Mark E. Petersen

Last updated • 6 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Mark E. Petersen
Mark E. Petersen.JPG
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
April 20, 1944 (1944-04-20)  January 11, 1984 (1984-01-11)
LDS Church Apostle
April 20, 1944 (1944-04-20)  January 11, 1984 (1984-01-11)
ReasonExcommunication of Richard R. Lyman
Reorganization
at end of term
Russell M. Nelson and Dallin H. Oaks were ordained after the deaths of Petersen and LeGrand Richards
Personal details
BornMark Edward Petersen
(1900-11-07)November 7, 1900
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
DiedJanuary 11, 1984(1984-01-11) (aged 83)
Murray, Utah, United States
Resting place Salt Lake City Cemetery
40°46′37.92″N111°51′28.8″W / 40.7772000°N 111.858000°W / 40.7772000; -111.858000
Spouse(s)Emma Marr McDonald [1]
Children2 daughters [2]

Mark Edward Petersen (November 7, 1900 – January 11, 1984) was an American news editor and religious leader. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1944 until his death. He became managing editor of the church-owned Deseret News in 1935 and then editor in 1941. He filled the vacancy in the Quorum caused by the excommunication of Richard R. Lyman.

Contents

Early life

As a young boy, Petersen was a newspaper carrier, and he also helped in his father’s construction business. Later, he attended the University of Utah and served a mission for the LDS Church in Nova Scotia. In pursuing a career, he became a reporter for the Deseret News and continued working for the paper for sixty years, advancing to the position of president and chairman of the board. Petersen wrote numerous editorials and published more than forty books and many pamphlets used in the church's missionary effort. [3]

LDS Church service

In April 1944, while serving as general manager of the Deseret News, Petersen was called to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. [4] In his calling as an apostle, he directed the church’s public information programs and served on the Military Relations Committee. He was an adviser to the church's Relief Society, Indian Affairs Committee, and Music Committee. [1] He served as president of the West European Mission [5] for more than six years. Petersen was also involved in many community affairs. He was closely associated with the Boy Scouts of America and was a recipient of the Silver Antelope Award. In 1959, in response to a rash of arrests of gay men in Utah and Idaho, church president David O. McKay assigned apostles Spencer W. Kimball and Petersen to work on curing gays within the church. [6] [7]

Controversial teachings

At Brigham Young University on 27 August 1954, at the Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level, Petersen delivered the speech, "Race Problems—As They Affect the Church". [8] [9] The speech outlined the religious underpinnings of racial segregation and supported its continued practice as it related to intermarriage between blacks and whites. Particularly, he reaffirmed the LDS Church's teaching at that time that those with dark skin had been less valiant in their lives before coming to earth. [10] [11] He also reiterated the idea that blacks were to be servants to righteous white people after the resurrection, as was the case with Jane Manning James who was sealed to Joseph Smith to be his servant in the next life. [12] Petersen said:

In spite of all he did in the pre-existent life, the Lord is willing, if the Negro accepts the gospel with real, sincere faith, and is really converted, to give him the blessings of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get a celestial resurrection. He will get a place in the celestial glory.

In the 1940s, Petersen coined the term "Mormon fundamentalist" to describe people who had left the LDS Church to practice plural marriage. [13]

Death

Petersen died from longstanding complications of cancer after entering Cottonwood Hospital in Murray, Utah, and undergoing surgery. [14] [5] He was buried at Salt Lake City Cemetery. [15]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Taylor (Mormon)</span> 19th century LDS Church Leader

John Taylor was an English-born religious leader who served as the third president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1880 to 1887. He is the first and so far only president of the LDS Church to have been born outside the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas S. Monson</span> President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (1927–2018)

Thomas Spencer Monson was an American religious leader, author, and the 16th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As president, he was considered by adherents of the religion to be a prophet, seer, and revelator. Monson's early career was as a manager at the Deseret News, a Utah newspaper owned by the LDS Church. He spent most of his life engaged in various church leadership positions and public service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon B. Hinckley</span> American religious leader and author (1910–2008)

