The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rolled out its new president, prophet and revelator Tuesday, and I’m happy to report that Russell M. Nelson seems about as compos mentis as any 93-year-old I’ve run into.
On the other hand, he and the dozen apostles, including his counselors Dallin H. Oaks, 85, and Henry B. Eyring, 84, conveyed the image of their increasingly diverse and far-flung communion about as well as a convention of retired Midwestern pharmacists, c. 1955.
The revelation for me occurred during the livestreamed news conference, when Nelson called on Peggy Fletcher Stack, The Salt Lake Tribune’s award-winning religion reporter, who has been covering the LDS Church since 1991.