In a change this year, for example, the church created a new position for women to advise regional leaders outside the U.S., a move that Eubank said amplifies women’s voices around the world.
So you’re going to have these different roles, but nonetheless they are authoritative for women.” Still, “this is not a structure that thinks in terms of equality as sameness. “Women have always had access to teaching authority and preaching authority in Mormonism,” Flake said. Over the last 30 years, the church has been exploring how to give women more latitude to preach and teach while remaining consistent in its foundational doctrinal principles, Flake said. “Until that representation becomes a priority in the church, we are going to be losing the girls of this generation in droves,” McBaine said. Neylan McBaine, a lifelong Latter-day Saint and the author of the book “Women at Church: Magnifying LDS Women’s Local Impact,” said she wants to see more official church positions created for women, and she thinks parity can be achieved without women’s ordination, an issue that often surfaces in conversations about female roles in the church. It runs activities primarily for female members and plays an important role in the faith's charitable activities, reflecting the organization’s motto, "Charity Never Faileth." Instead, every adult woman in the faith is a member of the Relief Society, often referred to by church leaders as one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world. Nor do women serve in the top echelons of global leadership or lead congregations. Only men are in the church’s lay priesthood - ordination is off limits to female members of the Salt Lake City-based church. While women are not filling the leadership roles traditionally held by men, “women’s positions are being expanded” including more speaking time during the church’s worldwide conferences, said Kathleen Flake, an expert on the faith and religious studies professor at the University of Virginia. This story is part of a series by The Associated Press and Religion News Service on women’s roles in male-led religions. Still, some want to see a faster pace for progress. Though she isn’t the first single or child-free woman to hold a prominent role in the church, Eubank’s example is encouraging to other members during a time of growth for women’s roles in the faith nearly a decade after a key change for young women in its iconic missionary force. but I want my experience of not living with a husband and children right now to be recognized and accommodated.” “I think family is the building block of society.
“We have to broaden out our approach and talk about family in a really inclusive way,” said Eubank, who is both first counselor of the Relief Society and president of Latter-day Saint Charities, the church’s humanitarian arm.
0 kommentar(er)
