The Centennial Park group is a fundamentalist Mormon group, with approximately 1,500 members that is headquartered in Centennial Park, Arizona. The Centennial Park group broke with Leroy S. Johnson, leader and senior member of the Priesthood Council of the

Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church) is a religious sect of the fundamentalist Mormon denominations whose members practice polygamy. The fundamentalist Mormon movement emerged in the early 20th century ...

(FLDS Church), in the early 1980s. There is no formal relationship between the FLDS Church and the Centennial Park community.Utah Attorney General’s Office and Arizona Attorney General's Office
The Primer, Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities
. Updated June 2006. Page 14.Centennial Park Action Committee
Centennial Park committee website The group is also known as the "Second Ward", "The Work of Jesus Christ" and "The Work". The Centennial Park group was profiled on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

television program ''

Primetime Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

'' in a story entitled "The Outsiders", and also on The Oprah Winfrey Network's '' Our America with Lisa Ling''. It was also featured in Dawn Porter's television documentary, ''Dawn Porter: Extreme Wife'' and on the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney General E ...

series ''Polygamy, USA''.

History

The Centennial Park group's claims of authority are based around the accounts of

John Wickersham Woolley John Wickersham Woolley (December 30, 1831 – December 13, 1928) was an American Latter Day Saint and one of the founders of the Mormon fundamentalism movement. Most Mormon fundamentalist groups trace their origin directly or indirectly to Woolle ...

, Lorin Calvin Woolley and others of a meeting in September 1886 between LDS Church President John Taylor, the Woolleys, and others. Prior to the meeting, Taylor is said to have met with

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

and the

deceased Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

church founder

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he ...

and to have received a revelation commanding that

plural marriage Polygamy (called plural marriage by Latter-day Saints in the 19th century or the Principle by modern fundamentalist practitioners of polygamy) was practiced by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for more tha ...

should not cease, but be kept alive by a group separate from the LDS Church. The following day, the Woolleys, and others, were said to have been set apart to keep "the principle" alive. Members of the Centennial Park group see their history as going back to Joseph Smith and to the beliefs he espoused and practices he established. Until the 1950s, Mormon fundamentalists were largely one group.

Priesthood Council split

In the early 1980s, significant disagreement arose regarding the question of the presiding authority of the FLDS Church. This disagreement was over what is called the "one man doctrine".Hales, Brian C. (2009), "History Behind the Split – the one man doctrine"(2009
Centennial Park and the "Second Ward"
. The "one man doctrine" refers to section 132:7 of the

Doctrine and Covenants The Doctrine and Covenants (sometimes abbreviated and cited as D&C or D. and C.) is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Originally published in 1835 as Doctrine and Covenants of the Chur ...

, a part of the

open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001 * ''Open'' (YF ...

scriptural Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual pra ...

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

of several denominations of the

Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by J ...

, which states that "there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred".D&C 132:7
After two council members, Carl Holm and Richard Jessop, died, Leroy Johnson, as senior member of the Priesthood Council, was responsible for recommending new replacements. However Johnson, believing in the "one man doctrine", made no recommendations for new Priesthood Council members. Then, on July 11, 1983, Guy Musser died, leaving the council evenly split between those who believed in the one man doctrine and those who did not. The remaining council members who opposed the one man doctrine were Marion Hammon and Alma Timpson. In February 1984, Johnson's health improved enough for him to speak to the FLDS Church membership. Johnson had seldom participated in fundamentalist meetings for quite some time due to illness. He stated,

"I want to say a few words to these men who sit here on the stand today. e turned to face J. Marion Hammon and Alma A. Timpson.The Lord gave you men five and a half years to change your thinking on this principle of having one man holding the sealing powers in the earth at a time, and you have made a miserable mess of it by coming here and preaching over this pulpit that I was about to die because of my attitude towards this principle."Leroy s. Johnson Sermon, page 7:351, held 5 August 1962 in Hilton, as found at in Hilton, “Polygamy in Utah Since the Manifesto,” 53.

