The Church announced a few days ago that Patrick Kearon of the Seventy has been called into the Quorum of the Twelve to fill the vacancy created by M. Russell Ballard’s death. I’m very happy at President Nelson’s choice.
First, I’m of course a complainer, so I do want to mention a few concerns I have. One is that President Nelson seems to be in a rush in not wanting to wait for Conference, and having Elder Kearon ordained already really makes clear that sustaining votes from the membership are 100% loyalty tests, and not at all what they originally were. Another is that it’s too bad the Q15 remains so white. And old. And of course you know I’d love to see women ordained and have a woman called.
But setting those issues aside as large ones that the Church is not likely to move on soon, like I say in the title, I’m thrilled with the selection of Patrick Kearon. Here are some reasons why:
- He’s not an American. I think American GAs are more prone to thinking that American (or Mormon corridor) cultural norms are God-inspired.
- He’s an adult convert. He was baptized in 1987 at the age of 26. I see this as a positive in the same way as I see not being an American as a positive, but I think being a convert might be even better. I feel like there are so many “unwritten order of things” ideas that float around the Church and someone who wasn’t raised in the Church would be so much less likely to taking these seriously just because he didn’t hear them or observe them off and on during his formative years. Ideas like this sometimes even make it into the Handbook, as Dallin H. Oaks recently illustrated with his right-hand-for-the-sacrament rule. I just think a convert would be more likely to see through this nonsense, and be unwilling to enshrine it in written rules.
- He doesn’t use a middle initial. This makes two Q15 members in a row, after Ulisses Soares. I don’t know the history of the tradition of having GAs be referred to with their middle initials, other than that among Church presidents, it appears to date to Joseph F. Smith. For him, George Albert Smith, and Ezra Taft Benson, it seems like their middle initials or names had genuine value for disambiguation. But for most GAs, it just feels pretentious.
- He gave one of the best Conference talks in recent memory in 2022, when he addressed abuse victims far more compassionately than any previous Conference speaker that I remember had.
- In 2016, he gave another excellent Conference talk, urging compassion for refugees.
- His kind approach is even more striking when considered against the backdrop of some other Seventies who appear to be auditioning for the Twelve by showing how harsh they can be. If one of these meaner men had been called, what kind of a signal would that have sent, versus the signal sent by calling Elder Kearon?
- He’s 62, three years younger than Elder Soares, who’s the second-youngest Q15 member. This gives him a fair shot of making the top spot (eventually) and hopefully having even more of an influence for good in the Church.
What do you think of the call of Patrick Kearon to the Quorum of the Twelve?
I am delighted. But then I’m British. My husband and I were students in London, attending the singles ward there at the time he was baptised. He seemed then to be a genuinely lovely person, and from the great talks he’s given, and everything I’ve heard since, that’s still true.
I have met him twice. The first time was when he came to our stake and installed a new stake president. He made a great choice. If there is a candidate apostle metric based on quality of stake presidents installed as a Seventy (measured by health of stakes afterwards), then he was likely at the top of the list. The second time was in a closed meeting with him, an apostle and a group of local leaders. It was a good cop / bad cop setup, and he seemed quite sincere about the good cop part. The bad cop apostle also seemed sincere.
If you prefer to not use middle initials (or initial initials), then don’t use them. It’s quite easy. Try it the next time who write regarding Russell Nelson, Dallin Oaks, Jeff Holland, David Bednar, Gordon Hinckley, Spencer Kimball, et al. Two who I find need the initial are David O. McKay and Harold B. Lee; in those cases leaving out the O. or the B. feels confusing, easy to not immediately recognize who is being named. If a name feels weird without an initial, then include it; otherwise drop the initials.
From RMN’s perspective, he probably did not want to wait until April 2024 if he was intent on having Patrick Kearon as the next apostle–I mean, he is 99.
I agree that Kearon is a good choice–certainly better than two names I feared (Clark Gilbert or Kevin Pearson). I was not a huge fan of PK’s talk on obedience, but his other major talks as a GA have been well done.
