Pioneering Equality
Ordain Women’s annual Pioneer Day Parade action in Salt Lake City is a great way to both enjoy the peculiarly Mormon holiday and promote gender equality. This year, we‘re having hundreds of OW logo hand fans printed up, and we need equality volunteers to help distribute them along the parade route. If you live or plan to be in Salt Lake City on July 24 and care about gender equity, please join us for a few hours of fun and feminist consciousness-raising.
When: Tuesday, July 24, 2018, from 9:00-11:00 AM
Where: Meet in Salt Lake City at the southeast corner of State Street and North Temple between 8:30 and 9:00 AM to pick up the fans for distribution and join with other volunteers. Look for the OW banner.
What: We’ll display the OW banner at the beginning of the Pioneer Day Parade, which starts at State Street and South Temple at 9:00 AM, and then distribute the fans along the parade route.
Onward!
Your Daughters Shall Prophesy
Dear First Presidency:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy…” Acts 2:17-18
This scripture passage was impressed urgently upon me many years ago by the Holy Spirit and I was puzzled by this impression. It was a passage that was obscure to me and had no significant meaning or import previous to this time. Why? What was I supposed to do with it?
Then in March of 2013, I sat in a small room on the campus of the University of Utah and witnessed daughters of Zion, handmaidens of God stand and prophesy and I understood.
Like the prophets of old, they soon found themselves reviled, mocked, scorned and stoned by the chief priests and by the people.
Still, we persist; calling the church to repentance and inviting it back into recognition of the radical inclusiveness of God’s enduring love expressed so beautifully in John 3:16 and 2 Nephi 26.
I come to you as a beloved daughter of our Heavenly Parents and express my abiding hope that these passages of scripture will pierce your hearts and compel you to throw open the iron gates of what you think you already know and earnestly seek the counsel of the Lord regarding the exclusion of women from the blessings and opportunities of priesthood service.
Laura Pennock
Please consider sending the First Presidency your wishes for Ordain Women’s 5th birthday. To get this letterhead, or the OW birthday postcard, click here.
The Radical Inclusiveness of Christ’s Message
Dear Presidents Nelson, Oaks and Eyring,
My wish has been the same for over 40 years—that my religious community would fully reflect the radical inclusiveness of Christ’s message.
In celebration of Ordain Women’s 5th birthday, I wish for women’s ordination. In the interim, I wish for the implementation of the changes in Church policy and practice outlined at All Are Alike unto God, including encouraging partnership in marriage and eliminating the idea that husbands preside over their wives; examining all Church positions to determine whether they can be filled without regard to gender; allowing women to provide pastoral counseling; recognizing women as witnesses for baptisms and marriage sealings; restoring the former, institutionally-accepted practice of women giving blessings of healing and comfort.
Reviewing and implementing these changes would go a long way toward demonstrating that your much-professed love for women includes recognizing our full humanity.
Sincerely,
Lorie Winder Stromberg
Please consider sending the First Presidency your wishes for Ordain Women’s 5th birthday. To get this letterhead, or the OW birthday postcard, click here.
All Are Alike Unto God
March 14, 2018
The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Church Administration Building
47 E. South Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84150
Dear Presidents Nelson, Oaks, and Eyring,
I pray that “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our LORD Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:3. I write to you on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the founding of Ordain Women to express my earnest and heartfelt prayer that women be ordained in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
As a 60-year-old Black woman who grew up in South Georgia and who has lived in Georgia all my life, I have experienced far too many instances of being treated as a second-class citizen and being denied the opportunity to utilize of all my skills, talents, and gifts simply because I am a Black woman. The pain of those experiences has affected and continues to affect every part of my life.
Our scriptures teach us that “all are alike unto God,” and in the face of those teachings, I find it difficult to accept or reconcile when my sisters and I are treated as less important than our brothers or denied the opportunity to fully participate in the work of building of the Kingdom simply because we are women. There is so much work to be done. Just imagine how much more productive and fruitful our efforts would be if all of the children of our Heavenly Parents – female and male – were allowed to function as full and equal partners in the work.