Six days later, he declared, "I want to tell you, the first thing that is going to take place is the cleaning up of the Priesthood Council. I want to tell these men on the stand, B Brother J. Marion Hammon, and Brother Alma Adelbert Timpson, that from now on, I am throwing you off my back, and I am not going to carry you any more." Then Johnson dismissed Hammon and Timpson as members of the Priesthood Council and attempts were made to evict residents siding with Hammon and Timpson from their properties owned by the United Effort Plan, which was once a subsidiary organization of the FLDS Church that owns most of the property in Hildale and Colorado City.

Centennial Park ("Second Ward")

On May 13, 1984, the portion of Johnson's followers who were dismissed or left on their own held their first Priesthood Meeting just outside town. They named their group the "Second

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

" and began to refer to those who followed Johnson as the "First Ward." Initially, the Second Ward met in the home of Alma Timpson. By September 27, 1986, the Centennial Park group had built a meeting house and, in 2003, a

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

was built for the town's growing elementary-age population. Most of this group lives in Centennial Park City, Arizona (), a town approximately three miles (five km) south of the twin communities of

Colorado City, Arizona Colorado City is a town in Mohave County, Arizona, United States, and is located in a region known as the Arizona Strip. As of the 2020 census, the population of the town was 2,478, down from 4,821 in 2010. At least three Mormon fundamental ...

, and

Hildale, Utah Hildale is a city in Washington County, Utah, United States. The population was 1,127 at the 2020 census. Hildale is located on the border of Utah and Arizona. History Hildale, formerly known as Short Creek Community, was founded in 1913 by ...

, with a small number living in the

Salt Lake Valley Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably Murray, Sandy, South Jordan, West Jordan, and West Valley City; its total ...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Kingdom of God

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Kingdom of God The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Kingdom of God is a Mormon fundamentalist church in the Latter Day Saint movement. The sect was founded by Frank Naylor and Ivan Nielsen, who split from the Centennial Park group, another fun ...

, also known as the Nielsen/Naylor Group and the "Third Ward", is a group based in the

and has around 200 members. It broke with the Centennial Park group after Hammon died in 1988, leaving Alma Timpson as the presiding priesthood leader. Timpson called Frank Naylor as an apostle and Ivan Neilsen as a high priest and later as bishop. Eventually, Naylor and Nielsen disagreed with Timpson's leadership, prompting them to migrate north to Salt Lake County and create the "Third Ward", with Frank Naylor presiding.Hales, Brian C. (2009)
The Naylor Group (Salt Lake County)
.

Doctrines and practices

The Centennial Park group is led by a Priesthood Council and teaches the doctrine of

. This doctrine states that a man having multiple wives is ordained by God. The doctrine requires multiple wives in order for a man and his wives to receive the highest form of salvation. Like the members of the FLDS Church, the members of the Centennial Park group practice a form of

placement marriage The term placement marriage (also known as the law of placing) refers to arranged marriages between members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church). Placement marriage is believed and practiced by members of ...

, but men do not solicit marriage. That decision is usually left up to the women, who pray for inspiration from God to show them whom they are meant to marry. The exception to this practice is demonstrated on ''Polygamy, USA'' when a young woman in the community requests that the men of the church take over this task, having already prayed for divine inspiration for two years without discovering the identity of her intended spouse. If the Priesthood Council gives a young woman a name the woman is supposed to pray for confirmation from God.

Leaders

* J. Marion Hammon (1983–1988) * Alma A. Timpson (1988–1997) * John W. Timpson (1997–present)

References

External links

Centennial Park Action Committee
Centennial Park committee website {{DEFAULTSORT:Centennial Park Group Latter Day Saint movement in Arizona Mormon fundamentalist denominations Mohave County, Arizona Organizations based in Arizona Christian organizations established in 1986 1986 establishments in Arizona