For the first time in nearly 30 years, the Mormon church has excommunicated one of its top leaders.
On Tuesday morning, James J. Hamula was released from his position in the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after disciplinary action.
LDS Church spokesman Eric Hawkins provided no details about the removal. But the church did confirm Hamula was no longer a member of the church and that his ouster was not for apostasy.
Excommunication • Mormons can and do, in LDS lingo, get “exed.” It is the severest penalty that church leaders — usually at the local level — can exact after a congregant commits a serious moral sin or is found guilty of apostasy or certain crimes.