I have spent many hours in prayer on this subject, and I do not believe that it is divine will that, simply by virtue of our gender, all women are limited in the roles we can fulfill in the Church and, ultimately, in the roles we can fulfill in building the Kingdom. As important as the work is, I cannot believe that it is the divine will that so many workers are not allowed to participate, fully and equally.
My prayer that women be ordained does not arise from any desire for prestige or recognition or from any envy of the men in the Church. I rejoice every time one of my brothers is ordained as a priest. However, I also ache for all women in the Church and for the Church. I ache because my wonderful, talented sisters have skills, training, and experience that could greatly benefit the Church. I ache because, in many parts of the world, there are wards and branches that are in desperate need of more “leaders” and more priesthood holders, and by automatically excluding women from consideration, the Church is doing itself a disservice. I ache because so much Kingdom building work is not being done because there are not enough priesthood holders to do the work. In 2014, those feelings and those experiences propelled me to stand with other courageous women and men and voice my prayer, my desire, my wish for women’s ordination in the Church.
There have been a number of changes since I initially expressed my prayer that women in the Church should be ordained. Some of those changes – being released from my calling and being deprived of my Temple recommend – have sorely tested my relationship with the LDS Church as an institution. However, my belief in the LDS Church as part of the body of Christ and my commitment to my baptismal covenants remain unchanged, as does my belief in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and in the teachings that “all are alike unto God.” As a beloved daughter of our Heavenly Parents and as your sister, those beliefs propel me to come to you, in your ordained roles as prophets, seers, and revelators to express my fervent prayer, abiding hope, and sincere wish that women in the LDS Church be ordained.
In HIS Name,
Bryndis W. Roberts
Member, Atlanta Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Chair, Executive Board of Ordain Women
Please consider sending the First Presidency your wishes for Ordain Women’s 5th birthday. To get this letterhead, or the OW birthday postcard, click here.
I Wish to be Ordained
Dear President Nelson,
I remember the first time it really hit me that men and boys in the church had access to something I did not. I was about 12 or 13 years old, and I was in my Young Women’s class. The lesson was about the priesthood, and the teacher was talking about the great responsibility that the apostles have—that they are special witnesses of the Lord. She hypothesized about whether the apostles meet the Savior in this life as a part of their special witness. And I thought, “That would be so amazing. It would be so incredible to see and talk with the Savior and then spend your life testifying of Him.” And then, in the next heartbeat, I realized that could never be me. I would never be called to that. Not because I am not worthy or because I lack testimony. Simply because I was born a girl. I was crushed.
Over the years I attempted to console myself by remembering the joy and responsibility that of motherhood. I knew this was supposed to be the right answer. But however I tried, this consolation felt empty because I’ve always known the comparison isn’t apt. Motherhood’s true parallel is fatherhood. After I became a mother, I saw this made manifest in my husband, who is a wonderful, nurturing, compassionate father. I can’t pretend anymore that I am content with the status quo because I am a mother. To be clear, this is not a complaint about my role as a mother. But my husband is both a father and a priesthood holder, and this magnifies his role as a husband, father, and servant of Christ. I just want the same. Having access to the power of God on earth would magnify my role as wife, mother, and servant of Christ.
Ordain Women is turning five this month. To celebrate the birth of an organization that has given me hope that my Heavenly Parents know the desires of my heart, I wish to be ordained to the priesthood.
With faith,
Leah Marie Silverman, MPA
Please consider sending the First Presidency your wishes for Ordain Women’s 5th birthday. To get this letterhead, or the OW birthday postcard, click here.
It Began Five Years Ago
Debra Jenson speaking at the Ordain Women launch event in 2013.
In March 2013, the Ordain Women website launched. I saw it that night and immediately fell in love with it. It was like a newborn baby to me: something I had prayed for, and waited for, but didn’t know what to expect when it finally came into my life. For the first few hours after I saw the website, I just stared at every part of it—searching for flaws but finding only beauty and falling in love with it. Within weeks, I found myself speaking publicly about Ordain Women and found a sisterhood of women I never would have predicted. In my late 30s, I found immense respect for a young college student, Hannah Wheelwright, whose intellect and idealism still astound me; and I, a member of the Relief Society presidency, sat next to, and received the best hug in the world from Margaret Toscano, whose story I really only knew from headlines but she is so much more. These women, and countless others, taught me how to navigate the waters of this new role Ordain Women’s arrival had carved for me.
