- Elder Caussé felt a mix of shock and peace upon receiving his calling.
- Receiving the call from President Oaks intensified his love for Christ's mission.
- He looks forward to a global ministry connecting with all cultures worldwide.
After he was ordained an apostle Thursday and before the church issued the news, Elder Gérald Caussé had a small window to call his parents an ocean away.
Jean Caussé and Marie-Blanche Bonnet Caussé, who joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when their son was an infant, picked up the phone at midnight in France.
That’s how they learned their son now would be what scripture calls a “special witness of the name of Jesus Christ in all the world,” the 104th apostle in church history.
“This is an emotional time” for Elder Caussé and his wife, Sister Valérie Caussé, he said. “The most emotional thing for me has been for me and Valérie ... to call every one of our children and also to call my parents in France.”
Sister Caussé wiped tears from her face as he spoke.
“This is how you know our family is important,” Elder Caussé said with emotion in his voice. “It brings tears to our eyes. It’s an illustration of a life of consecration, the pioneers all over the world. ... My parents are true and genuine pioneers. Valérie’s parents as well.”
Elder Caussé spoke Friday with the Deseret News about how he received his calling, the weight of the responsibility, how the church cares for those in need and the consecrated sacrifices his family has made for him to serve God.
The interview was held in the Palmyra Room of the freshly renovated Joseph Smith Memorial Building, one of the projects he oversaw in his role as the church’s presiding bishop for the past 10 years.
He also played the great Latter-day Saint pioneer anthem, “Come, Come Ye Saints,” on the grand piano on the building’s ninth floor to honor his pioneer parents.
How President Dallin H. Oaks extended the call to the apostleship
Elder Caussé said he attended the regular monthly temple meeting the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles hold for all of the general authorities serving at church headquarters in Salt Lake City.
It was the first such meeting since President Dallin H. Oaks became the 18th prophet and president of the church.
“At the end of the meeting,” he said, “I was asked to stay, and here is President Oaks. I found myself in a little room with him, almost knee to knee with him, and he expressed love to me and extended the call.”
President Oaks told Elder Caussé he was extending the call on behalf of Jesus Christ.
“Of course, when the prophet speaks, you know that’s on behalf of the Lord,” Elder Caussé said, “but it was meaningful to me that he would say that. He expressed his confidence and his love for me in particular.”
Soon after, he was invited into the weekly meeting of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve.
“There was a chair that had been reserved for me, No. 12,” he said. “So you have to go chair by chair. It’s a long walk, but a wonderful walk where each member of the Twelve and the First Presidency will express their love to you in such a kind way. It was one of the most emotional moments of my life.”
Elder Caussé fills the vacancy created in the quorum by the death of President Russell M. Nelson and the subsequent calling of President D. Todd Christofferson from the Quorum of the Twelve into the First Presidency.
The calling leaves a vacancy in the Presiding Bishopric. Bishop W. Christopher Waddell is the first counselor and Bishop L. Todd Budge is the second counselor.
The weight of the calling
There is a long history of apostles feeling overwhelmed when they are called. Elder Gary E. Stevenson called it “knee-buckling.”
Elder Caussé said he was calm despite the surprise.
“You will expect that this moment is a big load on your shoulders,” he said. “It’s true. Shock. It’s shocking, because you’re not expecting that. It went so fast, but just to be in a temple, to be with the brethren and feel of their love and the love of Lord for me, made it a different experience than what I would have expected.
“I felt a lot of peace, actually, a lot of love around me. Beautiful. I will always remember that. Very memorable experience.”
How unexpected would this calling have been to him as a young boy growing up with convert parents in France, where the church was very small?
“When I was in business school, I studied probability and all those mathematics,” Elder Caussé said, “and the probability for this to happen was close to null, if not null. It’s a miracle in a way that it ever happened, and that fills me with a lot of humility. I feel really humble.”
