Jeffrey R. Holland expresses sorrow if anyone was hurt by his speech.

Date
Aug 30, 2024
Type
News (traditional)
Source
Jeffrey R. Holland
LDS
Hearsay
Direct
Reference

"Episode 204: President Jeffrey R. Holland on the gospel of Jesus Christ and life’s challenges, with guest host Sister Sheri Dew," Church News, August 30, 2024, accessed December 19, 2024

Scribe/Publisher
The Church News
People
Jeffrey R. Holland, Sheri Dew
Audience
Reading Public
Transcription

President Jeffrey R. Holland: What I hoped that would come through is a message to the leadership of an institution. It was the annual University Leadership Conference about how you direct and manage an institution. And I was teaching what I hoped would come through. And that is loyalty to and devotion to and adhering to a never yielding from the mission of Brigham Young University. That is what I hoped would come through. And I did not want it to veer here. I did not want it to veer there. I did not want it to veer up, down, in or out. I wanted to go right down the middle of the doctrinal highway. So, I say, “Lord, I believe. Bless thou my unbelief.” Let’s talk about how we make the university, or keep the university, loyal. Now, if anybody was hurt, and I know some were in that exchange, then I was hurt. If they were hurt, I was hurt. And I have wept. I have wept for those three years. I don’t think anybody has had more people in an office, in a chair, weeping with them than I have in that administration building, with kids who were struggling with gender issues. No one can say that I do not love them. But I am also and was then responsible for the direction of a university. I just wanted to get the supporting doctrine of the Church across. So, anybody else’s pain is my pain out there. I want to say secondly, in that regard, that every student that comes there is safe. We are going to have a safe place for them to talk, for them to be open. Everybody’s safe there. Everybody’s loved there. They are loved by God, and they are loved by us. They are loved by me. They are loved by Shane Reese. Well, I am glad you would raise that, because I want to just leave that much and go on. But I am very unhappy if anybody was hurt. Because that is then my hurt deeply, given the hours and hours and hours that I have spent with kids who struggle with gay issues. So, we will keep trying. We will keep trying to do better.

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