Historian’s Corner: Decisions that affect us – Part 2

Historian’s Corner, Vol. 3, No. 2 – April 7, 2025
By Stephen Thompson, Canada West Mission Centre Historian

On Wednesday, April 4, 1984, members and friends of the Kensington Congregation in Edmonton, Alberta, gathered at the home of Bob and Grace Suffern for our weekly prayer meeting, followed by the inevitable social hour. Bob was not present because he had travelled to Independence, Missouri, to attend his very first church World Conference. Grace told us that Bob had called home on Tuesday evening to excitedly share that the church was likely going to approve the ordination of women into the priesthood.

Having attended several World Conferences since the mid-1970s, I suggested to Grace that perhaps Bob was overstating the significance of some discussion around the issue. I recounted how it had come up at most conferences I had attended, but nothing, that I was aware of, had ever really resulted.
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What we (or at least I) did not understand from Grace’s account of Bob’s phone call was that this was not just another report to conference on the role of women in the church. On Tuesday, April 3, Prophet–President Wallace B. Smith had presented a document to the conference which, if approved, would explicitly provide for the ordination of women. And on Thursday afternoon, April 5—after three hours of debate that included emotional expressions of support and non-support, attempts to amend the document, the defeat of a motion to defer consideration to the next World Conference, and finally the approval of a “previous question” motion—the document was approved by a vote “overwhelmingly in favor” (Howard, p. 404). William D. Russell, in a journal article, modifies that slightly, suggesting that “about 20 percent of the delegates refused to accept [the document] as ‘revelation’” (Russell, p. 14). The motion included instruction that the document be added to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants as Section 156.

This action has had profound and continuing effects on the church. The first ordinations of women were performed on November 17, 1985. Many more followed in the next few months (Howard, p. 404). But it was not as simple as the World Conference approving a new policy in an inspired document and the church quietly following along. Far from it. There was significant opposition to the change in many areas, particularly in and around Independence.

Richard Howard (writing as Church Historian in 1993) summarized organized efforts to “pack” the conferences of at least three stakes in order to defeat motions to approve the ordinations of several women (Howard, p. 405). In the same article, Bill Russell shares the stories of four of those women who faced a majority of negative votes against their priesthood calls (Russell, pp. 16–27).

Both Richard Howard and Mark Scherer, in their respective church histories, provide excellent descriptions of the approval of Section 156, the events that led up to it over the previous decade (or more), and the long-term impacts that followed (see Howard, pp. 389–406; and Scherer, pp. 438–453).

The acceptance of women into priesthood ministry caused the largest schism in the church since the 1920s. But it has also been a source of incredible blessing. Women have skillfully and enthusiastically taken on priesthood responsibilities in congregations and mission centres. In Canada West, I believe most (though perhaps not all) congregations have had women as pastors and/or co-pastors over the years. Women are active in all kinds of ministry and leadership—offering worship, sacraments, and mission support in every area of church life.

Over the past four years, Canada West has had an all-female team of co-Mission Centre Presidents. One of them, Shannon McAdam, is now called to the office of Apostle and will be ordained at the upcoming World Conference (pending approval of her call).

At the World Conference of 1998, the first two women were ordained into the Council of Twelve Apostles: Gail Mengel and Linda Booth. Gail served for a time as Apostle for the Northern Plains and Prairie Provinces Region (including Alberta and Saskatchewan). She remained in that role until 2005. Linda later became President of the Council of Twelve in 2013—the first woman to do so—and served until her retirement in 2019.

Many more women have served in the presiding quorums of the church. In the last inter-conference period, we have had an equal number of men and women serving as Apostles. Our current Presiding Evangelist is Jane Gardner. We’ve already had several women serve in the Presiding Bishopric, including Stassi Cramm, who was Presiding Bishop from 2016 to 2023.

And, as I’m sure you are aware, Stassi Cramm has been named to succeed Stephen M. Veazey as the first woman to serve as Prophet–President of the church at the 2025 World Conference.

The decision to accept Section 156 has had a long-term and continuing impact on the church—and the ordination of women is just one part of that legacy.

Watch for another article exploring other aspects of this historic moment.
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If you have questions, I’d be happy to hear from you. You can reach me at [email protected]