I know their family personally and couldn’t be more thrilled. Such gracious, lovely people, with compassion and awareness of current issues.
@A, I also feared that Kevin Pearson might get called. We had him as a visiting GA at our stake conference recently, and his confident, judgmental approach to the gospel was very off-putting to a lot of people.
I have liked Elder Kearon’s recent talks a lot, too. I am so relieved that he got called.
I’m curious to see what the updated chart of presidential probabilities looks like now with Elder Kearon in the mix! I assume that’s coming around the corner?
I too was pleased that Elder Kearon was called, based on the fact that in 2016 he was the *only one* who used his voice us to shake us out of our privilege and into action during the start of the Syrian refugee crisis. Literally everyone else was talking about the funny things primary kids say, obedience talks, or “Webster defines [insert scriptural rabbit hole here]”. (Elder Uchtdorff while conducting, emphasized the importance of Kearon’s talk and mentioning his own refugee experience. Kearon may be more liberal than the other Apostles (Bednar, Cook, Anderson), which would be wonderful. We need more diversity.
I kept thinking…why did President Nelson call him? We have a lot of good guy 70s out there, but choosing a good guy isn’t particularly strategic. I suspect Kearon was called partly because he spent part of his childhood as an ex-pat in Saudi Arabia and later operated his communications consulting business there. I think President Nelson wants to open doors for the church in the Middle East, especially now that we’re building a temple in Dubai. Nelson learned Mandarin to make diplomatic inroads in China, and I bet he wants his legacy to include opening up the Middle East. I honestly don’t think we have any formerly Muslim 70s or natives from that part of the world, but I could be mistaken. I bet Kearon, even though British, is as close as we can get to checking off boxes for Apostleship AND cultural experience in that region right now.
I’m holding my breath with absolute hope for his service in the Q12. But, I don’t trust my judgement anymore. I loved Q12 Elder Monson’s talks most of all growing up. He advocated for charity, children, and geriatric issues, with poetry. I thought he would become a symbolic leader as President (potentially the world’s most effective leaders who invite collaboration through symbolism and art- like Jesus, Nelson Mandela, Lincoln, etc.) I was wrong. Something changed in him at the onset of his presidency, I wondered if he felt the need to be more formal, or less himself. Maybe it was his dementia and age. He stopped reading poems (mostly) and stopped talking about widows/elderly. In spite of lowering the mission age for sisters, most of his administrative changes ushered in an era of painful retrenchment and conservatism for women, removing several of Hinckley’s more progressive ways. Then, he also started sunsetting and suffering from dementia (which the church PR department could only call “the advanced effects of aging”). Instead of using himself as a way to teach the saints about dementia and dying, he reclused into privacy. The opportunity to normalize, advocate for, and demonstrate (with his privilege) dignity and compassionate care at this stage of life, even while incapacitated, was missed. I know doing so would have been brave, egoless, and painful. The book “When Breath Becomes Air” by dying physician Kalanithi does just that. Other patient advocates like Michael J Fox do the same- bravely sharing. Aren’t we here to consecrate ourselves to our causes? We (the rank and file) didn’t know who was making decisions at the top during his administration (repeating then Benson years) although rumors swirled.
There’s many a slip between cup and lip when it comes to conference talks and behavior in the Q15. I still pray Kearon holds to his convictions and doesn’t feel pressured to conform or abandon his uniqueness.
Also- on a side note, I’m really glad he isn’t a corporate defense attorney or PhD/university president or MBA. He brings some diversity to the table in not having a bachelor’s degree. (Is it Rasband that doesn’t either?) He replaces Elder Ballard, who was an also businessman without academic credentials.
Thanks for your comments, everyone. I’m happy to hear that so many of y’all have good experiences with or impressions of Elder Kearon. And it’s interesting that a couple of you mentioned Kevin Pearson as an alternative, because he’s exactly the type of harsh fundamentalist who I feared might be called too.
Also, John, regarding middle initials, I’m more concerned with the general norm. I feel like it’s pretentious and off-putting for the Q15 (and GAs in general) to be introduced with them, so my personal use or non-use of them doesn’t really play into that.