(Image: RLDS Women’s Commission leader Marge Troeh speaks at a conference, 1982. Photo courtesy of Community of Christ Archives.)<\/p>\n
By Naomi Brill, Smith College Class of 2022<\/p>\n
Brittany<\/a> grew up in Provo, Utah, and was raised in the LDS church.<\/p>\n As an adult, Brittany left the church. However, she is an exceptional case\u2014though many have left the church over its lack of women\u2019s ordination, Brittany was one of the few who joined the Community of Christ (RLDS church) instead.<\/p>\n To any of us who aren\u2019t Mormons, the difference between LDS and RLDS seems to be only a letter. Yet the differences between these two churches are pronounced. The split originated all the way back in 1844, after the death of the religion\u2019s founding prophet, Joseph Smith Jr. Three-quarters of Joseph Smith Jr.\u2019s followers followed Brigham Young to Utah and became the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The remaining quarter stayed in Nauvoo, Illinois, following Joseph Smith Jr.\u2019s son, memorably named Joseph Smith III. This fragment became the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), which changed its name in 2001 to the Community of Christ. Today, the LDS church reports<\/a> over 16 million members, while the Community of Christ reports<\/a> 250,000.<\/p>\n Besides their unique origins, the LDS and RLDS churches have also differed substantially on many social and political issues. Most relevant to Brittany\u2019s story is the fact that women are not ordained as priests in the LDS church, but women\u2019s ordination has been practiced since 1984 in the Community of Christ.<\/p>\n During high school when Brittany was a member of the LDS church, she wanted to have children and then become a seminary instructor in the LDS Church Education System. She knew \u201cthat was as close to ordination as a woman could get in the [LDS] church.\u201d<\/p>\n Brittany abandoned this dream. She left the LDS church with her family eight years later and joined the Community of Christ.<\/p>\n In converting, one of the things that struck Brittany was how differently the priesthood functioned in the Community of Christ. In the LDS church, males can be ordained into the Aaronic Priesthood in the year they turn 12<\/a>. Thus, ordained men form a large portion of the overall church population. In contrast, the population of ordained people in the Community of Christ is much smaller, and being ordained is not the default. A pastor can call a member of the Community of Christ to the priesthood based on their individual merit, and the person who is called is free to accept or decline the call without obligation.<\/p>\n In 2015, both Brittany and her husband were called to the priesthood by their pastor. Though Brittany had been a lifelong proponent of women\u2019s ordination and said she \u201chad a hunch ordained ministry would be in [her] future\u201d in the Community of Christ, she did not initially say yes. Why not? Because of her upbringing in the LDS church, she writes, \u201cI had been told my entire life that I had no place at the ordination table and those feelings hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn\u2019t know what I had to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet, five days after the initial calling, Brittany accepted the call to priesthood. What made her change her mind? The thought of the RLDS women who had come before her.<\/p>\n I also couldn\u2019t help but think of the pioneering women and men who made it possible for me to even be grappling with this question. Ordaining women in the Community of Christ did not come without a heavy cost. It was a painful process that tore apart families, congregations and communities. Hearing members talk about it still sends chills up my spine. It was one of the most brave, vulnerable, and sacred things the leaders of the church presented to the people. Here I was, 31 years later, being invited to participate.<\/p>\n To fully understand what Brittany was \u201cbeing invited to participate\u201d in through being called to the priesthood, we must look back fifty years in the Community of Christ\u2019s history.<\/p>\n The battle for women\u2019s ordination in the RLDS church began in 1970, when a 1905 ruling against female ordination was challenged at the Community of Christ\u2019s biennial World Conference. According to the Community of Christ bylaws<\/a>, \u201cThe World Conference is the highest legislative body in the church.\u201d Presiding over each World Conference\u2019s 2,800 delegates is the First Presidency, formed by the president of the church and two counselors. In the 1970 World Conference, the issue of women\u2019s role in the church was tabled. However, World Conferences for the next fourteen years would wrestle with the issue (Braithwaite 134).