Restoration Church of Jesus Christ

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)

The Restoration Church of Jesus Christ (RCJC), based in the United States in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a church in the Latter Day Saint movement that caters primarily to the spiritual needs of Latter Day Saints who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT).

The RCJC is sometimes informally called the Gay Mormon Church because of its overwhelmingly homosexual membership, although people of any sexual orientation are welcome to join. The RCJC is also informally called the Liberal Mormon Church.^{[citation needed]}

History

Founded by Antonio A. Feliz, Lamar Hamilton, John Crane, Pamela J. Calkins and other members of the Los Angeles Chapter of Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons on August 23, 1985, in Los Angeles, California.

Feliz is a former bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), who had been excommunicated for homosexual acts.^[1] Feliz had also served as the Director of Church Welfare for what was then called the Andean Region (now called the South America West Area) of the LDS Church during the 1970s.

Feliz originally named the church the Church of Jesus Christ of All Latter Day Saints, but when the LDS Church informed him of their intent to sue, he changed the name to the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ.^{[citation needed]}

At a church conference in Sacramento, California, in May 1987, Feliz resigned as president. He was succeeded by Robert A. McIntier, an engineer, who has been president of the church (as of 2009) since 1987, except for a brief period from 1997 to 1999 when Douglas B. Madrid served as president (the RCJC has rotating general officers).

Scripture

The scriptures of the church are the Bible,^{[clarification needed]} the Book of Mormon^{[clarification needed]}, the Doctrine and Covenants (both the LDS Church and the Community of Christ versions),^{[clarification needed]} the Pearl of Great Price, and The Hidden Treasures and Promises, a book which members say consists of revelations given through the president of the church and other leaders.

Beliefs and practices

Unlike in the the LDS Church, RCJC women may hold the priesthood. The Heavenly Mother is regarded as an equal member of the Godhead along with the Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Thus, the church believes in a quadriune Godhead; the Godhead is referred to as the Holy Quaternity. The Heavenly Parents (i.e., the Heavenly Father and the Heavenly Mother) are worshiped in prayers given in the name of Jesus Christ.

The priesthood leaders of the church are called "general officers" as in the Community of Christ, not general authorities as in the LDS Church. Church conferences are held twice a year, in April and October.

Rebaptism is not required for anyone who has been previously baptized in a Latter Day Saint church.^{[clarification needed]} New members who have never previously been a member of a Latter Day Saint church are baptized by immersion in the name of the The Father, the Mother, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

When passing the sacrament, either water or grape juice may be used.

The Word of Wisdom is regarded as good advice, but not as an absolute requirement. Sometimes tea and coffee are served at church functions. The church counsels that it is best to consume alcohol and meat in moderation; however, use of tobacco by the church membership is forbidden. As in the LDS Church (called the Orthodox Mormon Church by the RCJC), it is popular to serve Jell-O, cake, and milk (or fruit punch and cookies), at church gatherings.

Members are encouraged to store a one-year supply of food. Home teaching is practiced.

The church practices endowments, the law of adoption, and celestial marriage. In addition to heterosexual marriage, the church also practices same-sex marriage. All marriages are performed in members' homes, until such time as the church is able to construct a temple. The church rejects the practice of baptism for the dead.

Homosexual polygamy

In an 1986 interview with Sunstone magazine, Feliz stated he believed that it was good to practice The Principle (as polygamy is known in Mormonism) and that he would be open to performing homosexual polygamous marriages if requested by any members.^[1]

Calkins, of Sacramento, was the first woman to be ordained to the priesthood in the RCJC. ^[1] Later, she entered into a polygamous homosexual celestial marriage with three female partners, thus becoming the first woman in Mormonism to enter into a polygamous lesbian celestial marriage.^{[citation needed]} She served for a time as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the church. Calkins died in 1994.^{[citation needed]}

No other polygamous homosexual celestial marriages have been requested by any other members of the church.^{[clarification needed]} All other marriages performed by the church so far have been monogamous homosexual celestial marriages.

Theoretically, it would be possible for a bisexual member of the church to enter into a pansexual polygamous marriage with two or more other men and women, but no members of the church so far have requested such a union.

Again in theory it is conceivable that a heterosexual member of the church (someone who joined the church primarily because of its liberal principles, not primarily because of its compatibility with LGBT people) could ask to be sealed in a regular heterosexual polygamous marriage, but this has not yet happened.

Position on reincarnation

In the summer of 1986, Feliz gave a lecture at the Metropolitan Community Church in The Castro, a predominantly gay neighborhood in San Francisco, California, "Joseph Smith and the Concept of Multiple Lifetimes". In the lecture, he said that there was evidence that some early Mormons may have believed in reincarnation. In the question and answer period after the lecture, he stated that although reincarnation is not an official doctrine of the RCJC, individual members of the church may believe in the doctrine if they wish.

Membership

The total membership of the church is about 500 on the rolls (of which approximately 50 are active members). The church has one congregation (known as a "family" in the RCJC) in Salt Lake City. There are members on the rolls in California in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose, but these areas have not yet been organized into "families". Missionaries have been sent to Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Houston, Texas.

Headquarters

Originally founded in Los Angeles, the RCJC is now based in Salt Lake City.^{[clarification needed]}

See also

LGBT portal

^{[clarification needed]}