https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2024/11/21/september-six-writer-readmitted/

"Five years after top Latter-day Saint leaders refused to readmit excommunicated member Lavina Fielding Anderson to the fold, she finally got her wish.

The faith’s governing First Presidency now has granted Anderson, one of the famed “September Six,” a rebaptism and restoration of her temple “blessings” and membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

No telling how it will affect her, though, because, well, she died a year ago."

However, the brethren still had to demonstrate their asshattery again:

"As the first anniversary of Anderson’s Oct. 29, 2023, death at age 79 approached, her son, Christian Anderson, wished to see her be rebaptized by a living participant
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Christian also added a brief note: “I would like to fulfill her wish to be rebaptized in a holy temple. I would like to emphasize that though she was excommunicated in 1993, she continued to attend her ward faithfully for nearly 30 years until prevented by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent declining health.”

Instead, the First Presidency authorized others to do the rituals, known as “ordinances,” without inviting him to be included
in any way or informing him it was happening until eight days after it was a fait accompli.
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"Christian wanted to do it himself, he says ruefully, “but I’m going to take the win.”

Still, he holds “deeply ambivalent feelings about this.”

“On the one hand, the outcome is exactly what I think she would have wanted (the original ordinances are restored as if the last three decades were just one big misunderstanding),” Christian says. “On the other hand, I feel like I was denied the chance to be part of the reconciliation process, and somehow the restoration feels like something that happened to her (and, secondarily to me), just like the excommunication was something that happened to her.”

Yeah, that's an asshat move on the part of the church to not allow her son to do it. But no one ever accused Mormon church authorities of being kind people.

Shaking my head.

It was my pleasure to know Lavina at the UWashington unmarried student ward.

Groveling will get you everywhere.

I would not have begged to let a certain person to have their work done. Just shuffle them into the regular ordinance list. No one would know.

Stockholm syndrome

I knew Lavina clear back to when the Sept 6 were exed/disfellowshipped. Her attitude was that it is not their (the authorities) church, it is our church (the members) and they don't get to take it away from me. She considered herself a DNA Mormon, and as far as she was concerned, nobody gets to take that away.

She attended, er, religiously for the rest of her life, and in a sense, she finally wore them down, though not letting her son be part of the reinstatement was a cheap shot by the authorities. I wouldn't consider this a case of Stockholm Syndrome. It was more a case of refusal to give in. I can respect that.


She started a newsletter "By Common Consent", the title of which pretty much encapsulates her feeling that it is the members' church, governed by common consent of the membership, which was actually how it started. Joseph Smith had a number of his proposals voted down. Church governance wasn't always "a vote to sustain."

The newsletter reported cases of spiritual abuse by leaders. She was ordered to stop producing it and refused, saying everything she reported actually happened. She violated the first and really the only important commandment - she made the church look bad. There is nothing they hate more. She was as straight-arrow as it is possible to be.

She was a valued member of her ward, even in excommunication. Her bishop and SP made at least one serious attempt to get her rebaptized, and were turned down by the FP.

I just checked to see if "By Common Consent" is still around, and it is indeed.
https://bycommonconsent.com

It's pretty active, and some of the articles look interesting. I even recognize a couple of the authors. Michael Austin was there 30 years ago, so I imagine he is near or even past retirement age.

Lavina was initially a writer for LDS church magazines and publications, and then editor. She had a reputation for confronting people who were writing things that violated Christian principles, and getting the offending passages rewritten. The fact that it was GAs who were often the offenders didn't phase her in the least. I imagine she tried to be diplomatic, but she stuck by her guns. That eventually got her fired, but she also succeeded in keeping a lot of nonsense out of church publications.

Was Paul Toscano ever rebaptized?

Toscano and Lynn Whitesides were never reinstated. Whitesides had been disfellowshipped, the other 5 were excommunicated.

Abraham Gileadi and Maxine Hanks were rebaptized.

Lavina was rebaptized posthumously last week.

Michael Quinn was never rebaptized and passed away in 2021, though he claimed to be a believer for the rest of his life after excommunication.

What interests me is that the LDS church is willing to accept their critics after they've died and can't fight back against the LDS church for its roles in preserving the patriarchy and other controversial issues. May Lavina Fielding Anderson now rest in peace.

Yes, it reminds me of Catholics apologizing centuries after they did harm.