The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (inadvertently called by friends of other faiths, the “Mormon Church”) holds women in the highest respect. The Lord has given worthy male members of the Church, the specific responsibility to administer the priesthood of the Church. Women in the Church are given different responsibilities and callings to serve, teach, and help other members. Below, D. Lauritsen, a Mormon professor, shares an answer as to why Mormon women don’t hold the priesthood:
Why Don’t Mormon Women Hold the Priesthood?
Brief Answer: Though Jesus Christ was the earliest, kindest, and most outspoken proponent and defender of womanhood of whom we have written record (Matthew 15:21–28; John 7:37–50; John 4:6–30; John 8:3–11), he nevertheless did not confer the ecclesiastical responsibilities of the Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood on women. He has continued to follow that pattern in his restored Church.
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Detailed Answer: Why the Lord established and continues to follow the pattern mentioned above has not been revealed. But if the Lord chooses to change this pattern, his Saints are assured that he will first reveal it through the living prophet, for “surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).
Nevertheless, the Lord has revealed major changes in the role of women in his restored Church, beginning with his establishment of the relief Society on March 17, 1842. With the exception of the grueling years of Church persecution, flight, and relocation, the relief Society has steadily grown in numbers, influence, and accomplishments. Its humble rebirth began in the Utah Territory in 1854 when sixteen women responded to President Brigham young’s exhortation to form a women’s organization to make clothing for Native American women and children. By 1866, the local “Indian relief Society” had become known throughout the Church as relief Society, and by 1880, the organization had units in each of three hundred wards.
The Society’s visiting teachers provided care for the needy within ward boundaries, and collected and distributed donations. Many ward relief Societies built their own meeting halls. In the 1880s, relief Society cooperative enterprises included making and marketing homemade goods, storing grain, raising silk worms, and financing the medical training of midwives and female doctors. The relief Society not only promoted women’s right to vote, but helped form and nurture the forerunners of the young Woman and Primary organizations.
Beginning in 1921, concerns over high maternal and infant mortality led to the establishment of health clinics and two stake relief Society maternity hospitals, one operated in the Snowflake (Arizona) Stake and another in the Cottonwood (Utah) Stake. . . . In 1956, the relief Society Building in Salt Lake City, built from contributions from LDS women and funds from the Church, was dedicated. . . . The relief Society promoted scholarly study of women’s concerns by helping establish the Women’s research Center at BYU, rallied members to contribute to the Monument to Women at Nauvoo, Illinois in 1978, and celebrated its sesquicentennial in 1992.1
In 1993, the relief Society inaugurated a Churchwide project to improve gospel-oriented literacy, especially among Latter-day Saint women in devel- oping nations. In recent years, the relief Society’s monthly weeknight meeting has been redesigned to incorporate increased flexibility in scheduling, content, and activities in order to meet the changing needs of LDS women, whether they reside in Samoa or Siberia, Malawi or Manhattan. on March 17, 2009, the world’s largest religious organization for women, the relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, celebrated the 167th anniversary of its founding. More than four million women in 163 nations gathered in more than 24,000 congregations around the globe to give thanks and to remember their faithful and courageous leaders, past and present: Emma Smith (1842–1844), Eliza r. Snow (1866–1887), Zina D. Huntington (1888–1901), Bathsheba W. Wilson (1901–1910), Emmeline B. Wells (1910–1921), Clarissa S. Williams (1921–1928), Louise y. robison (1928–1939), Amy B. Lyman (1940–1945), Belle S. Spafford (1945–1974), Barbara B. Smith (1974–1984), Barbara W. Winder (1984–1990), Elaine L. Jack (1990–1997), Mary Ellen Smoot (1997–2002), Bonnie B. Parkin (2002–2007), Julie B. Beck (2007–present).
Additional Resources:
Learn more about the Mormon Priesthood at the official site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Request a free copy of the Book of Mormon.
Attend a local meetinghouse.
Note:
1. Deseret Morning News 2007 Church Almanac, 113–14.
Source:
D. Lauritsen, Mormons Under a Microscope, (Springville, Utah: Cedar Fort, Inc., 2010), 19-20.