Appointment of Women to Leadership Councils

A few days ago, the LDS church announced that three women will be appointed to “priesthood leadership councils within the Church” (here is the official Church press release; further information from ksl). This is significant because these councils were comprised exclusively of men in the past.

I'm loving this change. Bonnie L. Oscarson, Linda K. Burton, and Rosemary M. Wixom are good women that will make valuable contributions to the Church.

Unfortunately I can already imagine how the critics will respond. Instead of celebrating, many of them will still be unhappy. Sarcastically they'll say things like "took them long enough.” Or "this is just a hollow PR move.” Kate Kelly gloated on her Facebook page.

And I'm sure some will clamor for further changes, complaining this is not enough.

In some people's minds, if the Church refuses to do what they want, then the Church is stubborn and behind the times. But if the Church happens to do what the critics want, they think it's because they cowered to pressure. Lose-lose.

Critics like to think they have more sway over the Church than they actually have. I'm sure  many of them would like to think they single-handedly wielded power or exerted influence. The Church is aware of them, but the truth is there are millions of critics, countless voices thinking they know better.  For one thing, it's just not feasible to implement every last hint or suggestion (whether critical or supportive).

For another thing, it's possible that this decision was in the works already before the critics knew about it, or that there are other factors within the Church, not outside it (like the surge in sister missionaries) that contributed to it.

It's important to remember that the Church will NEVER satisfy its critics; not all of them, anyway. The opposition will always be there. Somebody will always be displeased.

What's important for anyone (whether a critic or supporter of the Church) to remember is the brethren prayed and pondered about it, weighing in other factors that aren't publicly known right now. The critics may have played a part, but ultimately this decision happened through prayer and revelation.

So let's not let the criticism of the haters get to us (I need to take my own advice in that regard).

I, for one, am grateful for this new change. The critics don't run the Church. The Lord does, through inspired men and women.

I've heard this is what they've been doing for all intents and purposes anyway, and they've just barely made it official. Admittedly, I don't have a source for that, but something to think about.

Is it possible that groups like Ordain Women played a part in the process? Maybe, maybe not. I'm not going to say they were irrelevant in the matter, but I'm also not going to say it was entirely because of them.

After all, who's to say there weren't men and women in Church headquarters who were asking for it, discussing it, and considering it? Perhaps the push was also internal and not merely external. Remember, there were leaders of the Church in Salt Lake who seriously considered the question of blacks having the priesthood and some yearned to let them have it, years before the revelation took place, so it wasn't merely external (that’s a discussion for another blog post).

One question that’s been bounced around is: Is ordination of women to the priesthood on the horizon? Possibly, but I don’t think it’ll happen anytime soon.

As I stated in this blog post, I disagree with Ordain Women, but I would wholeheartedly support the ordination of women to the priesthood, while at the same time sustaining the brethren and their decisions as leaders of the Church. I know there are many wonderful women capable of leading as bishops, stake presidents, mission presidents, etc. In fact, it’s been said that if women had the priesthood, they’d be so efficient that the men would have nothing left to do. Whether or not that's true, it's certain the women would do a terrific job.

At the end of the day, this is good news and I look forward to further developments.