He said that in hindsight, he can see that God “paved the road,” unbeknownst to him, to the lifetime call of the apostleship.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity and for the incredible privilege it is to be our servant of the Lord until the end of my life,” he said. “That was already in my plans, to be a disciple of the Lord. We’re all disciples, and it doesn’t depend on our callings. But of course, this is a special calling.”
Elder Caussé said his experience receiving the calling and meeting with President Oaks and the other senior church leaders increased his love for Christ and his desire to follow him.
“I’m ready to proclaim this to the ends of the world,” he said, “to nations of the world, to be one of his special witnesses. It’s an incredible privilege that we all have as members of the church and any disciple, but this responsibility to be an apostle, I need to learn about it more.
“It’s the beginning of a journey, and I’m looking forward to improving, increasing, widening my understanding of what it means to be a special witness of Christ.”
Family is his most precious gift
Elder and Sister Caussé became emotional during the interview when he spoke about his family.
“My family is the most precious gift I’ve received in my life,” he said, “Valérie ... is the most important person in my life. I love her dearly, more than I can express. I would express it better in French, but ...”
The Caussés have five children he described as extraordinary and heroes to their parents.
“Seventeen years ago, when I was called as a general authority, three of them stayed in France and built their families there,” he said. “Two came with us.
“Those who stayed accepted to sacrifice the fact that they wouldn’t have their parents around them and build their families without us around.”
Sister Caussé began to cry as she watched her husband describing the time they first left to live in the United States at church headquarters.
“The other two,” he said, “accepted to go where the Lord wants you to go and settle in a new country with a new language. That consecration has been an example to us. Valérie and I, we are so proud of them.”
Leading the effort to care for those in need
Elder Caussé spent 13 years in the Presiding Bishopric.
“As Presiding Bishop, I was, of course, part of the Welfare and Self-Reliance Executive Committee of the church, working directly with the Relief Society presidency,” he said. “Those sisters are just fantastic, and together we’ve led the work of caring for those in need in a way that has increased and progressed.”
He said the church has always cared for those in need because it’s part of Christ’s gospel.
“If you think of what we call the divinely appointed responsibilities of the church,” he said, “one of them is to care for those in need, so it’s not new. But I want to say that most of the work is done by the members themselves.”
The church’s humanitarian spending increased from $904 million in 2021 to $1.45 billion in 2024.
“Sometimes we look at the budget, the finances,” he said, “and how the budget directed to humanitarian work has increased over the years, which is amazing. But I like to go back to the real resources, which are the people in their own lives, the disciples of Christ, brothers and sisters, caring for their neighbor everyday.”
The future of the church
Elder Caussé acknowledged the church’s growth — nearly 1 million new converts in the past three years.
“A lot of things are happening,” he said. “I recognize this is the Lord hastening his work himself. He has his plans and his timing, and so we have to be ready for it.
“We know that the purpose of the restored church of Jesus Christ is to prepare people for receiving the Lord when he comes back. We don’t know when that is going to happen, but this is what we do, inviting all the ends of the world to come.”
Now he has a calling for a worldwide ministry.
“I like that global mission of the church,” he said, “and I look forward to traveling the world and meeting with people from all cultures and backgrounds, languages.
“I’m one with a different language than most people in the world, and I think that’s part of who I am, but at some time, I recognize we’re all brothers and sisters. So living that incredible unity of the people of God as we prepare for his Second Coming is something I’m looking forward to.”
He said he has loved serving in the church since he received his first calling as a 12-year-old to be the pianist for the Primary, the children’s organization from which he had just graduated.
“I loved that,” Elder Caussé said. ”Since that time, I’ve always had callings that were all meaningful to me in a variety of organizations, but maybe the most meaningful part to me is when I can minister to people.“
He expressed hope his apostolic ministry will be completed in the manner of the Lord.
“I will never do it like the Lord would do it exactly,” he said, “but it’s everyone’s commitment to try to emulate his example. But I’m confident I can do a good job.”