Today, the Church announced three changes to the Youth participation in temple baptisms as well as a change for 11 year old boys and girls. You can find articles at Deseret News and The Salt Lake Tribune, but I’ll summarize the changes below.
- Under the direction of the Temple Presidency, the young women, ages 12-18, with their limited-use recommends will be able to assist with assignments now performed by sister temple workers or volunteers
- Under the direction of the Temple Presidency, Priests, ages 16-18, with recommends will be able to server as a baptizer or a witness, tasks now performed by endowed Melchizedek Priesthood holders.
What Does This Mean For the Young Sisters
The sister temple workers or volunteers essentially perform four functions during the baptism session:
- Hand out towels for youth coming out of the fount.
- Assist the Young Women to change in and out of their clothing, monitoring the dressing room.
- Gathering the names from the baptism recorder and delivering them to the confirmation room or the front desk.
- Taking the laundry to and from the Temple laundry
I’m sorry to say, but it looks like the Young Men win the prize.
Some Questions I have
- Can adult Aaronic Priesthood holders (as converts or returning members), be a baptizer or a witness, while now they can only be baptized? Provided they qualify for a limited-use recommend.
- What about non-endowed Melchizedek Priesthood holders?
- What does “Under the direction of the Temple Presidency” actually mean? Could a Temple President decide not to implement this? Probably not, it just mean they are responsible that everything done in the Temple is done right, including handing out of the towels.
Some Analysis
It seems to me this is a positive move to give the youth more responsibility for conducting the Baptism session. It also seems like less adults will be necessary, especially the men. Men and women would probably come anyway. I know that most sessions for our Ward, we always have more than we need. It will be up to the Bishopric and Youth Leaders to stress the importance of the Youth assuming the added responsibilities. Particularly, training the Young Women in handing out the towels.
In Other News
In a move that may be just as important or, even more so, the Primary Priesthood Preview, which was the meeting that introduced the 11 year old boys to the Aaronic Priesthood has been changed to the Temple and Priesthood Preparation. The meeting will include both 11 year old boys and girls and will stress the blessings of temple service, priesthood service and making and keeping sacred covenants.
This is certainly a step in the right direction and long overdue. I am hopeful these are changes in a series of changes that equally recognizes the value and worth of both females and males in the Church.
We’ll see.
Wheat & Tares 
Thank you for trying to be upbeat about this. It seems like such a slap in the face to girls that I am having a hard time being so and I appreciate the reminder that baby steps are steps even if they don’t feel like it. (I mean why not have the boys do the grunt work too? Why is that only reserved for girls? Can’t 14 year old boys also hand out towels or is that beneath them?)
One small step for young women; one giant leap for young men. I agree we ought to applaud this as progress, and I imagine LDS leaders and most LDS think they deserve some recognition for making progress. But there seems to be a sense that, no matter what positive changes in policy or practice are made, there is a secret rule that the men and boys always need to get a little more (or a lot more) than the women and girls. It would be like if a parent with two children just always gave a bigger piece of pie or pizza to one kid and a smaller piece to the other. If smaller piece kid’s piece at some point becomes a little bigger than it used to be but still smaller than the other kid’s piece — well, that’s progress of a sort, but even a kid can figure out there is still something wrong with the way the parent thinks about and treats him or her.
Hit on the head, Dave B. More conservative outlets might say something like, “Well, we’re having more trouble retaining young men in church activity, so maybe the Brethren were inspired to give them more resources.” I don’t even know why they bothered to extend these “further responsibilities” to the YW. Maybe they’ll also be allowed to empty wastepaper baskets and provide refreshments?
At the end you say this is “long overdue”. To me that statement smacks of pride and arrogance. As if you know better than the brethren. Maybe it wasn’t meant that way. I think we need to be more respectful towards our leaders and very carefully choose our words.
Why do women and girls bother any more? I am so tired.
I would love to be a fly on the wall at church headquarters when these changes are being discussed. Is it such an echo chamber that there is nobody in that room to point out the obvious fact that the optics on this kind of thing aren’t going to be what the church is hoping for? All I can do is just shake my head. A young woman out in the real world of 2017 have opportunities to do anything their male counterparts can do. Then they walk into the temple (“God’s house”) and it’s 1945 again. They get to do laundry while the males run the show and do the important stuff. Unbelievable.