Gordon Bitner Hinckley was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from March 1995 until his death in January 2008 at age 97. Considered a prophet, seer, and revelator by church members, Hinckley was the oldest person to preside over the church in its history until Russell M. Nelson surpassed his age in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezra Taft Benson</span> President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1899–1994)

Ezra Taft Benson was an American farmer, government official, and religious leader who served as the 15th United States Secretary of Agriculture during both presidential terms of Dwight D. Eisenhower and as the 13th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1985 until his death in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boyd K. Packer</span> American religious leader in the LDS Church

Boyd Kenneth Packer was an American religious leader and educator who served as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2008 until his death. He also served as the quorum's acting president from 1994 to 2008 and was an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve from 1970 until his death. He served as a general authority of the church from 1961 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spencer W. Kimball</span> President of the LDS Church (1895–1985)

Spencer Woolley Kimball was an American religious leader who was the twelfth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The grandson of early Latter-day Saint apostle Heber C. Kimball, Kimball was born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. He spent most of his early life in Thatcher, Arizona, where his father, Andrew Kimball, farmed and served as the area's stake president. He served an LDS mission in Independence, Missouri, from 1914 to 1916, then worked for various banks in Arizona's Gila Valley as a clerk and bank teller. Kimball later co-founded a business selling bonds and insurance that, after weathering the Great Depression, became highly successful. Kimball served as a stake president in his hometown from 1938 until 1943, when he was called as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neal A. Maxwell</span> American scholar, educator, and religious leader (1926–2004)

Neal Ash Maxwell was an American scholar, educator, and religious leader who served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1981 until his death in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell M. Nelson</span> President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1924)

Russell Marion Nelson Sr. is an American religious leader and retired surgeon who is the 17th and current president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nelson was a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for nearly 34 years, and was the quorum president from 2015 to 2018. As church president, Nelson is recognized by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James E. Faust</span> American Mormon religious leader

James Esdras Faust was an American religious leader, lawyer, and politician. Faust was Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1995 until his death, an LDS Church apostle for 29 years, and a general authority of the church for 35 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard R. Lyman</span> American religious leader (1870-1963)

Richard Roswell Lyman was an American engineer and religious leader who was an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1918 to 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LeGrand Richards</span>

LeGrand Richards was a prominent missionary and leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as the seventh presiding bishop of the LDS Church from 1938 to 1952, and was then called as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles by church president David O. McKay. Richards served in the Quorum of the Twelve until his death in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the age of 96.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh B. Brown</span> American religious leader (1883–1975)

Hugh Brown Brown was an American attorney, educator, author and leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and First Presidency. Born in Utah, Brown held both American and Canadian citizenship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1890 Manifesto</span> Mormon anti-polygamy statement

The 1890 Manifesto is a statement which officially advised against any future plural marriage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Issued by Church President Wilford Woodruff in September 1890, the Manifesto was a response to mounting anti-polygamy pressure from the United States Congress, which by 1890 had disincorporated the church, escheated its assets to the U.S. federal government, and imprisoned many prominent polygamist Mormons. Upon its issuance, the LDS Church in conference accepted Woodruff's Manifesto as "authoritative and binding."

Ardeth Greene Kapp was the ninth Young Women general president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1984 to 1992.

John Kay Carmack has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1984. He is currently an emeritus general authority and was the managing director of the church's Perpetual Education Fund from 2001 to 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Freeman (Mormon)</span> Mormon leader

Joseph Freeman Jr. is the first man of black African descent to receive the Melchizedek priesthood and be ordained an elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after the announcement of the 1978 Revelation on Priesthood, which allowed "all worthy male members of the Church" to "be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color."

