Is it normal for your bishop to attend endowment/sealing?

[annamaureen]

I let my bishop know that I made the appointment to get endowed. When he inquired as to the date and time, and I told him, he replied "Oh, that's unfortunate, I won't be able to be there since I have a wedding." I was surprised, since I had not asked him to be present. Don't get me wrong, he's a great bishop and a nice man, but I didn't think we were especially close. It's not like I'm having tons of people at my endowment anyway, just three.

He also has made vague comments along the line of being at me and my fiance's sealing. I've always imagined a small, intimate sealing and the idea of him being there is very startling. Especially since, again, I did not ask him to be present and he just seems to be assuming he will be.

Is having your bishop at these events just "commonly done" and I wasn't aware of it? My fiance doesn't have a problem with it (he's closer to the bishop than me) but I kind of do.

Edited June 5, 2009 by annamaureen

[Just_A_Guy]

I'd complement your bishop for being so supportive re your endowment. However, space can get limited at a sealing ceremony and it strikes me as a bit presumptuous for anyone--even a bishop--to invite himself to that event.

However, if your fiancee would like to have the bishop at your sealing, and there's room, then I'd warn you about straying into "Bridezilla" territory if you demand that the guy not be there.

Edited June 5, 2009 by Just_A_Guy

[Jenamarie]

The president of my single's branch went to every member's Endowment that he could, and sent a card to anyone who's Endowment he couldn't attend. And he didn't make his presense there a big to-do. Just a hand shake and a "Congratulations" in the Celestial Room afterwards. I thought it was pretty neat.

Now the Sealing thing... ya, you don't invite yourself to those. Maybe try to let it slip that the room you've reserved is small and FULL? I dunno. Good luck!

[NeuroTypical]

We never considered inviting our Bishop to either event, and he never mentioned it either.

[Maureen]

...He also has made vague comments along the line of being at me and my fiance's sealing...

But if they're vague comments, maybe you're just misinterpreting what he's saying. You might have to be straight forward and ask him.

M.

[Seanette]

My stake patriarch and his wife came to our endowments and sealing. I think that was more as family friends, though, since they'd known DH and his parents for a long time.

I was mildly surprised that the ward RS scheduled their Temple trip to be able to attend, but I certainly didn't object to the display of love and support, especially since the only family member I had there was a distant cousin (he and I had been friends and developed a brother/sister attachment (both being only children) before his mother figured out the probable family connection). Also, a lot of the sisters who were there had known the family I was marrying into for quite some time as well.

I'd consider the motivation. Chances are your bishop is acting from affection and a desire to show support for your marriage. If he really wants to be there and there's room, what harm is there? If, OTOH, your sealing room is already full with family and closer friends, I'm sure he'll understand if you take a "I'm sorry, but the sealing room is at capacity" approach, rather than seeming as if you're feeling a territorial violation (no offense intended, but I kind of got that impression. Didn't sleep well last night, so if I misread you, I apologize).

[jadams_4040]

We never considered inviting our Bishop to either event, and he never mentioned it either.

We asked our bishop to be one of the witnesses at our sealing, then two weeks later {after the sealing} he ran off with another woman and left the church, his family. {it was definately not a testimony builder}.

[Iggy]

Nearly anyone can attend your endowment as it is not private really. You don't set aside an endowment room just for you and the people you want to share this with.

Now,your eternal marriage/sealing that is a different story. You do reserve a sealing room and you do invite people you want to share this with.

I think that your Bishop was referring to your endowment.

When I received my endowments, I picked our Branch Temple day to be endowed so that those endowed members of my Branch family could all be there. They were, all 59 of them! Our Branch was little and we only had about 75 active members, that is counting the children too!

My older sister came from Seattle to Portland to be my escort.

When husband and I were sealed in Mesa, the Stake Patriarch and our home teacher were our witness'. My VTeachers were there as was a member of my old Branch in Oregon! We had invited them all!

When you are sealed, only those that you invite will be there.

[bjw]

My last bishop, who was bishop at the time I was endowed, was the person I selected to be my escort through the temple, so he was present when I was endowed. He actually said he would be happy to volunteer for it during my TR interview, so I selected him. He is also the one who baptized me when I first joined the church. So, even though he's no longer my bishop, I'll always be thankful for the kindness he showed me.

I think most bishops enjoy it because they get to see how well their members are growing in the Gospel.

When my grandmother was endowed, the temple president's wife was her escort since we showed up with no escort. It was pretty interesting.

[Seanette]

My mother-in-law had the interesting experience of escorting her own mother, then years later her daughter-in-law (it was her or my VT, and MIL would have been hurt if I'd picked my VT).

[miztrniceguy]

My Endowment occurred on our ward temple day, as it was a 2 hr drive to San Diego. I was happy to have my bishop, eq pres and about 25 others there that day.

Our wedding in Nauvoo had our bishop, and about 6 other ward members and several family members from my wife's family....oh and the Pope.

[Mahone]

With endowments, I think it is quite normal to have the bishop attend. My bishop attended mine, but then he was my escort so he didn't have a lot of choice. But as has been said, you don't really need to invite people to come to your endowment, they are effectively public to anyone with a full temple recommend.

[Soul_Searcher]

It sounds like he just wants to support you. There is lots of people in an endowment anyway, so technically its not upto you if he comes or not, its a free-or all so to speak. I think we tend to invite Bishops to our sealings here as they are the ones who marry us. The Bishop who married us came with his wife.

[Guest]

I'm not sure why you would object to having your bishop there if there's room just because you're not especially close. I would be feeling very loved if I was in your shoes.

When my husband and I got sealed, I was a member for only a year (we had to wait until my baptism anniversary before they'll give me a temple recommend beyond baptism for the dead). I did not know anybody in our ward well enough at this time to invite to sealings and I'm the only member in my family. When we got to the temple, I was very pleasantly surprised to find our home teacher's family, the RS president's family, the Bishop, the Stake President, and a few other ward members there. We were sealed by the temple president who was the bishop in my husband's ward when he was a little boy. My husband's family was there, of course, so when we got to the sealing part, there wasn't enough room to hold everybody, but it wasn't a problem. My husband and I wanted everybody to be there but, of course, it's just not possible, so they just sorted themselves out on who will be in the room and who will wait in the celestial room and meet us when it was over.

When we attended the next ward services, I felt a very close kinship with all the people that went to the temple and the ward members that gave their regards even if they couldn't be at the temple. We're still very close until today - 11 years later.

[kpatrey]

When my husband and I had our endowments we did it alone, only our escorts came with us. We did our sealing on a different date. I aked how we would know who to invite and the best answer was, "invite those you feel you will be friends with 5, 10 years from now." That was really helpful. We had about 20 people there and it was really wonderful being surrounded by them. We felt an amazing love from these people. Our bishop was there because we felt it was the right thing. I am happy we did because we are still close to him and he is now our Stake President.