---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 5
number: 6
published: 1902-04
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Can a Father Bless His Child in Fast Meeting?," *Improvement Era* 5, no. 6 (April 1902): 475.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0506unse
  transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers.
  identifier: improvementera0506unse
start_page: 475
end_page: 475
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1902-04)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0506unse
  publication_year: 1902
  note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1902, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# Can a Father Bless His Child in Fast Meeting?

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Can a Father who Does Not Hold the Priesthood Bless his
Child in Fast Meeting;?
Does a father, holding the office of teacher or deacon, have the
authority to bless his child in a fast-meeting, and give it a name by
which it shall be known while it lives on the earth?"
Attention is called to the Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 20,
paragraph 70, page 128 which answers the question:
Every member of the church of Christ having children, is to bring
them unto the elders before the church, who are to lay their hands up-
on them in the name of Jesus Christ, and bless them in his name.
From this, we consider that only elders, or others holding the
Melchizedek priesthood, can officiate in this calling of blessing
children before the Church. If a father is called upon, who does
not hold the Melchizedek priesthood, he cannot officiate as mouth
in the blessing of his children before the Church. It must be re-
membered that if a father and mother have been married in the
order of the Church he will hold the Priesthood, and it is hoped
that there are only few cases where a father, who is a member of
the Church, is not worthy of holding the holy priesthood.
We see no objection, and do not think there can be any, to a
father not holding the priesthood, as head of the family, blessing
and praying for his own child at home, although one can readily
see that in administering to his children, even though he is the
head of the family, he can not officiate by authority of the priest-
hood.