor in the First Presidency. Thus, Packer was again asked to serve as Acting President of the Quorum. The death of either Church President Hinckley or Quorum President Monson would leave Packer as the second most senior Apostle and therefore as President of the Quorum. Packer is the only Apostle to be called to serve as Acting President of the Quorum under two different Church Presidents. He is also the only person that has been asked to serve in the position while being the fourth most senior Apostle (as opposed to the third most senior).

[edit] Two "Acting Presidents" of the Quorum prior to the creation of the formal title

  • Orson Hyde (27 December 1847—22 June 1868) : When senior Apostle Brigham Young was made President of the Church on 27 December 1847, the next senior Apostle, Heber C. Kimball, was asked by Young to be one of the counselors in the First Presidency. This left Orson Hyde as the most senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve. According to current practices of the Church, Kimball should have been called as President of the Quorum and Hyde as Acting President. However, this procedure was not followed, and Hyde was simply called as President of the Quorum. This created a historical anomaly whereby Hyde served as the President of the Quorum (not Acting President) while being the third most senior Apostle between until Kimball's death on 22 June 1868.
  • Brigham Young, Jr. (9 December 1899—10 October 1901) : When Lorenzo Snow became President of the Church, the next senior Apostles, George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, were asked by Snow to be counselors in the First Presidency. This left Brigham Young, Jr.—who was the fourth most senior Apostle of the Church—as the most senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Rather than making Cannon the President of the Quorum, as would be the procedure today, Snow simply asked Young to serve as the President of the Quorum. When Cannon died in April 1901, Young continued to serve as President of the Quorum, despite the fact that Joseph F. Smith was the second most senior Apostle of the Church. When Snow died later that same year, Smith became President of the Church and Young continued on as President of the Quorum until his own death in 1903.

[edit] See also

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