Been so much talk of pants on the New Order Mormon forums, especially those that have a calling in the nursery, for the youngsters. It would seem pants would be a better choice, for when running the nursery, less chance of a wardrobe malfunction. The funny thing is that there has also been talk of wearing burqas in church, where only the eyes and hands are visible.
This reminds me of an incident that happened during a Sacrament meeting. I was serving as a “Ward Missionary” in a small branch in inner-city Ft. Worth, TX, that was 5 minutes from my house. I had to serve as a “Ward Missionary” to go to that ward because my actual districted ward was 30 minutes away and I just didn’t feel like driving. But anyway, as a Ward Missionary, I was First Counselor in the Primary, which in our branch, meant that I was the de facto substitute teacher for any and all Primary classes and was also kid wrangler during singing time and Sacrament Meeting presentations.
So the children were singing during Sacrament meeting, and one of the Sunbeams decided to make a break for it. I bent down and grabbed the kid, but when I stood up, I discovered that I had my foot on the hem of my floor-length, elastic-waist skirt. And let’s just say that everyone in that Sacrament meeting knew that I had been endowed.
That being said, I think it’s odd that everyone is focused on the clothes issue and not the basic issue behind the protest. The protest, being manifested by pants, is that women want to hold the priesthood in the Mormon church and don’t think that it is fair that they do not. If a bunch of women decided to wear, I don’t know, black button-up shirts and pants to protest women not being able to be priests in the Catholic church, I don’t think I would be very happy about that. Especially because my priests wear cassocks, so it would be weird having real priests in skirts, essentially, and the Womyn “Priests” in pants.
Being a Mormon-to-Catholic convert, oddly enough, I have never had an issue with an all-male priesthood. And I actually feel more comfortable in my Extraordinary Form parish, where the male and female roles, both liturgically and socially, are very clearly defined and very old fashioned. One time a bunch of the altar flower team were in the kitchen, and we talked about how we
liked being able to be ladies, and doing the “lady” things for the parish like cooking and cleaning, and letting the men do the “men” things like landscaping and ushering and heavy lifting and whatnot. It’s nice to know that the men there respect the women simply because they are women, and that the boys in the church are learning to do things like open doors for women and treat them with respect.
And it’s not like I’m that old-fashioned - I work for the Catholic church in an IT communications role, a job I wouldn’t have except for the changes in the role of the laity post-VII. But it’s nice to be thought of as a Lady, and it’s nice to be taken care of by the community as a Lady. And it’s nice to have “manly” priests, even if they do run around in skirts and satin a lot of the time.
