Posted by:
Way Out
(
)
Date: September 23, 2010 05:17PM
The month of August was quite busy for me with marriage preparations, travel and the wedding itself. We just returned from our honeymoon this past Sunday. So I haven't been home on a weekend since the last weekend in July.
In early August, I decided that my mother's request that I "just don't remove [my] name from the records, you know, just in case," was not sufficient reason to allow my name to appear on the rolls of TSCC. I no longer could condone the possibility that the fact I hadn't removed my name could be interpreted as some kind of tacit acceptance of TCOJCOLDS, its beliefs, policies, actions, etc. Nor did I want this to be interpreted as any kind of "hedging my bet." And finally, a topic on this forum back in early August made me realize that removing my name is something I can do to assure my wife that TSCC will never be an issue in our relationship. For her, my past as a member of TSCC has always been a non-issue, but my knowledge of how harmful to families the organization that issued the family proclamation can be prompted me to value this action of removing my name.
For those interested, here is the logistical details of my uncommon name-removal request:
1. I stopped attending church while living in another state-- completely disassociated from it and almost all members.
2. After moving to the state of my current residence, my local ward here (wherever/whichever it may be) never received my info and never contacted me/tracted me out, etc.
3. I issued my notification of resignation (with two or three well-placed legal threats) and gave only my PO BOX as a return address and the last ward I attended in the former state I lived in.
In response to my notice, which I sent via certified mail on August 5th, I received a letter dated August 13th from the stake president of the last ward I attended (couple years ago now) confirming my request has been received and is being processed. He confirmed that I had correctly stated that my baptism would be canceled, priesthood withdrawn, yaddy-yaddy-yaddah, and interestingly enough: that I had also "waived the 30-day waiting period so this process will proceed without the possibility of withdrawing [my] request."
Subsequently, I received a letter dated August 25th from Gregory W. Dodge, Manager, Member and Statistical Records which notified me that a) my name has been removed and b) "should [I] desire to become a member of the Church in the future, the local bishop or branch president in your area will be happy to help you."
In my case, 30-day waiting period was waived. I would bet that this is due to 3 main things: that I used a PO BOX for my return address; this PO BOX was in another state from the stake which sent me the first letter; and that I had used strong language that my resignation takes effect immediately, I don't recognize any requirements imposed by rules or internal procedures as having any validity, etc. I do wonder which of these factors carried the most wait in the waiver of the 30-day waiting period.
It feels great NOT to be a member of TCOJCOLDS anymore! I sure would like all my donations returned to me as well!