In the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, an endowment refers to a gift of "power from on high", typically associated with the ordinances performed in Latter Day Saint temples. The purpose and meaning of the endowment varied during the life of movement founder Joseph Smith. The term has referred to many such gifts of heavenly power, including the confirmation ritual, the institution of the High Priesthood in 1831, events and rituals occurring in the Kirtland Temple in the mid-1830s, and an elaborate ritual performed in the Nauvoo Temple in the 1840s.

This is a bibliography of works on the Latter Day Saint movement.

This is a timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the 1960s, part of a series of timelines consisting of events, publications, and speeches about LGBTQ+ individuals, topics around sexual orientation and gender minorities, and the community of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although the historical record is often scarce, evidence points to queer individuals having existed in the Mormon community since its beginnings. However, top LDS leaders only started regularly addressing queer topics in public in the late 1950s. Since 1970, the LDS Church has had at least one official publication or speech from a high-ranking leader referencing LGBT topics every year, and a greater number of LGBT Mormon and former Mormon individuals have received media coverage.

References

  1. 1 2 "Tabernacle Funeral Services Planned For LDS Church Elder Mark Petersen". The Salt Lake Tribune. Salt Lake City, Utah. 1984-01-13. p. 22. Retrieved 2022-03-17 via Newspapers.com.
  2. Monson, Thomas S. (March 1984). "In Memoriam:By His Words—Elder Mark E. Petersen - new-era". New Era. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  3. "Mark E. Petersen Named Visiting Authority". Washington County News. Saint George, Utah. 1962-02-01. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-03-17 via Newspapers.com.
  4. Press, A. (13 Jan 1984). "Mark Petersen, One of Mormons' Apostles Council". Boston Globe. ProQuest   294232213 . Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  5. 1 2 "This week in Church History". Church News . Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News. 3 January 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  6. O'Donovan, Rocky (1994). Multiply and Replenish: Mormon Essays on Sex and Family. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. p. 147. ISBN   1-56085-050-7 . Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  7. Kimball, Edward L.; Kimball, Andrew E. (1977). Spencer W. Kimball: Twelfth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft. p. 381. ISBN   9780884943303.
  8. Petersen, Elder Mark E. (27 August 1954). "Race Problems— As They Affect The Church". archive.org . Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  9. Tanner, Jerald and Sandra (2004). "Appendix B: Race Problems—As They Affect The Church". Curse of Cain?: Racism in the Mormon Church. Utah Lighthouse Ministry.
  10. McNamara, Mary Lou (24 January 2001). Contemporary Mormonism: Social Science Perspectives (Reprint ed.). Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press. p. 318. ISBN   0252069595 . Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  11. Bush, Lester E. Jr.; Mauss, Armand L., eds. (1984). "Appendix: Authoritative Statements on the Status of Blacks". Neither White nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church. Midvale, Utah: Signature Books. ISBN   0-941214-22-2.
  12. Embry, Jessie L. (1994). "Chapter 3: Impact of the LDS "Negro Policy"". Black Saints in a White Church: Contemporary African American Mormons. Signature Books. pp.  40–41. ISBN   1560850442. Sourced from the George A. Smith family papers, 1731-1969' (box 78, folder 7) on the 'Quorum of the Twelve Apostles— Excerpts from the weekly council meetings dealing with the rights of African Americans in the church (1849-1940'){{cite book}}: External link in |quote= (help)
  13. Driggs, Ken (2001). "'This Will Someday Be the Head and Not the Tail of the Church': A History of the Mormon Fundamentalists at Short Creek". Journal of Church and State . 43 (1): 49–80. doi:10.1093/jcs/43.1.49. JSTOR   23920013.
  14. "LDS Apostle Mark Petersen Dies of Cancer". The Daily Herald. Provo, Utah. 1984-01-12. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-03-18 via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Religious Leaders Euglogize Elder Mark E. Peterson". The Salt Lake Tribune. Salt Lake City, Utah. 1984-01-13. p. 22. Retrieved 2022-03-18 via Newspapers.com.

Further reading

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints titles
Preceded by Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
April 20, 1944 January 11, 1984
Succeeded by