Latest from Mormon Land: Are LDS leaders just too old? BYU celebrates a milestone. Church land action in Missouri.

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Aging apostles

The recent General Conference and installation of a new First Presidency have once again put the spotlight on the church’s aging top leadership.

New church President Dallin Oaks is 93, the same age as Russell Nelson when he ascended to the top spot, and appears to require assistance walking at times. Oaks’ right hand was also visibly trembling in his first interview as president of the worldwide faith.

His first counselor is 92-year-old Henry Eyring, who delivers his conference addresses from his seat and uses a wheelchair.

Apostle D. Todd Christofferson, newly elevated to second counselor, qualifies as the “youngster” in the First Presidency, but he will turn 81 in January and is one of four octogenarian apostles. Five others are in their 70s, with three in their 60s.

Jeffrey Holland, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and next in line to lead the global church, will turn 85 in December. He is in a wheelchair, too, underwent dialysis and uses supplemental oxygen at times.

“The church has a continual leadership void because old men hold onto power for too long, too entrenched in their personal pet peeves and decades-old advice,” Exponent II blogger Linda Hamilton writes. “Age absolutely can bring wisdom and perspective. But there’s a point when that wisdom and perspective [aren’t] relevant to a modern church in terms of ultimate leadership over everyone and everything.”

Wheat & Tares guest blogger Carol Brown suggests, as others have, that Latter-day Saint apostles should gain emeritus status at age 70 — as other general authorities are routinely granted — for the benefit not only of an increasingly “complex” church but also for them and their families.

“Top LDS leaders should be at their peak physically and mentally and should resign if they are not,” Brown writes. “That would be a sign of humility and courage that reflects the best of Christian discipleship.”

Explains Tribune columnist Gordon Monson: “Staunch believers will say prophets, seers, revelators come and go according to God’s wishes and whims. End of story. But with other church leaders hitting a retirement ceiling, having done mountains of church service and then been granted emeritus license to sail off into slightly smoother waters, namely, spending more time with grand- and great-grandchildren, in some cases, an honorable release would be in their and the church’s best interests.”

150 candles for BYU

Brigham Young University celebrated its 150th anniversary last week by opening a half-century-old time capsule from the campus library.

According to a news release, the items included:

• The school’s centennial flag, which was designed under the direction of Dallin Oaks, then BYU’s president.

• A cassette tape that contained the voice of posthumous Grammy winner Harvey Fletcher, a BYU alum, physicist and father of synthesized stereo sound, who also designed and determined the placement of the Y on a nearby mountain.

• The No. 14 football jersey emeritus general authority Seventy Gifford Nielsen wore when he quarterbacked the Cougar football team in the 1970s.

The latest ‘Mormon Land’ podcast: Gerontocracy in the patriarchy

What does it mean when 80 counts as “youngish” in the leadership of any institution? It likely signals that the top brass is getting, well, up there in years.

So it goes for the church’s highest echelons as a new First Presidency takes over.

Does this collective “gerontocracy” give rise to stagnant, intractable, out-of-touch leadership? Would switching to a system that routinely brings in younger faces invigorate the global faith? Or is there a silver lining amid all that silver (or thinning) hair?

Historian Gregory Prince, who has written about this issue, discusses the church’s aging leadership and its implications for a dynamic, multifaceted, ever-evolving religion.

Listen to the podcast.

Movement in Jackson County

Working with the church, Lee’s Summit has crafted a development proposal for nearly 4,000 vacant acres that the faith owns in Jackson County, Missouri, according to The Kansas City Star.

Early plans, the newspaper reports, call for varying densities of residential neighborhoods, including senior housing, along with stores, offices, parks, and a network of hiking and biking trails.

Mexican history on display

Mexico is home to the most Latter-day Saints (after the United States), so it’s unsurprising that there is a Museum of Mormon Mexican History.

What is surprising is that it is located in Provo.

The passion project of Fernando and Enriqueta Gomez, the free museum features initial Spanish translations of the Book of Mormon, displays of inaugural church meetings in Mexico and traditional Mexican clothing, reports The Daily Universe.

The couple launched the museum in Mexico City, BYU’s student newspaper notes, but moved it to Provo in 2014.

From The Tribune

• “We have work left to do” to boost women, says Dallin Oaks in his first interview as church president.

• Meet the newly promoted apostle and second counselor to Oaks who helped bring down Richard Nixon.

• Latter-day Saint men, like women, are eager to get sleeveless garments.

• A new feature film highlights the heroism of a Latter-day Saint teen who was executed for standing up for the truth and against Hitler.

• After losing another round in a federal appellate court, plaintiffs plan to take their tithing lawsuit against the church all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

• The Bible famously records that “Jesus wept.” But surely it could just as easily have included “Jesus laughed.” Why humor is part of gospel living.

• Latter-day Saints have a religious duty to conserve water and preserve the Great Salt Lake.

• Utah’s second-most-populous city plans to buy three Latter-day Saint meetinghouses.

• BYU is tearing down a building named after a slaveholder.