I am a sixth-generation Mormon, a BYU graduate, and a stay-at-home mom. Mormonism is my spiritual home, the place that’s made me who I am today. It is the language I use to interpret and understand my spiritual experiences. It ties me to all of the people who have come before and all of the people who will come after. Mormonism has been the backdrop for all of my major life events.
The two most significant days of my life were the day I got baptized and the day I married my husband, Jake, in the Salt Lake City temple.
The foundation of my belief in Mormonism comes from my early childhood experiences. I loved the primary songs and the scripture stories. When I was a small girl, my primary teacher told me that I have a Heavenly Mother. This idea resonated with me and it was a mental image I would draw upon for comfort. As I’ve gotten older, that image has faded considerably, which makes me feel sad.
While I love my Mormon faith and community, I also feel pain. I’ve struggled to know and understand my role as a woman in the church. I’ve covenanted everything to build the Kingdom of God and I’ve felt lost. The message I’ve often gotten is that I’m supposed to cheer-lead my husband and willingly submit to the male authorities of the Church. This kind of passive role feels unsatisfying. I want to be more actively engaged than this.
Through this struggle, I’ve come to realize that women can never play an active role in building up the Kingdom of God without some type of spiritual authority. I don’t know what form ordination should take, but I do know that without some mechanism for legitimating women’s spiritual authority, women can never be full participants in building the Church.
I believe women should be ordained.