Prophet-President Designate Stassi Cramm last week announced her intention to call two more women to serve as members of the church’s Council of Twelve Apostles. The priesthood calls will be formally presented at the church’s upcoming World Conference May 30 to June 6, after formal Conference approval of Stassi Cramm to succeed Stephen Veazey as prophet-president of the church.
In a pastoral letter to the church, dated January 29, Stassi Cramm presented the names of Kathleen (Kat) Hnatyshyn and Shannon McAdam. Both will now become full-time employees of the church and serve as apostle-designates until World Conference. The two women bring varied backgrounds to full-time church ministry.
Kat Hnatyshyn has worked for more than 20 years in the financial industry and currently serves on a volunteer basis as president of the Midlands Mission Center in the suburban Kansas City metropolitan area. She has a bachelor’s degree in speech communication with a minor in church leadership from Graceland University, the church’s affilliated university located in Lamoni, Iowa, and Independence, Missouri.
Shannon McAdam brings to her new role 16 years experience in technology, promoting digital literacy through sales, support, operations, and training, with a special love for helping entrepreneurs. She currently serves on the volunter leadership team of the Canada West Mission Center. Shannon has a bachelor’s degree in information technology from Graceland University and a master of divinity degree from Vancouver School of Theology in British Columbia. She will join Art Smith as the second Canadian to serve in the current Council of Twelve.
It is fairly common now for general officers in Community of Christ to bring graduate degrees in religion to their roles in the church. Shannon McAdam’s M.Div. is indicative of that. [A personal note: I was the first RLDS student to enroll at Vancouver School of Theology a few decades ago and am pleased that others, including Shannon, have followed.] Another apostle-designate, who was named in a September 2024 pastoral letter by Stassi Cramm, is Matthew Frizzell. Currently the director of Human Resource Ministries for the church, he received a master’s degree from St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City and in 2010 earned a Ph.D. in theology and ethics from Chicago Theological Seminary. Executive and appointee ministers in Community of Christ are routinely encouraged to participate in theological and religious leadership studies offered through Community of Christ Seminary, now a part of Graceland University.
In this latest pastoral letter Stassi Cramm also announced that Apostle Shandra Newcom requested release from her apostolic responsibilities so that she can give primary focus to two chronic medical conditions. She will, however, continue to bring ministry in other areas.
These two pastoral letters help to highlight some basic undertandings of ministry by top leaders in the Community of Christ:
- The importance of theological education and ministerial training;
- Individuials bring a wide range of backgrounds to their new church roles;
- Retirement is considered normal and expected at some point; and
- Health concerns can sometimes dictate continued official service.
Wheat & Tares 
even though we are talking about the hierarchy and leadership of Community Of Christ. In this article, it’s worth pointing out that many CoC decisions are made at the grassroots congregational level.
I once heard a lady apostle of the CoC give an hour-long presentation on the New Testament and the early Church. It was very well done. The most informative and factually-based apostle talk I ever heard, and it wasn’t even close. LDS Church has the money. CoC church has the brains.
Can you imagine a church where women have equal say as men in leading, where diversity, equity, and inclusion are welcome and encouraged, where people are called but also trained to be ministers, where conversation is welcomed from the bottom up and acted upon, where the teachings of Christ are at the center, and ministry is more than visiting a home once a month.
I’m sure there are problems like any other orgainization but at least there is a way to talk about it and fix things.
I know they don’t have to be mutually exclusive–but I’d rather have pure testimony from your average Joe and Jane latter-day saint than talks from a clergy with all the training in the world.
Thank you for the post, Rich. I’m all for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the highest levels of governance. I believe it may be a key to our ability to continue thriving as a society. What intrigues me most about this development is the order of things.
Disclaimer: I lack a practical understanding of how titles like “Designate” and pastoral letters work as formal, even parliamentary, trappings of leadership. Though, I continue to respect how in Community of Christ, common consent is an actual governing force, not just a lip-service refrain.