It would have been nice to allow women (and YW too) to be witnesses and recorders. Plus allow endowed women to give blessings through their priestesshood or through their faith, and stand in blessing circles. None of these things are ordinances, which seems to be a red line.
If it makes any difference to the crowd, I’ve handled out towels (to the boys only) and seen many men do the same. But it is primarily a function that the Sisters perform for both the boys and girls.
For Troy, they don’t get to do laundry. That is reserved for men and women because of the Temple clothing. I’ve served there a number of times. The movement of the wet clothes to the laundry is a job that both the men and women serving in the baptistry do.
I think this is a further movement in giving the youth more responsibility for their programs as the youth program have always intended to do. The Priesthood thing is hard to overcome, so the Young Men get more significant responsibility just as they do in general.
That’s the rub.
Jeff, my mistake on the laundry thing. The young women get to pass out towels and transport laundry. To quote King George from Hamilton: “Awesome! Wow!” Somehow this doesn’t make it any better.
Look, I don’t think anybody cares about handing out towels in and of itself. It’s totally fine. What matters here is the disparity. Make them ALL hand out towels for all I care. I’m not above handing out a towel. The problem is that if the job is essential, it’s always always always given to males. If it doesn’t have to be done for salvation, if it doesn’t matter, give it to the females. Women could literally not show up, just disappear, and the church would continue to run just fine. I’m sure there are many men who don’t think of it that way, but it’s certainly occurred to us as women.
Certainly we applaud all men who have handed out a towel. Well done. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s a made up job that a desk could do, invented to find some tiny way for the women who drove the van full of kids to the temple for baptisms to feel like they’re of any use at all while there. The reality remains that while men may choose to hand out towels if the desk is on break and there are enough other men around to do the stuff that only men are (apparently) capable of, it’s literally the only thing women are allowed to do in that part of God’s house. And it doesn’t get better upstairs.
This frustrates me so much. It gets even better when you read the deseret news article. This was my favorite part:
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865694033/Mormon-teens-to-have-greater-opportunities-for-temple-service-in-2018.html
“Beginning Jan. 1, young women ages 12-18 will be able to assist with tasks in the temple baptistry currently performed by adult women who serve as temple ordinance workers or volunteers.
“I like this change,” said Chloe Hall, 16, a high school junior in Marquette, Michigan, who travels seven hours to attend the Chicago Illinois Temple. “I think it’s comparable to church leaders lowering the mission age. Younger people will be introduced more easily into the things older people do.”
Hall also liked the idea of added responsibility for priests. Asked why, she said, “You know, boys.”
The boys seemed to agree on Thursday.”
Perhaps my interpretation is off, but is this article suggesting that boys are just so ridiculous and spiritually immature that they need added priesthood responsibility? You know because blessing and passing the sacrament every week (something that so intimately symbolizes Christ’s atonement and his love for us; something he did in the final time before his suffering for us) just doesn’t cut it for the young men anymore. I guess performing that ordinance each week isn’t enough for them to understand the holy office and authority they’ve been given.
I’m quite frustrated as my language shows. I am not trying to group all young men here. There are many young men who are mature, spiritual, and wonderful. I’m just tired of our church making the same excuses over again for our sexism.
Ang,
“but it’s certainly occurred to us as women.”
It may have occurred to some women but not ALL women in the Church. I’ve been on countless baptism trips and aside from a few youth whose parents make them go, they and the adults are excited and happy to provide that service to the dead. The work the Young Women will be asked to perform has been done by adult Sisters for years. And, like I said, they have done so willingly and with joy,
I don’t know the last time you attended a baptism session, but at the rate of use, towel racks would not suffice and would have to be replished constantly, and, there has to be males involved because the females are not allowed in the male locker room to tend to the wet clothes. Males do that. So that can be done by the boys.
Quote:
“Until the 1950s, Mormon women routinely served as witnesses in the temple, according to LDS history researcher Ardis Parshall.”
Interesting to see where things go with that.