By the time Ordain Women celebrated its first birthday, we had celebrated an impressive list of firsts and none of the shine had worn off. We had seen women from around the world come to Salt Lake City to do the impossible: ask to attend a meeting of general conference. That’s an over-simplification, but my memory is slightly clouded by the heady haze of those early days when I was on the rollercoaster ride of countless new experiences, exciting events, and sleepless nights wondering if I really had what it took to help raise up a successful and healthy social movement. And by the second priesthood action, when more than 900 women descended on Salt Lake City in body and spirit, I felt invincible, because of course we knew exactly how to do this.
The second year, however, quickly lived up to the moniker “the Terrible Twos.” We struggled and, though we honestly did everything we could think of to fend it off, we couldn’t control the actions of others and a tantrum came. Only this came from the much older, and supposedly more mature, force in the relationship, and we could only sit while it passed judgment. It felt arbitrary, unpredictable, and inexplicable. The aftermath was… difficult. Our community felt the sting and was rocked back on its heels. Many of us still look back on it with emotion and disbelief.
As we moved through the third year of Ordain Women, we experienced a sort of settling in. The frantic pace of the first two years changed to a period of hard training that required commitment from a whole team. We laid the foundation for the long-term existence of this organization by establishing bylaws and gaining 501c(3) status. It was tough, and we had to follow the rules: regular planning meetings, formal procedures for leadership and supporters, and more. Not the work we were used to, or that got our pictures taken, but without it, this organization we loved would never survive to maturity, and people would grow frustrated and tire of it pretty quickly.
The fourth year of Ordain Women was much the same. We saw ourselves coming out of that training period and moving into a more established routine. We had been doing the work and saw some actions that demanded longer attention spans and had more specific, immediate goals. To our frustration, we were still dealing with that same older, more mature force, except they had decided that the best way to deal with us was to ignore us. To be honest, I might prefer a new tantrum. In the words of Albus Dumbledore, “indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.” And for me, at least, the fact that Ordain Women supporters are so easily discarded has caused me more pain than the harsh treatment I received.
But this month marks something exciting! On March 17, Ordain Women will reach the age of FIVE! In some ways, it feels like so much longer—we have so many accomplishments to celebrate—but it also feels like only yesterday since I first met this group and found love and support from so many others going through the exact same experience. So I sit here, nostalgic for what was in those early days, fearful for what Ordain Women might still face, but confident that OW supporters have each given a piece of themselves to create something beautiful and resilient. And if you were to ask what OW needs for its birthday, I would answer confidently, “Your profile.”
A Look Back – Happy 5th Birthday, Ordain Women!
When we launched Ordain Women on March 17, 2013, the seeds for a wider discussion on the topic of women’s ordination already had been planted: The “All Are Alike unto God” document, calling on general church leaders to thoughtfully consider and earnestly pray about the question of women’s ordination, had been sent to church leaders and several hundred women and men had signed in support of it; Mormon blogs, such as Exponent, Feminist Mormon Housewives, Times and Seasons, Patheos and Zehepholod’s Daughters, had begun to address the issue more frequently. Ordain Women’s actions amplified these and other Mormon feminist initiatives, igniting several institutional responses that we hope will facilitate the eventual ordination of women.
As we mark Ordain Women’s 5th birthday, we thought we’d outline some of these policy changes and rhetorical shifts. Obviously, we still have work to do, but it’s clear, particularly from the shifts in discourse, that the question of women’s ordination isn’t going away.