<\/p>\n In 1976, the World Conference passed Resolution 1141, a document submitted by the First Presidency on the topic of women\u2019s ordination. The First Presidency argued that \u201cconsideration of ordination of women [should] be deferred until it appears in the judgement of the First Presidency that the church, by common consent, is ready to accept such ministry\u201d (Braithwaite 135).<\/p>\n In an effort to find out whether RLDS members were \u201cready to accept\u201d women\u2019s ordination, a survey committee was set up in 1982 to investigate RLDS perspectives on the issue (Brunson 131). The results were released in 1984 at the World Conference. 32 percent of respondents were pro-women\u2019s ordination, 49 percent were against, and 13 percent were undecided. Based on these figures, it would seem that the church was decidedly not<\/em> ready for women to be ordained.<\/p>\n Yet, the First Presidency announced at that same World Conference a revelation from God. Among other things, the submitted document said that pushes for women\u2019s ordination were \u201cin harmony with my [God\u2019s] will\u201d (Braithwaite 139).<\/p>\n The World Conference delegates voted to accept the document as having divine origins, and it became Section 156 in the sacred Doctrine and Covenants, a book that RLDS believe contains modern revelation for their church. Women could officially be ordained to the priesthood in the RLDS church.<\/p>\n Yet women\u2019s ordination remained a point of contention. Many church members left the denomination to form Restoration branches in the \u201cpainful process that tore apart families, congregations and communities\u201d that Brittany mentions. But today, women\u2019s ordination has become a fact of life in the Community of Christ. While Brittany had to struggle with the issue of women\u2019s ordination because of her LDS background, many younger members of the Community of Christ today grew up with both women and men in the priesthood. Brittany and women like her who are called to the priesthood can now enrich their churches and communities.<\/p>\n Years before Brittany, Elaine Olson, one of the first women ordained in the RLDS church, wrote that \u201cwomen\u2019s participation was an inevitable force that had to be dealt with.\u201d Though dealing with the issue led many to leave the church, it also allowed for women to contribute to and enrich their congregations.<\/p>\n Olson\u2019s contemporary, Glenna Henry, wrote:<\/p>\n [Before Section 156,] I became convinced that women would indeed hold priesthood; that potential blessing for the church through the ministry of women was like a flood which at that time was trapped behind a dam of prejudice and misunderstanding, but which if unleashed could bring an untold enrichment and nourishment to the people.<\/p>\n Decades later, Brittany and other members of the Community of Christ can testify that Henry was right. Brittany writes:<\/p>\n Ordaining women has deeply enriched Community of Christ\u2026As a church, we wouldn\u2019t be who we are without the fully functioning leadership of women. I am both humbled and grateful to be joining the women of the restoration who have been called to this sacred sense of trust and ministry.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Works Cited<\/p>\n \u201c2018 Statistical Report for 2019 April Conference.\u201d Newsroom.Churchofjesuschrist.Org<\/em>, 6 Apr. 2019, http:\/\/newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org\/article\/2018-statistical-report<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAaronic Priesthood.\u201d The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints<\/em>, https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/manual\/gospel-topics\/aaronic-priesthood?lang=eng<\/a>. Accessed 1 Mar. 2020.<\/p>\n Braithwaite, Jeff. \u201cThe Changing Face of Priesthood in the RLDS Church.\u201d The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal<\/em>\u00a020 (2000): 133-146.<\/p>\n Brunson, L. Madeline. Bonds of Sisterhood: A History of the RLDS Women\u2019s Organization, 1842-1983. <\/em>Independence, Missouri:\u00a0Herald Publishing House, 1983.<\/p>\n Bylaws of Community of Christ<\/em>. Community of Christ, https:\/\/www.cofchrist.org\/common\/cms\/resources\/Documents\/Community-of-Christ-Bylaws.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n Community of Christ and Consolidated Affiliates: Consolidated Financial Report<\/em>. 30 June 2018.<\/p>\n Henry, Glenna H. “Testimonies of Women Ordained, Henry – Hoss.” RG 24-3, f14, Community of Christ Archives, Independence, Missouri.<\/p>\n Olson, Elaine. “Testimonies of Women Ordained, Nielsent – Raiser.” RG 24-3, f18, Community of Christ Archives, Independence, Missouri.<\/p>\n