I found out that some of my Mormon neighbors debating about going back to their church. It seems that they were allowed to do communion in their homes until just recently, but now it is no longer allowed and they have to go to church meetings for this?

I thought that most of the male members had the priesthood?

If they have the power to do their own communions, why are they not allowed to do this?

It seems VERY controlling?

Has this always been the case with the Mormons or is this a new method of control they instituted at some point?

I did a quick search on the internet but couldn't find anything about this.

I know there are some scholars here, anyone know the answer?

I am from a Southern Baptist Background (though after the reactions most of them had against science, masks, and vaccines I NO LONGER claim to be Southern Baptist, that branch of the church actually is pretty disgusting to me now. I do still adhere to a more Baptist belief though) and with our laity we do go to church for communion, but you only need to be called of the Lord (it's a more personal thing than what the Mormons have) to be a preacher. If you are called, you can do the ordinances within the congregation of which you preach to.

If they truly have the priesthood, it would reason that the Mormons SHOULD be able to do certain weekly or daily ceremonies without the approval of another...especially in this time of disease.

It SEEMS like a method of control to me. It also seems like this method would have been instituted later when they were clamping down on creating stronger forms of control than previously.

I am curious about when this happened, the how, and why...or if it was like this from the very beginning of the Mormon Church.

Thank you.

Adding some more thoughts...

It seems that the Lord would be opposed to such a control method as dictating who can or cannot approve the Lord's supper.

Of course, from my viewpoint, the Lord doesn't put restrictions on who he calls, but it is more if they can accept the calling or not.

Any preacher of the Lord or servant should be able to celebrate his communion. If where ever one or two meet are a gathering of the servants of the Lord, than it would seem they who were called into such would be able to worship him as asked of...including communion.

Sorry if that's a more Baptist viewpoint, but I'm trying to understand the logic behind requiring a Bishop approval to have communion.

I know the Mormons believe in Keys and such (as found on one of the Mormon sites when looking up the subject) but requiring a Higher authority to approve such things in the home seems excessive to me. It's a little strange...I'm trying to wrap my mind around this. It seems a LOT like the Catholics, but even the Catholics allow their priests to do communion (as far as I know) without needing a Bishop's approval.

Here's what I suspect you are talking about:

For Mormons, it is called sacrament.

It is offered at church every Sunday and with few exceptions, no one needs permission to take the sacrament.

During the pandemic (and often for people who are housebound) the priesthood holders would go to individual houses to administer the sacrament. That's only because they can't be at church.

Now that the churches are open again, I presume the expectation is that people are supposed to go to church to take the sacrament. They might need permission to arrange priesthood holders to come to their house.

In rare cases, people who are being punished (excommunicated) are asked not to take the sacrament but that is the only time I can think of "Bishop's approval" being involved. Maybe others can think of something else that you might mean.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2021 11:18PM by dagny.

In my very uninformed opinion, the notion of needing permission to prepare and bless the sacrament was never really an issue because there was always 'next Sunday.'

I don't know what the church did during the 1918-1920 Spanish Fly invasion. (that's just me being silly...) I'm guessing that since back then the church was mostly an intermountain west institution, there was probably no need to feel in control.

Regarding the issue of "can we do it v. should we do it", whatever arguments are made, the prophet gets to have the final word, just as long as you're mormon enough to accept him or her (silly again!) at their word.

Yes, the two sacrament prayers are in the book of mormon, and once you have level three of the aaronic priestcraft you're authorized to effectively 'bless and sanctify' the wonderbread and tap water, but if you're listening to the prophet and are told don't do it, why would a faithful mormon do it?

It'd be likely being 16, having a driver's license but living where there's a 10pm curfew for everyone under the age of 18. If a cop catches you driving at midnight, you're legal one way, but illegal another way. Church doctrine is the general rule, but the prophet set the curfew.


But if you want, I'm prepared to argue on your behalf at your Court of Love, now known by some less affectionate name...

The assumptions you're making are valid. Mormonism is extremely authoritarian. They even have their own name for it. They call it "correlation".

This is what they put in place for the pandemic


https://www.ldsdaily.com/home-and-family/the-rules-about-administering-the-sacrament-at-home/

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/suspended-worship-meetings-and-the-sacrament-what-we-can-learn-from-the-first-presidency-letter-and-the-general-handbook?lang=eng

Basically, any priesthood holder of the appropriate rank can administer the sacrament, but doing it outside of church requires the permission of the bishop (it should be noted that a mormon bishop is the equivalent of a pastor or catholic priest and is in charge of only one congregation, so is not the same as a catholic bishop).

Yes, it is about control.

Yes, this is right. It is ALL about control. And bishops, desiring to maintain that tight control, aren't keen on giving permission because of the precedent it might set.

Your follow-up question might be, what's to prevent the husband from administering the sacrament in his own home anyway, without the bishop's OK? Technically, nothing, but if anyone found out, he could expect some kind of church discipline, the extent of which would depend on such critical factors as how much tithing he typically pays.

Mormons are great at self-policing in the matter of rules and obedience. It is, after all, a cult.

They tell you what congregation you must attend.

They tell you what underwear you have to wear.

They tell you who gets to attend your temple wedding. Or if you can even have a temple wedding.


Yes. They are controlling. Very.

In most circumstances, sacrament/communion is only to be taken at church since that's one of their biggest arguments for why you need to go to church weekly.

The bishop is by default the head of the priest quorum in each ward and he is responsible for authorizing the administration of the sacrament to those in his jurisdiction.

In my experience, the bishops will freely approve or even request at home or in hospital sacrament for people too sick, too old, or too far away to go to church. Similarly, people could do the sacrament at home while all in-person services were suspended with Covid. But now that church services have resumed, they're not going to give permission for at home sacrament for people are are physically able to attend church in person but just don't want to.

Also-

Bishops will deny the sacrament as punishment for sin. Since the only sin needing confession is sexual transgression, when you politely decline the "wonder bread and tap-water", everyone can see it and knows why. Here's a first hand example:

Back when I was trying to be obedient and faithful in order to be healed from "same-sex attraction" (spoiler: It didn't and doesn't work), I was "advised" by my Bishop to refrain from the sacrament "for six months" because of my (inevitable) slip ups at remaining chaste. One Sunday at my singles ward, they were (of course) short of priesthood holders and asked me to help pass (because even passing the tray has to be an ordained male)

When I said "I can't", the EQP said "You....can't? Oh you CAN'T. Um okay..."

The awkwardness of that exchange was one of several driving forces toward my escape from the cult.