Elder James J. Hamula of the Seventy Excommunicated

[Darren10]

I just read that Elder James J. Hamula of the Quorum of the Seventy has been excommunicated. Apparently this was the first of its kind in 30 years. 

Quote

For the first time in nearly 30 years, the Mormon church has excommunicated one of its top leaders.

On Tuesday morning, James J. Hamula was released from his position in the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after disciplinary action.

Although I do not have any personal connection to him nor can I recall of anything he spoke about, I am saddened by his excommunication. I support the LDS Church excommunicating and am glad it does but it still saddens me. I fully desire for Elder Hamula's return and pray for his progress toward that end and for blessings in general. I get a sense that Hamula made a really bad moral judgement in his life but his faith is placed exactly where it needs to be:

Quote

In October 2014, he talked about the sacrament (or communion) and Christ’s atonement.

“With a small cup of water, we signify that we remember the blood Jesus spilled and the spiritual suffering he endured for all mankind,” Hamula said. “ … In taking the water to ourselves, we acknowledge that his blood and suffering atoned for our sins and that he will remit our sins as we embrace and accept the principles and ordinances of his gospel.”

 

And he knows what is right:

Quote

All people, he continued, have become “soiled with sin and transgression. We will have had thoughts, words and works that will have been less than virtuous. In short, we will be unclean.”

Jesus offers a way to erase those misdeeds, Hamula counseled. “He ... offers to make us clean if we will have faith in him sufficient to repent.”

According to this article, Elder Hamula was not excommunicated for "apostasy or disillusionment", personal sin seems the most likely cause for his excommunication. I have no desire to speculate as to what Elder Hamula may have done but since and would appreciate that everyone avoids the same on this thread. Any information on him, please provide a source for what may have happened. 

Thanks and God bless Hamula and his loved ones. 

http://www.sltrib.com/news/2017/08/08/high-ranking-mormon-official-excommunicated-first-such-ouster-in-nearly-3-decades/

[JLHPROF]

Duplicate thread....

As for the reasons - if it wasn't apostasy it had to be sin.  And if it wasn't turned over to the police I think we can probably assume it wasn't illegal (abuse etc).
Kind of limits the options....

[stemelbow]

5 minutes ago, JLHPROF said:

Duplicate thread....

As for the reasons - if it wasn't apostasy it had to be sin.  And if it wasn't turned over to the police I think we can probably assume it wasn't illegal (abuse etc).
Kind of limits the options....

Yes very disappointing to see clarification if the goal is keep it under wraps.  Limits the options for sure.  Not sure it was fair to him to eliminate a reason or two.  

[Darren10]

42 minutes ago, stemelbow said:

Yes very disappointing to see clarification if the goal is keep it under wraps.  Limits the options for sure.  Not sure it was fair to him to eliminate a reason or two.  

Interesting. 

[Darren10]

1 hour ago, stemelbow said:

Yes very disappointing to see clarification if the goal is keep it under wraps.  Limits the options for sure.  Not sure it was fair to him to eliminate a reason or two.  

Your comment definitely caused me to think and I would say that the LDS Church does not necessarily want to "keep things under wraps" as much as to not reveal why exactly Hamula was excommunicated. Since there was a Seventy member excommunicated in the 1980s for apostasy the Church perhaps wanted to keep speculation at a minimum. But, I honestly do not know for sure. I am not that familiar with the specific ins and outs of Church policy.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Darren10 said:

I just read that Elder James J. Hamula of the Quorum of the Seventy has been excommunicated. Apparently this was the first of its kind in 30 years. 

Although I do not have any personal connection to him nor can I recall of anything he spoke about, I am saddened by his excommunication. I support the LDS Church excommunicating and am glad it does but it still saddens me. I fully desire for Elder Hamula's return and pray for his progress toward that end and for blessings in general. I get a sense that Hamula made a really bad moral judgement in his life but his faith is placed exactly where it needs to be:

And he knows what is right:

According to this article, Elder Hamula was not excommunicated for "apostasy or disillusionment", personal sin seems the most likely cause for his excommunication. I have no desire to speculate as to what Elder Hamula may have done but since and would appreciate that everyone avoids the same on this thread. Any information on him, please provide a source for what may have happened. 

Thanks and God bless Hamula and his loved ones. 

http://www.sltrib.com/news/2017/08/08/high-ranking-mormon-official-excommunicated-first-such-ouster-in-nearly-3-decades/

It is sad, but if we wish others not speculate, then we should not have posted it, to not mention or speculate upon it ourselves. Thus keeping others from doing the same. 

[Darren10]

28 minutes ago, Bill "Papa" Lee said:

It is sad, but if we wish others not speculate, then we should not have posted it, to not mention or speculate upon it ourselves. Thus keeping others from doing the same. 

I don't think you can avoid posting high profile people being excommunicated.