Mormon Stories #1077: An Insider’s View of Mormon Genealogy and Temple Work - Don Casias Pt. 3

The Hidden Tensions Inside Mormon Genealogy: What an Insider Reveals About Family Search Policy

The LDS Church's genealogy database, Family Search, processes millions of records annually and attracts users worldwide. Yet according to a recent interview on Mormon Stories podcast, internal staff at the Church's genealogy operations grapple with questions the institution itself often sidesteps: How should same-sex marriages be recorded? What happens when famous historical figures (or fictional ones) get submitted for temple ordinances? And how transparent should the Church be about its most controversial past?

Don Casias, a former manager of partner relationships at Family Search, spent years navigating these questions from inside the system. His candid conversation with podcast host John Dehlin reveals a gap between public policy and the practical dilemmas faced by those tasked with implementing it.

The Genealogy-Temple Proxy System and Its Commercial Ties

Family Search is not simply a genealogical database. It is the digital backbone of the LDS Church's core theological practice: performing proxy ordinances (baptism, endowment, and sealing) on behalf of deceased ancestors. This system requires an enormous infrastructure of volunteers, digitized records, and commercial partnerships.

According to Casias, the Church maintains a carefully managed relationship with Ancestry.com and other commercial genealogy companies. Here is how the workflow actually operates: The Church funds expensive fieldwork to capture historical records using cameras Church volunteers index the records at lower cost Records are released to Church members first (typically one to two years before public access) Later, indexed records flow to commercial genealogy companies like Ancestry.com This arrangement benefits both entities: the Church gets indexing support, and commercial firms gain access to verified data