It seems that there were a lot of conservative changes in the 1950/60’s that seem to be hanging on to this day. I am hopeful this is the break in that logjam.
Angela C – You’re right. We literally need a day of inaction for 2018 when the women do NOT show up for church and allow the visual to sink in. We are treated as disposable, interchangeable and invisible.
The church’s announcement suggests that women perform ordinance work in the baptistry. Distributing clothes, holding towels and doors, and carrying slips of paper are not ordinances. Why include the “who serve as temple ordinance workers” designation? It’s misleading and cruel to the girls and young women who anticipate more meaningful inclusion.
Pete, It is indeed potentially misleading to those who don’t know LDS temple administration terminology (which deserved an explanation or at least a period after the word “women” omitting the rest of the sentence). I understand that “temple ordinance workers” are endowed adults called and set apart as ordinance workers. They, like others, also perform tasks in the temples that are not ordinances. I understand “volunteers” are individuals regularly serving in the temple who are neither employees nor set apart ordinance workers. This seems to have been another of many LDS failures to realize when they are using a special vocabulary and are not speaking or writing ordinary English. But it would be a stretch to suppose there was any intention to mislead, or even a recognition that the sentence could mislead anyone unfamiliar with that special LDS temple admin vocabulary. Of course, that temple vocabulary has always had a problem in the baptistry where priesthood holders have long been performing ordinances without having been called or set apart as “temple ordinance workers.” Sometimes I wonder if it will ever occur to the powers-that-be to have someone not part of the Mormon hierarchical in-group review and comment on draft announcements to identify potentially misleading language. It seems doubtful, as most Mormons I know seem to be unaware when they are using “Mormon-speak” and when they are speaking ordinary English. I also wonder how many times I am unaware of using “Mormon-speak” without explanation.
I do think in some places they have trouble getting enough adults to go to the temple, especially where there are a few but not that many youth, so fewer youth parents. My ward is an example. One of the last times I went to these youth temple trips, we only had two adult men show up. Bro. K. is about the most stalwart and worthy guy in the ward serving then as the HPGL. Lo and behold, his recommend had expired a couple of days before and he forgot. After some discussion and a couple phone calls they let him enter. I put my finger over the expiration date and stared threateningly into the face of the old the guard and declared that mine was a lifetime temple recommend. He looked perplexed and I explained that certain men who served as Danites and risked their life for the early church were given lifetime temple recommends unto the 3rd and 4th generation.I was the fourth generation. Bro. K. said, “don’t pay any attention to him” and they let me enter.
“Women could literally not show up, just disappear, and the church would continue to run just fine.” No.
I imagine if all callings included punching time clocks that woman give far more hours of quiet but crucial service than men, Beyond that, the way the church is set up, most of the crucial callings require a wife keeping everything together at home. A man cannot hold a responsible job 50-60 hours a week and served 20-30 hours a week in a calling and do all the other things on the list and have any time to do household chores, comfort sick or misbehaving children, care for aging parents and neighbors, etc.. One of the reasons that the church feels that least a few women must be encouraged to stay at home is that without their flexibility of schedule, the ward could not function. If every leader with a crucial calling had a wife who also worked as hard as he did at a company, did a similar time-consuming church calling, their children would be totally neglected and run wild.
Otherwise I am in agreement that women are treated like a less capable subspecies in the LDS church. Like you can’t expect a border collie to pick your stocks and bonds and beat the market. You have to hire an experienced financial adviser and leave the dog home to chase the sheep.
Handing out towels quickly in the temple is a very important task. Seeing young women in wet clinging cloths even for a moment is about the most “cheese” a young Mormon boy is going to get during these latter days of modesty retrenchment. Unless he attends a school with a few wicked gentile girls or has access to a computer.
Why can‘t women and girls do everything at the baptism ordinance except the actual baptizing? Being a witness or doing the paperwork is just a male job by policy, not priesthood, right? And letting priests baptize is just consistent with their role in doing baptisms for the living, so no groundbreaking move their. But definitely good to involve the youth more – the church could look for additional ways to expand on this theme.
Having girls and boys attend a combined priesthood/temple prep thing doesn‘t feel quite right. While it‘s good to be together, having your own activity can be nice too. Plus if anything, the girls will be reminded that only half the evening applies to them.
