Policies, Programs, and People

The First Presidency has announced the appointment of J. Spencer Kinard, a newscaster for radio and television station KSL, to succeed the late Elder Richard L. Evans in producing and announcing the “spoken word” on the weekly broadcast of the Tabernacle Choir and organ from Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

Since the death of Elder Evans last November, Allen Jensen, president of station KID in Idaho Falls, Idaho, has announced the program and read one of the prepared messages by Elder Evans on the weekly broadcast.

Elder Kinard is a familiar radio and television personality to Salt Lake viewers and listeners. He began his broadcasting career with KSL in 1965. In 1969 he was one of eight to be chosen in the nation to receive a one-year CBS scholarship at Columbia University in New York.

When a member of a ward or branch is invited to bless or to baptize, confirm, or ordain someone in another ward or branch, he must take with him from his bishop a Recommend to Perform an Ordinance or a signed, current temple recommend, unless he is well known by the presiding officers where the ordinance is performed; it would also be sufficient for a bishop to permit a priesthood bearer from another ward to perform an ordinance on the presentation of a current temple recommend.

A member of a stake presidency or high council or a stake missionary is not required to present a recommend when performing these ordinances in wards within his own stake. However, when invited to officiate outside his stake, he is required to take a Recommend to Perform an Ordinance or have a signed, current temple recommend with him. These instructions apply only to the person who will be voice in the ordination and not to the other participants.

The third edition of the Records Submission Manual (page 40) states: “If information pertaining to one’s ancestry cannot be found in vital or church records in the United States, the 1850 and 1860 federal census schedules may be used. … In Canada the 1851 and 1861 census schedules may be used.”

In examining the many census records submitted since the start of the name tabulation program in October 1969, it has been found that in many cases no effort has been made to find out if the individual found in the census could be identified from some other acceptable single source. The danger in this is that each person submitted from the census who can be identified in other acceptable sources might have his ordinance work duplicated. More important is the possibility of improper sealings through lack of specific information available in primary records when births and marriages are recorded.

Therefore, the submission of records taken from census schedules of the United States and Canada must be limited to direct-line families. The relationship recorded for the husband and wife on the family group record form must be a son or daughter relationship of some degree (such as grandson, second great-granddaughter). As before, the census should be used only when the children cannot be identified from other existing sources that meet minimum identification standards.

If some children in the direct-line family can be found in these other acceptable sources, they should be submitted on Entry Forms. Only the names of those children that cannot be found in other acceptable sources should be submitted on the Family Group Record Form from United States and Canada census schedules (census records cannot be submitted from any other country).

Members of the Church are reminded that their responsibility in genealogical research is to direct-line families. Time and money spent in gathering collateral relations or names to which no relationship can be established should not detract from efforts to extend pedigree lines and perform the necessary ordinances.

Leaders of the Church—stake presidencies, high councils, bishoprics, mission, district, and branch presidencies—are urged to be especially mindful of setting favorable examples to the youth in following the precepts and programs of the Church. Specific concerns are that leaders themselves observe and also cause their young people to be trained in family home evening, scripture study, and family prayer, so that they will be well prepared when they enter the mission field and when they assume responsibilities as adult members of the Church.