The Movement to Ordain Mormon Women

The battle for priesthood looks very different in the LDS Church than it does for Catholics.

The Atlantic/April 11, 2014

By Natalie Dicou

A women’s movement, and a sturdy one at that, is beginning to ruffle the steadfastly patriarchal Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Over the last weekend, some 400 Ordain Women supporters, marched together to Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City to request tickets to Saturday night’s twice-a-year, all-male priesthood meeting held at the 21,000-seat LDS Conference Center.

They didn’t carry placards or chant slogans. Instead, these polite Mormon women, wearing their Sunday Best pantyhose, formed a line, and one by one, summoned the courage to ask for admittance. Each woman was rejected in turn.

Kate Kelly—the D.C.-based human-rights attorney and devout Mormon who in 2013 founded Ordain Women—led a similar action six months ago at the October priesthood meeting with a group less than half the size. Men in suits and ties were on rejection duty that first go-round. Media photographers shot the episode as women approached the doors, only to be rebuffed. One photo captured what appeared to be a condescending finger-pointing gesture from a man blocking a woman’s path. PR-wise, it wasn’t a shining moment for the Church, so on Saturday, a woman was tasked with refusing her fellow women. And the Church had already announced that media would not be welcome to capture the scene.

Realistically, priesthood for women might be generations away. The Church is led by great-grandfathers—prophet Thomas S. Monson turns 87 this summer, and the next in line is 89—and the religion has a natural aversion to change. Until 1978, black people weren’t allowed to be ordained as priests, serve as missionaries, or be sealed for eternity in the temple And while the Church presently endorses monogamy, it still teaches that men will be able to have multiple wives in heaven and that plural marriage could be reinstated on earth if the prophet gets a revelation from God giving the go-ahead.

There’s another reason the priesthood debate is different for Mormons than, say, for Catholics. The women who marched to Temple Square last weekend weren’t asking for the right to join a special society of highly trained elders. In the LDS Church, priesthood power is not held by career bishops, reverends and high-ranking officials. Boys are allowed to receive the priesthood at age 12—yes, 12. Little Bennie, the rascal who lives around the corner, has more power in the Church than the wisest older woman.

It’s a nuance that news outlets typically fail to make clear in their “Mormon women seek ordination” headlines. Priesthood-for-women supporters say they are asking for certain spiritual privileges that only men have. They say they want to be allowed to bless their children when they’re sick or need counsel.

See, at the local level, congregations or “wards,” are run by everyday members, all the way up to the presiding officer, the bishop. Without “holding priesthood keys,” women not only can’t give blessings and baptize—they can’t help with the ward’s “nuts and bolts” tasks, such as collecting tithes, allocating funds for activities, deciding what will be taught on Sunday, serving on disciplinary councils, conducting temple worthiness interviews, etc. Women lead the Relief Society, the Church’s organization for women, and Primary for children, but even then only to a point—ultimately the bishop has the final say.

“Equality is necessary for healthy, well-functioning relationships and communities,” says a statement at OrdainWomen.org. “In a lay church, we rely on the talents and abilities of our members. To underutilize, dismiss, or impede the contributions of half our membership is self-defeating.”

Kelly says she felt the crushing weight of this defeat while serving her mission in Barcelona. After pounding the pavement to find and then teach the gospel to investigators, she was left on the sidelines when it came time to baptize the new members. That job went to a male missionary who had done none of the legwork she’d done.

And yet Kelly still believes she belongs to God’s true church—and so do hundreds of active Mormons of both sexes who submitted testimonials on OW’s website. These are people who grew up singing the treasured LDS hymn “I Am A Child of God” and live with the peace of mind that if there’s an illness in the family, the Relief Society will be at the door in a jiffy with a piping-hot pot roast or casserole. Kelly says her faith brings her closer to Jesus Christ, that the church has made her the person she is today, and that no matter what happens with the movement she is spearheading, she will continue to be a faithful member. Instead of ditching Mormonism for its flaws, she’s working to improve it from within.

Mormon feminists also point to the LDS teaching that God is both male and female. That is to say, Mormons don’t just believe in Heavenly Father but Heavenly Mother, too. She is the wife of God the Father and the spiritual Mother of humanity, a Goddess in her own right. Heavenly Mother is rarely discussed—she’s a topic “too sacred” to speak about—though “Heavenly Parents” are referenced on occasion.

Kelly is fond of saying of OW supporters, “We are not against the Church. We are the Church.” She sees her actions as a retention effort that will keep women, especially young progressive ones, from leaving when they become disillusioned.

So far, the LDS Church hasn’t been particularly receptive. In March, the Church’s public affairs department sent OW leaders a letter requesting they do not enter Temple Square prior to the priesthood meeting. And the first talk of the priesthood session they were shut out of? A sermon by apostle Dallin H. Oaks detailing why women will never hold the priesthood.

And yet, several news-making, albeit small, changes have taken place in the Church since OW’s launch, though the Church gives no credit to the grassroots organization for the developments. Last fall, as OW’s plans to attend the October priesthood meeting gained traction in the media, the Church announced that, for the first time ever, the priesthood meeting would be broadcast live on TV and the Internet. Previously, it had been an exclusive event that only men could witness live in person or by satellite in church buildings throughout the world. Women, from here on out, are invited to watch from home.

Also in April 2013, a woman was invited to pray from the pulpit in General Conference, a task previously off-limits to sisters. And in March 2014, three photos of female auxiliary leaders were hung on a wall inside the Conference Center next to male leaders—a décor decision significant enough to make headlines in The Salt Lake Tribune.

The Church kept away video cameras from OW’s ticket ask on Saturday. But within a day, a force more powerful than TV news—mighty social media—had already spread a poignant message. It’s simple, and it comes in the form of a meme: side-by-side quotes from LDS Church leaders 47 years apart. The gist? Never say never.

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