SALT LAKE CITY — Elder Jeffrey R. Holland is back home after spending about a week in the hospital, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced on Friday.
“Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, who was hospitalized for brief observation, has been released from the hospital,” church spokesman Eric Hawkins said. “He is returning to normal activities. He and his family appreciate the prayers and concern on his behalf.”
Elder Holland, 79, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was admitted to the hospital last week after several days of illness, Hawkins had said on Wednesday. He tested negative for COVID-19, and doctors were continuing diagnostic tests.
Tuesday will mark 26 years since Elder Holland was called and ordained an apostle on June 23, 1994, after the death of President Ezra Taft Benson created a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve. Elder Holland had been serving as a general authority of the church.
Prior to full-time church ministry, he served as president of Brigham Young University from 1980 until 1989.
Earlier this month, he was one of 40 faith leaders to join “Coronaspection,” an interfaith discussion of introspection about the coronavirus pandemic sponsored by the Elijah Interfaith Institute. Sitting in his home office, Elder Holland spoke for 51 minutes with Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein in a videotaped discussion.
He said he always has been impressed that Jesus Christ at times sought solitude to renew, gather strength and receive heavenly help. He said the pause created by the pandemic has been unique for him.
“This retreat for me, this solitude, which I have not had in 40 years — I was a very young president of a university 40 years ago, and I haven’t had seclusion and solitude time in four decades — that has affected me, and it has been with a determination to return to public, collective, congregational service, not hide from it, but to be a better person in doing it and maybe have a little more sympathy, empathy and insight for those out in that congregation. I’m just a little more conscious of people’s hopes and dreams and some of their disappointments.”
In May, Elder Holland, in his role as chairman of the executive committee of BYU-Hawaii’s board of trustees, introduced John “Keoni” Kauwe as the 11th president of the university, one of five colleges and universities owned and operated by the church.