For Time & Eternity
Friday, Sep. 01, 1967
Time Magazine
In most Christian faiths, a couple is wed until death do them part.
But a Mormon marriage performed in the temple "seals" a couple for
"time and eternity." The reason is that Mormons view every wedding as
performed in the image of the first marriage, in which Adam and Eve
were wed by God be fore they were banished from the Garden of Eden and
made subject to death.
Last week in the soaring Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, George Scott
Romney, 26, eldest son of Michigan's Governor George Romney, took part
in his religion's most solemn rites when he married Ronna Eileen
Stern, 23.
It was a year ago that young Romney, just graduated from Michigan
State and on his way to Harvard Law School, began dating Ronna, whose
sister was working as a Romney Girl in the Governor's reelection
campaign. Ronna, whose father is a Presbyterian, had been raised by
her mother as a Roman Catholic. She quit college in 1963 to marry
Robert Connolly, a Catholic. She divorced him a year and a half ago
after the birth of a son, and resumed her education at Oakland
University. Last November she was baptized into the Mormon Church a
month before she and Scott became engaged.
Most Sacred. Temple marriage is of utmost im****tance to Mormons. The
sealing for "time and eternity" that it offers, provided that both
partners lead righteous lives, applies not only to the couple but also
to the entire "family unit," including children from previous
marriages if brought to the ceremony, and all future children. Temple
marriage is also vital to entering the highest of the three kingdoms
of glory in the afterlife, the Celestial Kingdom, where all dwell in
the presence of God.
Preparation for temple marriage begins with the most closely guarded
and one of the most sacred of Mormon rites: the endowments, or joint
covenants between the couple and God to fulfill his commandments and
practice the Gospel. In return, says a Mormon leader, "the Lord will
promise you blessings beyond comprehension." Scott and Ronna made
their covenants the day before the wedding in three different rooms of
the temple, symbolizing the three degrees of glory. Some 200 people
participated, including temple assistants alert to any deviation from
the strict five-hour procedure. Any mistake would have to be corrected
before the ceremony could continue. Details of the rites, however, are
strictly confidential. "If we made them public," says one Mormon,
"people who didn't understand our belief might make a mockery of them;
sometimes being secret is the only way."
Vital Recommend. The wedding ceremony itself began at 10 a.m. the
following day. Though it was the same temple where Governor Romney
himself had been married 36 years ago, this time he was turned back
the first time he tried to enter. Son Scott had misunderstood at which
entrance he was to leave the Governor's "recommend," a do***ent issued
by the local bishop only to Mormons of good standing, and without
which no one can enter a
Mormon temple. Ronna's parents, who are not Mormons, were not
permitted to witness the ceremony. Her mother divorced Ronna's father,
James Stern, and is now married to Will Kraus, a Presbyterian. Also
not present to be sealed in the family unit was Ronna's three-year-old
son, Kevin, whom Ronna and Scott plan to adopt and give the surname of
Romney.
The service commenced when Scott and Ronna, garbed in white head
coverings, slippers and robes=97symbolic of the priesthood which the
wife shares with the husband, though she cannot perform priestly rites=97
entered the small Sealing Room. There was neither music nor flowers.
Governor Romney and Scott's uncle acted as witnesses, their duty being
to ensure that no mistakes be made in the ritual. Officiating was
Mormon Elder Hugh B. Brown, one of the church's Twelve Apostles, who
began with a warm ten-minute homily to the couple. "Hang the marriage
license on the wall," he advised Ronna, "and point it out to Scott
occasionally."
The formal part of the ceremony began as Scott and Ronna knelt facing
each other across the low lace-covered altar and joined hands. The
vows Apostle Brown led them through were quite similar to those taken
by most Christians. Then, according to Mrs. Romney, Apostle Brown
concluded the brief service by intoning, "As Peter of old said, I give
unto you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever is bound on earth
is bound in heaven; whatever is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven.'
I pronounce you man and wife for time and all eternity." After the
official ceremony, the couple exchanged rings =97bowing to popular
custom rather than church doctrine=97and kissed.
After the wedding, the couple and both sets of parents returned to
Michigan, where Mr. and Mrs. Kraus gave two elaborate receptions. Then
Scott and Ronna were off to Bermuda for their honeymoon before setting
up housekeeping in Cambridge before school resumes this fall.
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