Quote:
Originally Posted by Tex
Over the top may have something to do with it too, but when this first came out (maybe 15 years ago?, we were told it was from sheer volume. Some of the larger wards were doing either farewells or homecomings nearly every week.
Things like reception lines outside the chapel, and skipping the rest of church after a farewell have always been discouraged so far as I know.
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The Church has changed the protocol for farewells mulltiple times in my lifetime. The first came shortly before my mission in '71. The reason given for cutting back was because of the Vietnam War and, with a number of FYM heading off to war, the Church didn't have farewells for them so it was thought to be uncool to honor those who were going on missions instead.
In '66, my older brother had a special program (my dad said the program list looked more like a state funeral than a sacrament meeting), followed by a reception in the cultural hall with refreshments and farewell gifts. Just a few years later, I was a ten minute Youth Speaker, followed by the regular speakers who had just moved into the ward. I spoke of how happy I was to be going to Austria. Three old ladies came up after, said how much they enjoyed my talk, and commented how lucky I was that I would see some kangaroos. I'm over it though. Sort of.