I just gave my own comment a thumbs-down by accident
Eugene – Thanks for being so humble and self-demeaning and giving yourself a thumbs down 🙂 Good comments/questions.
Another discouraging episode of boys are more awesome than girls in the eyes of God! However, I just wanted to say that I think the church needs to re-think this policy of having the youth do the witnessing and the baptizing and etc. I was horribly tormented and demeaned by the boys my age as a youth in the church and if they had been doing all of the jobs in the temple there is no way that I would have gone to the temple to do baptisms for the dead.
@ Laura,
If I could give you 100 up votes, I would.
The same happened to my daughter.
The stupidity keeps coming and coming from Salt Lake City leaders.
Laura,
I completely agree, this policy seems to completely ignore the ever-present dynamic of teenage interpersonal relationships, including bullying, crushes, cliques, drama, etc. Not only do I see problems with young men baptizing/witnessing young women, but I also see problems with queen bees and female bullying in even innocuous positions of escorting and resource distribution. The “dog food” story re-told for over 30 years in YW resonates for a reason- our young ladies can be infinitely cruel.
I know the church wants to give youth greater opportunity for engagement, but (insert eye roll) it seems like fussing over something innocuous while ignoring/ overlooking/ even denying the much bigger miracles at hand. Do we have to constantly find ways to busy ourselves instead of focusing on the spiritual?
Classic case of “more isn’t better”. Instead of reflecting and meditating, observing and learning, being served- we have to busy them with Martha-esque tasks. Are they afraid temple baptisms aren’t meaningful in and of themselves?
BTW, our YM (priests) performed baptisms in the temple in the ‘80’s. New temple, new temple workers, no one knew better.
In my ward, YM and YW often go to the temple separately. Of course you can do that when there are 6 temples within a hour hour’s drive. People farther away don’t have that luxury.
Having spent all of my professional life in Public Relations and Marketing, I’m truly – remarkably – ashamed of the Church’s actions in this regard. I have daughters and they are just as worthy, smart and valuable as any 10 boys. Can church leadership REALLY be this “out of touch” and insensitive to all of God’s children. This looks soooooo….bad.
Bruce Hanks,
“This looks soooooo….bad.”
Just who does it look bad to? Did you complain when the girls just got baptized and confirmed just like the boys?
Those that want to serve in the Temple will probably take it in stride.
I have to admit I’m quite skeptical of this change as well. I get that the brethren want the youth to feel more engaged, but I agree with others that it’ll have the opposite affect on many YW. I don’t think handing out towels is any more demeaning than passing sacrament trays, but it certainly doesn’t compare with performing ordinances, and it definitely feels like a step backwards. Women DO perform ordinances in the temple. And it seems like the blessings/authority promised them in the eternities through their washings, anointings, and endowments ought to be modeled somewhere, and if not in the temple, then where?
It used to be that only endowed brethren could perform temple baptisms, and that made sense because they were temple ordinances. The fact it’s no longer necessary to have that authority diminishes how it’s modeled, and it turn, diminishes the authority women are granted through temple ordinances. You’d think in the very least the girls could witness. In fact, I think it would have done more good overall for the the youth NOT to perform the baptisms, and endowed sisters were employed as witnesses and recorders.
The boy-girl dynamic among youth is not insignificant either, as Laura pointed out. It used to be at our temple they didn’t want the boys and girls anywhere near the font at the same time. I assumed it was because, you know, wet white clothes, but the social dynamic can definitely detract from the experience. Unless kids these days are more mature than we used to be…
How about e stop complaining? I am a young women of the church and I am and was really excited to help with towels and all that stuff. I don’t know what you want…women don’t have the priesthood and that’s that. I do t know why but that’s the way Heavenly Father wants it so I will take it. To me it’s not a “baby step” it is a great blessing that I can now help with one of the most sacred covenants and fulfill my divine duty as a daughter of God! You can all be angry but I am so so so happy with the blessing this will bring me and everyone, I am also greatful for the young men who are willing to perform these ordinances and who are worthy to do these things💖 Let’s just listen to the words of God and not murder about his commands!