Choosing Mormon leader wasn't always decided neatly
SALT LAKE CITY — In the days after Mormon Church president and prophet Gordon Hinckley is laid to rest, the men who served as his closest advisers will begin the process of choosing a successor.
But the deliberations after Saturday will not hold the intrigue of the election of a Roman Catholic pope, during which geography, politics and other factors combine in a process that ends with white smoke puffing from a chimney.
At least in modern days, choosing the leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has come down to the simple matter of who is next in line for an office unique among religious traditions.
Hinckley died Sunday night at age 97 after shepherding the 13 million-member church through a period of tremendous growth.
Following Mormon church tradition, the next-most senior church apostle will probably succeed him — in this case, Thomas Monson, 80.
Although there is no formal timetable for choosing a successor, the group of 14 church apostles is not expected to meet until early next week to allow time to honor Hinckley's memory.
Succession was not always so neatly decided, said Mike Quinn, a Mormon historian who was excommunicated from the church. Church founder Joseph Smith never laid out a plan for the process, and more than three years passed from the time he died until Brigham Young took over the church.
"You had different people saying different things about the way to go," Quinn said.
When Young took control of the church, only about half its members followed him to Utah. Gaps of two or more years between presidencies continued — with senior leaders arguing against seniority as the sole basis.
"Age was a factor," Quinn said. "They didn't want to create a gerontocracy. There was a power struggle, or you could say, prophetic disagreement."
Ultimately, church leaders decided that an uncluttered, unquestioned process of succession would be best for the church.
"Now you don't have a succession crisis," Quinn said. "It's a very uniform pattern. It's trustworthy."
The system also means that Mormon presidents are bound to be well beyond standard U.S. retirement age. Since 1945, only one church president has been younger than 75 when he took office. To some, that's troubling.
"There ought to be some kind of vehicle established that takes into account that individual condition, mentally and physically," said Steve Benson, grandson of former church president Ezra Taft Benson, who died in 1994. "I don't see what the problem is. This is done in all kinds of corporations."
Hinckley himself had answered that kind of criticism. In 1996, when confronted by Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes with the claim that the church "is run by old men," Hinckley replied:
"Isn't it wonderful? To have a man of maturity at the head, a man of judgment, who isn't blown about by every wind of doctrine?"
