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“The bishop or branch president oversees the conferral of the Aaronic Priesthood and ordinations to the offices of deacon, teacher, and priest. Before a person is ordained to an office in the Aaronic Priesthood, he must be interviewed by the bishop or branch president and found worthy. Also, he must be sustained in a sacrament meeting. With the authorization of the bishop or branch president, a priest may confer the Aaronic Priesthood upon another person and ordain him to an Aaronic Priesthood office.
The stake or mission president oversees the conferral of the Melchizedek Priesthood and ordination to the offices of elder and high priest.
To confer the priesthood or ordain a person to a priesthood office, one or more men who hold the required priesthood and who have been authorized by the presiding authority place their hands lightly on the person’s head.” (quoted directly from the Family-Guidebook on lds.org) See the 3 x 5 card below for the rest of the instructions.
If the priesthood is being received for the first time then you have to give that person the priesthood. This is what we mean when we “confer” the priesthood. So a new Deacon has the Aaronic Priesthood conferred upon him, then he is ordained to one of the offices within that priesthood – in this case Deacon. When the Deacon is made a Teacher he is just ordained to the office of Teacher within the Aaronic Priesthood. There is no need to confer the Aaronic Priesthood on him again, since he already has it. This same pattern is followed when the Aaronic Priesthood holder moves up to the Melchizedek Priesthood. The Melchizedek Priesthood is conferred on the one being given the Melchizedek Priesthood then they are ordained to the office of Elder within that priesthood.
Below is a 3 x 5 card you can print on heavy paper or card stock and cut out to take with you as a reference. The steps listed on the card are word for word from the Church’s website.
I recently ordained my nephew as a deacon and had a question.
What if during the ordination you forget to say the phrase “and bestow the rights, powers and authority pertaining to this office and calling in the aaronic priesthood”
I just wonder if the prayer should be said again or of it is ok if that part was left out.
Here are a couple of things to consider. First off, your Bishop should have been standing next to you. If the Bishop feels the need to make the correction, then you go with whatever he says. As the one who is ultimately responsible for the correctness of the ordination, he will answer for how it was done. Second, if the Bishop let it go, and the boy is given the priesthood, his priesthood authority is no less than that of any other who holds the same office, even if they had the words spoken. The office is still the office, and no slip of the tongue will lessen his ability to perform in that office, since his abilities are all based on his personal worthiness. So, unless someone can find something in a handbook that says otherwise, I think you should be safe. I hope this helps.
The phrase you mention appears no where in the Handbook. It is something that has become a custom and is not rooted in doctrine or procedure. The ordination is fine with or without the additional language.
it is definitely in the handbook
To perform a priesthood ordination, one or more authorized priesthood holders place their hands lightly on the person’s head. Then the priesthood holder who performs the ordination:
1. Calls the person by his full name.
2. States the authority by which the ordination is performed (Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood).
3. Confers the Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood, unless it has already been conferred.
4. Ordains the person to an office in the Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood and bestows the rights, powers, and authority of that office. (Priesthood keys are not bestowed in conferring the priesthood or ordaining to one of these offices.)
5. Gives words of blessing as the Spirit directs.
6. Closes in the name of Jesus Christ.
Ordination to the office bestowed the power rights and privileges,
Not the phrase
The “rights and privilages” phrase comes from DC 98, referring to the only legitimate purpose of government.
But yeah, it’s all good as long as the other stuff is generally bestowed, and the bishop on cool with it.
Is this right,my ward Bishop told my husband that he should ordained our 14 year old son at our home by himself, my son is moving up to teacher’s quorum.
Your Bishop holds the keys to the priesthood in your ward. That is his call. If you don’t feel comfortable with what the Bishop gives as a reason for this action, you can always go to your Stake President for some counseling about it.
So I found in the 1946 edition of the Missionary Handbook under “Ordaining to the Melchizedek Priesthood” that it only states to ordain them to that calling, but nowhere it says confer the priesthood. Can you please shed some light on the subject
Joe, I would need to see the whole selection of the text from which you are reading. Are we talking a specific office of the priesthood or an Elder or what?
Kelly, I did some more searching and found some answers. It seems to be that in the years 1921-1957 the church and its handbooks reverted back to the old way that the early saints would ordain and confer the priesthood. They would not use the verbiage found in step 3 of conferring the priesthood, but would simply ordain straight to the office in the priesthood. This was seen as a simultaneous way of both conferring the priesthood and ordaining to an office. Before 1921 the First Presidency clarified that both ways are valid to the church: 1)Conferring priesthood and then ordaining to the office, or 2)just ordaining to the office. The church now says that conferring and then ordaining is the proper way, but those past ordinations of the other method are still valid.
I hope that wasn’t too confusing.
Thanks. That seems pretty clear to me.
I don’t believe it is an exact phrase “bestow the rights…” if it were it would say “state” or be in quotation marks. However, if the presiding authority requires it he should specify before the ordination to avoid interrupting during it.
Note: Aaronic priesthood worthiness interviews can also be conducted by a bishopric counselor (18.10.3), and not only the bishop.