For the first time in decades, the Mormon church excommunicated a top leader

The Salt Lake City Mormon Temple.
(Image credit: George Frey/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints excommunicated one of its high-ranking leaders, 59-year-old James J. Hamula.

This is the first time in almost 30 years that the Mormon church has ousted one of its top leaders. As a member of the LDS First Quorum of the Seventy, Hamula would travel around the world to visit with leaders, worshipers, and missionaries at different congregations. A spokesman for the church would not share with the The Salt Lake Tribune why Hamula was excommunicated, saying only that it had nothing to do with apostasy or disillusionment.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.