Jane Little ~ Push To Ordain Mormon Women Leads To Excommunication

Kate Kelly shows a digital copy of the letter which informed her of her excommunication
Kate Kelly shows a digital copy of the letter which informed her of her excommunication

Kate Kelly stands frozen at an empty intersection in Salt Lake City. There is no traffic coming in either direction.

“I need to wait for the signal,” she says, “I’m obedient, I’m a Mormon.” She laughs, her eyes twinkling behind her thick, retro-style glasses.

But if Ms Kelly thinks she’s an obedient Mormon, her Church leadership does not. She was excommunicated in June for founding a campaign to ordain women to the priesthood.

“You know, normally excommunication in our Church is for really grave sins like murder and child abuse,” she says. “I was excommunicated for stating a fact, which is that men and women are not equal in our Church.”

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) – which claims a membership of 15 million worldwide – any male from the age of 12 and “in good standing” can join the priesthood. No female can.

Unlike other churches, including the Church of England which last month agreed to allow women priests to be promoted to bishop, the LDS Church does not have a professional priesthood. It operates what it calls a “lay” clergy – male members take turns to fulfil the roles.

Take the bishop of Ms Kelly’s former ward in Virginia – the man who excommunicated her. He is a lawyer for ExxonMobil.

She is also a lawyer, a human rights lawyer, and she sounds like one as she dissects the process her bishop and other male leaders followed to remove her from the Mormon faith.

“We’re talking about an Inquisition,” she says. “The men who punished me think they are kicking me out of heaven.” Continue reading . . .

SF Source BBC_NewsMagazine  August 25 2014

(Thanks, Rose)

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