That said, it intrigues me that Prophet-President Designate Stassi Cramm can get the ball rolling on the next round of apostleship appointments, even naming names and genders, before she has been formerly approved. It’s just interesting to me. I’ll refrain from passing a value judgement on it, but it is fascinating to see the dynamic way in which power and authority are managed in this global organization. So, again, thank you Rich!
I’d much rather have my daughter interviewed/counselled by a leader that has some training than an average Joe or Jane leader with a pure testimony built on who knows what.
So interesting! I’m having thoughts about the corporate structure and bureaucracy of the CoC as compared to the LDS Church. These announcements from the CoC sound quite corporate — they present the person’s qualifications, explain what they bring to the table, unashamedly seek to include women rather than marginalize them, and allow for open discussion. When someone has serious health concerns, they are accorded respect and allowed to resign.
In contrast, the LDS Church, which doesn’t like to admit it’s a corporation, presents decisions in a much more authoritarian manner. Being guided by revelation and prophecy, and trying to look like they aren’t corporate, means there is no other input besides the top of the hierarchy. No one can resign for health reasons. No open discussion is allowed.
One of the CoC’s strengths seems to be an acknowledgment that there is a bureaucratic structure upholding the work of the church and accepting the imperfect structure allows the CoC to be more flexible and accept input. The LDS Church, and its insistence that God dictates every decision, lacks that flexibility.
JakeC: Back in the day (up until the end of the 20th Century) changes to the leading RLDS quorums were included as the opening paragraphs of inspired documents by the prophet-president, presented in the opening days of World Conference. Although the individuals involved were certainly aware of the changes, the Conference delegates and general membership were not. Grant mcMurray was the first to separate personnel changes from inspired counsel (which would become part of the Doctrine and Covenants). Those “pastoral letters” usually would be made public two or three months before Conference. Before long a draft of inspired counsel messages also would be presented before Conference, sometimes at one Conference so the membership could live with the counsel and discern their own response and then presented at the next Conference, occasionally edited and/or modified.
I was a bit surprised that Stassi Cramm presented personnel changes so far in advance. It is widely assumed and understood that her ordination as prophet-president will take place in June at Conference. My guess is she feels the urgency of the moment. I’ve been told, by folks I tend to trust, that she accepted this new responsibility with the understanding she’d serve no more than six years (Conference is held now every three years). For several decades the church has focused on transforming and developing its theology, identity, mission, and general institutional organization. (A side note: I’m currently working on a W&T post about that.) The two big components that still must be addressed are money and people: developing new funding sources and replacing my own rapidly aging Baby Boomer generation.. Those two, of course, are directly related and, I might add, common goals for a good many other religious organizations. As has been alluded to in the comments above, while the LDS church has no money problems, there may well be a “young-adult involvement” issue that must be addressed at some point. In Community of Christ, I think we can expect the merger and/or closing of congregations, with attention to renewed congregational ministries.
Instereo:
“I’d much rather have my daughter interviewed/counselled by a leader that has some training than an average Joe or Jane leader with a pure testimony…”
As a father of five daughters (and one son) I can certainly empathize with your concerns. Even so, we have sent our daughters to professionals for that kind of counseling–which we very much appreciate–and we have relied on the goodness and spiritual gifts of their Bishops and other leaders to help them along in the spiritual journey.
“…built on who knows what.”
The spirit of prophecy and revelation. Plus the gifts that are accessed through the keys of the priesthood.
No one has mentioned that Stassi Cramm is 60 years old. Not only is she educated in leadership and theology but is vibrant enough to lead. I assume the other women are even younger.
I would like to propose a merger between the two churches, but I think the only thing the LDS can contribute is money and members. And the members, if two thirds voted for Trump, may not fit in with the RLDS leadership. It would be interesting to know the political views of RLDS.
Geoff-Aus:
A merger of LDS and Community of Christ would work about as well as a USA and Canada one. So, thanks but no thanks.