“You sisters do not hold a second place in our Father’s plan for the eternal happiness and well being of His children. You are an absolutely essential part of that plan.” President Gordon B. Hinckley
After quoting President Hinckley in his remarks at the Saturday evening session of this weekend’s general conference, President Henry B. Eyring spoke nostalgically about instances in his life when women created communities that approached the LDS ideal of Zion—a place of unity where people “were of one heart and one mind.” His first example was both inspiring and heartbreaking.
He described being in a branch of the church where he and his brother were the only Aaronic priesthood holders and his father the only Melchizedek priesthood holder. There were, however, a number of women, who, he said, ministered to each other “unfailingly.”
As President Eyring spoke, I thought about a past Ordain Women blog post, “The Global Need for Priesthood Keys”: “As a member of a small branch, it is impossible not to consider women and the priesthood. [O]nly two or three priesthood holders were in attendance on a given Sunday. … I attended one meeting where no males over the age of 8 were present. This meant that we officially could not have a sacrament meeting, and we couldn’t partake of the sacrament, because no priesthood holders were there to perform the ordinance.”
Being in the midst of a global pandemic further punctuates the problem of equitably—and safely—providing the sacrament and other essential ordinances to those without male priesthood holders in their homes.
Given the above, I have a few questions for President Eyring:
How many women does it take to organize an LDS branch? 0. Zip. Zilch.
(At least 4 Melchizedek priesthood holders are required.)
How many women does it take to organize an LDS ward? 0. Zip. Zilch.
(At least 15 Melchizedek priesthood holders are required.)
How many women does it take to organize an LDS stake? 0. Zip. Zilch.*
(At least 180/120 Melchizedek priesthood holders are required.)
Are men organizationally essential in the LDS church? Clearly. Are women? It’s difficult to see women as essential when the present male priesthood structure of the church strongly suggests otherwise.
It’s 2020. Isn’t it time to ordain women?
*Thanks to former Ordain Women Executive Board member Heather Olson Beal for her “Equality Is Not a Feeling” series. The number of Melchizedek priesthood holders required to organize a stake differs for the U.S/Canada and other countries, respectively. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/general-handbook/36-creating-changing-and-naming-new-units?lang=eng