sunday school presidents
today our sunday school president was released. while wondering who might be called to replaced him, i thought of all of the guys who might fill the position. i realized that everyone i thought of were in fact 'guys' - not because i believe that men can better fulfill that calling, but because i have only known men to hold that calling.
my question i pose to you is, have you ever seen a female sunday school president?
it does not seem like it is a priesthood calling, nor does it seem like the priesthood is needed or requisite of the calling - afterall, most primary presidents seem to be women. is there anything in the church handbook of instructions that instructs bishops to only call priesthood holders? i asked my bishop tonight and he did not seem to recall anything of that sort.
I've never seen anything other than male sunday school and female primary presidents, but it sure would be neat if there were no rule or reason that it ends up that way. And by neat I mean weird and probably inappropriate.
ReplyDeleteI was in a ward once where the sunday school secretary was female, which I found interesting. But I've never seen a female sunday school president or counselors. I don't know if it's offical policy or just practice.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen it, but there were women who were called as members of Sunday School presidencies in the late 1970s.
ReplyDeleteHowever, an August 1980 Priesthood Bulletin "remind[ed] bishops that women are not to be called as members of the Sunday School presidencies" and "men are not to be called as members of Primary presidencies."
Church Tradition Now a Policy
Wow, they really don't like you over at Provopulse ;)
ReplyDeleteI work with a Jewish guy, and there are at least two things that I really respect about him. One is that he is not ashamed of who he is, and although he is not preachy or pushy he lets it be known that he is proud of his heritage and religion. Second, most applicable to this post, is that he strengthens his beliefs by questioning them. He doesn't take things at face value or accept them blindly; he questions why things are the way they are and why he should believe in that way. This does not in any way compromise or weaken his beliefs, it strengthens them. I think that as a church we should do more questioning to make us stronger.
b, why 'inappropriate'?
ReplyDeleteheather, thanks for the comment. as justin showed, it supposedly became policy, though i don't know if it still is. i enjoy your 'explorations'
justin, thanks for the reference
david, is it that obvious? ;) back me up some over there. i'm starting to believe that maybe i am an anti-mormon apostate trying to tear down the testimonies of others. i'm glad i'm not alone though. thanks.
Thanks. I like your blog too.
ReplyDeleteDid you notice in the post at FMH with Carol Lynn Pearson's article that it says that a man who is not a member of the church can be Sunday School president, but not a woman?
(I don't know if things have changed, or where she got that information, but if it was/is true, then I am angry about that. It could be true, because men who are not members, or men who have not been active for years, are sometimes allowed to stand in baby blessing circles, but women generally are not.)
Thanks, narrator, I really like your blog too.
ReplyDeleteDid you see this post at FMH with CL Pearson's article? According to what she writes, a man who is not a member of the church is allowed to be s.s. pres?!
and since the blogger.com comment system seems to be really s-l-o-w, i'll add a couple more things to this comment:
Are you still going to post about the conference at UVSC earlier in the month?
And what an interesting experiment for your feminism class! I bet it was easier for the women in the class to cross-dress than the men. (Jeans and a hat are more acceptable on a woman than a dress on a man; it's easier to throw on a baseball cap and some baggy jeans than to get all dolled up.)
wow. i didn't know a non-member male could be called as sunday school president. luckily, when i was dressed up as a woman, i didn't have to deal with that crap. i have hope that the policy will change.
ReplyDeleteone time on my mission, a father we lived near asked us to help him bless his son who was sick. before we began the blessing, the father asked his wife to hold his son during the blessing. the boy was 9 or 10, so it wasn't like he needed to be held still or anything. in the prayer, he invoked the faith of his wife to help heal him. my companion and i were both very touched and came back to our apartment in awe of what we experienced.
i'll post my thoughts on the mormon studies conference in bits and pieces here and there. a post on margaret toscano and jill derr will prolly show up soon