More Musings on Monson's Mental Malaise
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 7:42 pm
Since Dr. Scratch's OP about the declining mental health of President Monson, I have looked into this a bit further.
Three of the last four temples the Church has dedicated have been dedicated by either Eyring or Uchtdorf. Before then, the previous 10 temples were all dedicated by Monson. Temple dedications are, in terms of a come-together-as-a-large-group-of-people-moment, the Church’s most important ritual event. It’s usually seen as one of the privileges and even duties of the sitting President of the Church to preside over the dedication of new temples and deliver the dedicatory prayer. Monson’s dementia must be getting pretty serious. Poor guy…
While Hinckley was President of the Church, the Church dedicated 76 new temples. Of those 76, Hinckley dedicated 62. Nobody other than Hinckley dedicated anything between August 2000 and October 2006. (No temples were dedicated between Oct. 2006 and Hinckley’s death in Jan. 2008.)
Monson, after assuming the Church Presidency, dedicated 10 temples right in a row between 2008 and 2012. Now, apparently because of the worsening descent into madness, the dedicatory duties are being carried out by his counselors in the First Presidency. It’ll be interesting to see if Monson dedicates the Brigham City Utah or the Calgary Alberta temples later in the year. I’m guessing he will not. He may not even speak at the upcoming October general conference. If he does speak, pay attention to the mechanics of his speech. He’s slurring his words to a noticeable degree these days and speaking (i.e., reading his speech) rapidly in a pseudo-falsetto much of the time. There was a time not too long ago when Monson was just about everybody’s favorite speaker at conference. He was folksy, even funny, down-to-earth, a regular-seeming guy who loved sports, fishing, occasional cussing, and who happened to hold the office of apostle. Now, I just feel bad for the poor man when I hear him talk from the pulpit.
Three of the last four temples the Church has dedicated have been dedicated by either Eyring or Uchtdorf. Before then, the previous 10 temples were all dedicated by Monson. Temple dedications are, in terms of a come-together-as-a-large-group-of-people-moment, the Church’s most important ritual event. It’s usually seen as one of the privileges and even duties of the sitting President of the Church to preside over the dedication of new temples and deliver the dedicatory prayer. Monson’s dementia must be getting pretty serious. Poor guy…
While Hinckley was President of the Church, the Church dedicated 76 new temples. Of those 76, Hinckley dedicated 62. Nobody other than Hinckley dedicated anything between August 2000 and October 2006. (No temples were dedicated between Oct. 2006 and Hinckley’s death in Jan. 2008.)
Monson, after assuming the Church Presidency, dedicated 10 temples right in a row between 2008 and 2012. Now, apparently because of the worsening descent into madness, the dedicatory duties are being carried out by his counselors in the First Presidency. It’ll be interesting to see if Monson dedicates the Brigham City Utah or the Calgary Alberta temples later in the year. I’m guessing he will not. He may not even speak at the upcoming October general conference. If he does speak, pay attention to the mechanics of his speech. He’s slurring his words to a noticeable degree these days and speaking (i.e., reading his speech) rapidly in a pseudo-falsetto much of the time. There was a time not too long ago when Monson was just about everybody’s favorite speaker at conference. He was folksy, even funny, down-to-earth, a regular-seeming guy who loved sports, fishing, occasional cussing, and who happened to hold the office of apostle. Now, I just feel bad for the poor man when I hear him talk from the pulpit.
