******************************
Just had to mention the excommunication of a Member of the 70's. James J. Hamula.
From Church Headquarters--(selected parts)
The removal and excommunication of a general authority of the church is extremely rare, then, but when necessary, a disciplinary council for a senior LDS leader is comprised of members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. Church leaders have said they hold the faith's most senior leaders to the same standards of conduct as all other members, if not more so.
The church confirmed that this action was not taken because of disillusionment or apostasy.
Hamula had been a general authority and member of the Seventy for nine years, since his call in April 2008. He previously had served as a mission president in Washington, D.C., as the church’s Pacific Area president and as the assistant executive director of the Church History Department.
Hamula was a member of the church’s Pacific Area Presidency from 2009 to 2014, headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand. During three of those five years, he served as Area President. Upon his return to church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Hamula served as assistant executive director of the Church History Department from 2014 to 2016.
He became the executive director of the Correlation Department in 2016, providing priesthood oversight of the department. The correlation department operates under direction of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Its role is to ensure unity in church structure, practice and doctrine in a global faith with 15.8 million members.
Hamula has served in a number of church callings, including full-time missionary in the Germany Munich Mission, bishop, Young Men president, stake president, president of the Washington D.C. South Mission (1994–1997) and Area Seventy (2000–08).
***********************
As I read of his many years of Church service...starting off with his Mission as a young man to Germany...it really made me sad. Looking over the summary of his Church leadership just made me teary. Obviously he has been with thousands of members. Throughout the world there are people that have associated with him and followed his counsel and respected him and trusted him and prayed for him and were happy for him.
My heart goes out to all those who have been wounded, by whatever choices he made, that brought him to this point of losing the greatest treasure on earth...his membership.
I think of his wife and his children and his grandchildren and the suffering, sorrow and heartache and pain they suffer. How do you explain this to them?
Hopefully he was able to courageously confess and bring this just discipline on himself and not be "found out".
What a loss on so many levels.
Does this impact or mar or tarnish or lessen or weaken my testimony? No. It does not. It brings me sorrow for what this man has brought on himself. It makes me thankful that the Church is diligent and vigilant, in holding members in position of trusted leadership, accountable for actions deemed sinful.
My personal testimony is as it was before I read this news. My faith is centered in Jesus Christ. He has not moved from His place and His Gospel and Church are still in place. The Doctrine is still exactly as it was and I still totally love it.
This Brother Hamala is mortal and his humanness, in who knows what category, evidently was unchecked and won over his judgment. Hopefully he desires and will someday be allowed back in full fellowship. I pray his family survives such devastation. My heart goes out to them and my prayers ascend for all of them.
I'm so thankful for my Church membership.
Personally I was deeply impacted and touch by a talk he gave at BYU and then a more condensed version in the Ensign. I blogged about those feelings here The talks were so strong and so impressive. My Spirit resonated as I read those. I will miss his insights and inspiration. What a loss to all of us. What a waste of such great gifts. I believed what he taught. Not because he was any sort of an Authority but just the feelings I had.
My heart is full of gratitude for my testimony.
No comments:
Post a Comment