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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is investigating a report that a posthumous temple ordinance was performed for President Barack Obama's deceased mother.
Salt Lake researcher Helen Radkey says she found proxy baptism ordinance records for Stanley Ann Dunham while doing research in the LDS Family History Library. The Deseret News reports the work was done in the Provo Utah Temple in June 2008.
Church spokesman Scott Trotter says this is a serious matter and the Church is treating it as such. [CLICK HERE to read the entire statement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]
He says the offering of baptism to deceased ancestors is a sacred practice, and it is "counter to church policy for a church member to submit names for baptism for persons to whom they are not related."
Church officials are looking into how this happened.
Dunham passed away in 1995.
Church doctrine says a departed soul has the chance to either accept or reject the ordinance work. The names of those for whom proxy baptisms are performed are not on church membership records.
E-mail: aadams@ksl.com
