***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think I\u2019ll share a rather embarrassing story that involves President Russell M. Nelson.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But, first, a word about Pope Shenouda III (1923-2012), who served as the 117th patriarch of the See of St. Mark \u2014 \u00a0officially, the \u201cPope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark the Evangelist of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria\u201d \u2014\u00a0which made him the head of the Coptic Christian Church of Egypt.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Baba Shenouda, as he was called, was famous for being, umm, not especially ecumenical in his outlook. \u00a0And not merely toward Latter-day Saints, whom he made every effort \u2014 successfully \u2014 to block from gaining legal recognition in Egypt. \u00a0(As the most powerful Christian figure in Egypt, he had considerable clout with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.) \u00a0Once, while I was staying at the Universit\u00e9 Saint-Joseph\u00a0de Beyrouth, in Lebanon, I had an evening chat with a Lebanese friend there, a Jesuit priest and a very significant scholar. \u00a0He himself was exasperated by Shenouda, who was notably hostile to Catholics and to various minority Christian churches in the Middle East. \u00a0\u201cThe medieval monks,\u201d my friend said, \u201chad a neat solution for popes like Shenouda.\u201d \u00a0\u201cThey did?\u201d I replied. \u00a0\u201cWhat was it?\u201d \u00a0\u201cA little drop of poison in a cup,\u201d he replied, \u201cet voila!<\/em> \u00a0A new election!\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anyway, I served for several years on what was called the Middle East Advisory Committee of the Church. \u00a0(I\u2019m not sure that it exists anymore, not at least with non-General Authority involvement.) \u00a0It was chaired by various members of the Twelve during that time, including Elder Holland, Elder Uchtdorf, and, for the longest period (I think), Elder Nelson.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
We typically met twice annually, when the area presidency responsible for the Middle East were in Salt Lake City for General Conference from their base in Europe.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
One day, with Elder Nelson presiding, we were discussing the challenge of gaining legal recognition in Egypt, and Pope Shenouda\u2019s opposition came up as a topic.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPope Shenouda\u2019s opposition won\u2019t always be a factor,\u201d I said. \u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s well over eighty, so he won\u2019t be in office too much longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
As soon as I said it, it dawned on me that he and Elder Nelson were very nearly the same age. \u00a0He took no apparent offense, but I spent the rest of the meeting trying, as unobtrusively as I could, to remove my foot from my mouth.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 New, on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: \u00a0 \u201cLasting Happiness Comes from Living the Way Jesus Christ Taught\u201d:\u00a0A Video Supplement for\u00a0Come, Follow Me\u00a0Lesson 8:\u00a0\u201cBlessed Are Ye\u201d \u00a0 *** \u00a0 I\u2019m a bit late on this one, but I provide a link just in case you missed it when it was new. \u00a0Don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1821,1809,3367,936,951,3364,1215],"class_list":["post-70417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apostle","tag-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints","tag-coptic","tag-daniel-peterson","tag-egypt","tag-pope-shenouda","tag-russell-m-nelson"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>