Jonah Lomu's family can turn to Mormon church for help if needed: spokesman

The Lomu family during a luxury family holiday in Dubai taken just days before Jonah died suddenly on November 18. Photo / Facebook

Jonah Lomu's widow and sons can turn to the Mormon church for help if needed, says a spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The church's Pacific area public affairs director, Richard Hunter, said members fasted two meals each month with the specific intent of creating a fund which could be used by those in need.

"Any member of our faith can go to their local bishop a family who is going through a tough time and ask for help. There's always great support from the church for anyone who needs help.

"The family, like any other family in our faith, can receive that help."

It emerged this week that Lomu's sudden death cost him the opportunity to leave a financial cushion for his family, as he had expected he would be able to.

The parlous state of the family's finances was revealed after the NZ Rugby Players Association announced it had created the Jonah Lomu Legacy Trust to provide for Lomu and wife Nadene's two young sons.

The church's offer of support follows Lomu's decision to join it in 2012. He was baptised and joined the Epsom congregation for services weekly.

The church, in a press release after Lomu's death, said his local bishop, Ike Harris, had "many great experiences with Jonah" but what he particularly remembered "was when Jonah spoke about Jesus Christ".

"He always spoke with humility and reverence. He [Jonah] loved the Lord."

Along with fasting for those in need, tithing is a fundamental tenet of the church. Members are expected to "freely give one-tenth of one's income annually to the Lord through His Church", the website says.

It states: "One of the blessings of membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the privilege of paying tithing. This privilege is a double blessing. By paying tithing, Church members show their gratitude to God for their blessings and their resolve to trust in the Lord rather than in material things."

The money is paid to the local bishop, who forwards it to the church's central operation, where the "sacred funds" are allocated by a committee. It is unknown whether Lomu took part in the tithing practice.

Meanwhile, the Jonah Lomu Legacy Trust has made public the deed to the legal trust set up to provide for Lomu's sons. The deed will also be placed on the www.jonahlomulegacy.com website.

NZ Rugby Players Association chief executive Rob Nichol said it was the trust's intention to be open and public in the way it conducted its affairs in order to give the public confidence in how Lomu's legacy was being built.

"What we're hoping is the way in which we're doing it, with the honesty and the openness, that people see it and recognise it for what it is and move beyond the 'why's' and focus on how we've got a really cool opportunity for something positive to come out of this, which is to preserve the welfare and education of his boys."

He said straight-forward openness was one of the principles that underpinned the trust. "We're doing our best to manage a very difficult situation and to do it honestly because you cannot expect people to step up and help unless you are honest with them.

"We're trying to do it in a way where New Zealanders recognise that rugby is a sport that looks after its people, recognising that they are not always going to make the best decisions and sometimes they're going to suffer some real consequences of their own decisions but we're always here and ready to step up when needed."