Policy Changes
- The announcement that the Priesthood Session of General Conference would be live-streamed enabled all to view it regardless of gender
- There is a much greater emphasis on gender-inclusive local councils
- Photos of members of the general Relief Society presidency were added to the photos of male general church leaders on the semi-annual leadership chart in the Ensign and on the walls of the Conference Center
- Church leaders lowered the age requirement for female missionaries so that it is closer to that of male missionaries, and created greater leadership opportunities for women on missions
- Women were finally allowed to offer prayers in general conference sessions
- The general women’s meeting was gradually elevated to conference session status, first, by the announcement that, like the priesthood session, there would be two general women’s meetings per year, followed months later by the announcement that the general women’s meeting would be considered a session of the LDS semi-annual conference, and, finally, the announcement last year that the general women’s meeting and general priesthood meeting would each occur once per year at alternating semi-annual conferences
- Women employed by the LDS Church were given benefits packages that included paid maternity leave
- The dress code for female employees of the church was changed to allow women to wear dress slacks and pantsuits
Shifts in Church Discourse
- Crucial questions about women and priesthood are being asked more broadly and more frequently. Former Relief Society General President Linda K. Burton, speaking at the BYU Women’s Conference on May 2, 2013, said, “We rejoice that we are privileged to live in this season of the history of the Church when questions are being asked about the priesthood. There is great interest and desire to know and understand more about the authority, power, and blessings associated with the priesthood of God.”
- Church leaders are openly admitting that people are struggling with—or at least, perplexed by—the question of why only men hold the priesthood. Many, like Elder Andersen and Elder Ballard as well as Sherri Dew, admit they ultimately don’t know why men have the priesthood and women don’t. In the October 2013 general conference, Elder Neil L. Andersen answered the question, “Why are the ordinances of the priesthood administered by men?” by citing 1 Nephi 11: 17: “I do not know the meaning of all things.” Elder M. Russell Ballard, speaking at BYU’s 2013 Campus Education Week Devotional, asked, “Why are men ordained to priesthood offices and not women?” His answer: “When all is said and done, the Lord has not revealed why…” Similarly, Sherri Dew, in her book Women and the Priesthood, writes: “Why aren’t women eligible for priesthood ordination …? . . . [W]e don’t know.” (106)
- Priesthood and maleness are no longer synonymous. In the last 5 years, Church leaders, including Elders Andersen, Ballard and Oaks, have clearly stated that men are not the priesthood. Uncoupling priesthood from maleness and recognizing that it is a power that is not gendered is an essential step in extending full priesthood authority to all worthy adult members of the Church.
- Before Elder Oaks’ April 2014 priesthood session talk, some Church leaders seemed to be abandoning the “men have priesthood; women have motherhood” parallel. Even institutional spokeswoman Sherri Dew suggested that there were problems with the priesthood/motherhood equation. Though there are a few holdouts, using motherhood to justify an all-male priesthood appears to be on the wane, though separate but equal, complementarian rhetoric still holds sway.
- The terms priesthood blessings, power, authority, office, and keys are being parsed and distinctions are drawn in ways still shy of universal ordination but that attempt to be more inclusive of women. Late 20th-century Church discourse responded to the women’s movement primarily by asserting that, though only men were ordained, both men and women enjoyed the blessings of the priesthood. Recently, leaders have asserted that women can access both the blessings and the power of the priesthood.
- In her review of Dew’s book, Valerie Hudson wrote: “Dew’s greatest contribution in this book … is her assertion that endowed women possess Godly power, or priesthood power. (103) She [Dew] begins with a statement by … Ballard that in the temple, both men and women are ‘endowed with the same power, which by definition is priesthood power.’ (105) [This was reiterated in Elder Dallin Oak’s April 2014 priesthood session talk.] Dew goes on to state that once endowed, a woman has ‘direct access to priesthood power for her own life and responsibilities.’ (114) … Priesthood power . . . is the power of God Himself available to men and women alike . . . who have been endowed in the house of the Lord (122) . . . men and women who are endowed in the house of the Lord have been given a gift of power, and they have been given a gift of knowledge to know how to access and use that power.’”(125)“This,” says Hudson, “is really a very remarkable assertion. The formula has always been that women are the beneficiaries of priesthood power, and so only ‘share’ it vicariously by being married to a man. … But Dew is plainly saying that endowed women have been given priesthood power in the temple, which power they can use to benefit others. In other words, for the first time, it is being articulated that women are not simply passive recipients of divine power that has been coded male, but are able to hold and use divine power as agents without a male intermediary.”
- Increasingly, a distinction is being made between the authority and the power of the priesthood. Authority and power traditionally have been associated with office and, thus, available only to men. Power now seems to be available to all, although what that means is not well developed.
