High Priest Group Extinction

This blog post is going to be about the changes in the LDS priesthood and why they are important. This change is being overshadowed in the media by the fact that they called the first two men of color to be apostles. But what no one is talking about that is far more significant: one of these men of color is in a mixed race relationship... at least until yesterday some LDS still thought that was wrong...  This apostle in his appearance is obviously far-east Asian, and his wife is obviously not:

Any individual LDS congregation (typically called a "Ward," and represents a specific geographical area,) has two major bodies by which the work in the church is done. One is female, called the "Relief Society," and the other is male, called "The Priesthood." Traditionally the priesthood has been divided into two groups, the "Elder's Quorum" for the child-bearing aged men and the "High Priests Quorum" for the older men.

The Relief Society has been one solid body, with no age division. Priesthood and the Relief Society both have similar functions, and their primarily responsibility is what is called "ministering." In a church with a lay ministry, this is how they are able to reach out to members of their ward and see what their needs may be. Don't have enough food for that month? Going through a family emergency and need more social support?  Need help teaching your kids how to grieve for a recently deceased pet? Your ministering brothers or sisters from your LDS ward are trying to check in with you once a month to see if you can use their help. Christianity 101.

Now, before I explain the change, understand that it is a going assumption throughout the Church that the visiting teaching (Relief Society) is generally more frequent and effective than the home teaching (Priesthood.) This is why so many LDS women eye-roll and giggle "I don't think we really need it" when the Media asks them "don't you think you should have the priesthood like the men do?" Because it is a constant source of humor in the LDS faith that the women are already more effective at being disciples of Christ than the men are.

So here's the change in the priesthood: that age division has been nuked. There are no more ward-level "high priest groups." Now all men are in the same "elder's quorum," just like all women are in the "relief society." The message to the men is simple: "The priesthood isn't your own personal boy's club. You are expected to be as effective as the Relief Society now."

They also took a step to make the Relief Society more like the Elder's Quorum. Ministering is always performed in pairs. The Elder's Quorum has been able to have male youth age 14 to 18 pair up with older Priesthood in order to minister, expanding the available pool of ministering brothers. They announced today that female youth age 14 to 18 may now be ministering sisters in the same way.

IF the LDS were going to give women the priesthood (and they made all kinds of Freudian slips that suggested that this is right around the corner,) these would be a critical first steps. (Mormons are of three different categories on that topic:

1. "Orthodox" types are concerned that the current structure helps to keep men involved in family life in the face of misandry and careerism, and that we shouldn't "give women the priesthood," since women are already more effective disciples of Christ without the priesthood.
2. "Ordain Women" types think it is important to have sexual equality in religious practices, and we should empower women by giving them the priesthood.
3. "Sunstone" types think the woman are already given the priesthood when they go to the Temple, and that it wasn't until the mid 1900's that for cultural reasons they formally stopped performing rituals like faith healing on their own.

Regardless of what category most LDS fall into, it isn't a huge significant controversy to them, and it is just one difference of opinion one LDS can have with another LDS. I personally sympathize with all three views.) At any rate, this is a huge unisex structural change that will have a positive effect on the behavior of Mormons, helping us be better Christians and more sensitive to the increasing diversity that is inevitable with an increasing population.