- In his April 2014 priesthood session talk, Elder Oaks went further and asserted that women not only enjoy the blessings and the power of the priesthood, they also exercise its authority in their callings. In the institutional Church, “priesthood authority is governed by priesthood holders who hold priesthood keys, and … all that is done under the direction of those priesthood keys is done with priesthood authority.”
- While women do not currently hold priesthood keys and office, Elder Oaks asserted that both women and men are recognized as having “the authority of the priesthood in their Church callings.” He continued: “We are not accustomed to speaking of women having the authority of the priesthood in their Church callings, but what other authority can it be?” asked Elder Oaks. “When a woman—young or old—is set apart to preach the gospel as a full-time missionary, she is given priesthood authority to perform a priesthood function. The same is true when a woman is set apart to function as an officer or teacher in a Church organization under the direction of one who holds the keys of the priesthood. Whoever functions in an office or calling received from one who holds priesthood keys exercises priesthood authority in performing her or his assigned duties.”
For more information on these changes and their sources see:
Lorie Winder Stromberg, “The Birth of Ordain Women: The Personal Becomes Political,” in Voices for Equality: Ordain Women and Resurgent Mormon Feminism, Gordon Shepherd, Lavina Fielding Anderson, and Gary Shepherd, eds., Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2015, 23-26.
What Do You Wish for Ordain Women’s 5th Birthday? Help Us Celebrate!
In celebration of the 5th anniversary of the official launch of Ordain Women, we invite you to send birthday cards to the new First Presidency! Sometime during the month of March, let President Nelson, President Oaks, and President Eyring know what you wish for Ordain women’s fifth birthday! Examples of wishes might be the desire for women to hold their babies during baby blessings, for women to assist in worthiness interviews of girls and women, and for Relief Society presidencies to have autonomy regarding local needs and programs, and, of course, female ordination!
The images below are designed for a postcard or letterhead. Feel free to use them in whichever you choose, or a design of your own. If you have any questions, please email us at info@ordainwomen.org.
If you decide to print off the images for a postcard, keep these guidelines in mind:
Postcards must be at least 5 x 3.5 inches. If they are larger than 6 x 4.25 inches USPS will treat it as a full-size letter.
Postcards must be between 0.007 and 0.016 inches thick. For reference, index card thickness is in this range. Cardstock thickness from 80 lb to 120 lb should fit these parameters. USPS recommends 110 lb. Please keep in mind what your printer can handle.
To address the postcard split the back of the card into two sections by drawing a vertical line. The right side must contain the mail-to address and be at least 2-1/8 inches wide. Place your stamp in the upper right-hand corner. Write your birthday message on the left side. If you choose to include your return address, leave space for it in the upper left-hand corner. Below, you will find an image to print on the back of your card, if you choose.
Mail the cards and letters to the First Presidency. The address is:
Church Administration Building
47 E South Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84150
You can download the .pgn file for this postcard from this link and the .pdf file for this postcard from this link.
You can download the .pgn file for this postcard back from this link and the .pdf file for this postcard back from this link.
You can download the .pgn file for this letterhead from this link and the .pdf file for this letterhead from this link.
#MoreWomen #Possibilities #OrdainWomen
Yesterday (4/1/2017) during General Conference there were 18 speakers and 6 prayers offered. We heard no female voices.
![Meme. The background is a gradient in purple, dark purple in the lower left-hand corner fading to white in the upper right-hand corner. The text reads, “Friction arises when minorities [and women] exert their presence in public life.” -Mormon Newsroom 3/8/17. There are two pictures, the second overlaps the first. In the first picture, we see the podium and stand at General Conference. President Uchtdorf is as the podium, he and the body of people behind him are raising their right hands, indicating that they are sustaining leaders and officers of the church. Not counting the choir sitting behind the stand, there are between 80 and 90 people in the photo. In the second picture, all of the men have been removed. This leaves 9 women sitting alone. The bottom of the meme has the Ordain Women logo and the hashtags #MoreWomen #Possibilities #OrdainWomen](https://ordainwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Day-9-Meme.png)
#MoreWomen #Possibilities #OrdainWomen
#MoreWomen #Possibilities #OrdainWomen
#MoreWomen #Possibilities #OrdainWomen