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If the shoes, er, pants fit, wear ’em
The slack-ers, so to speak, became trendsetters.
Friday marks the 10th anniversary of Wear Pants to Church Day, a grassroots effort that encouraged women to don slacks to their Sunday meetings on Dec. 16, 2012, as a way to highlight gender inequity in the Utah-based faith.
Men were urged to show their support by putting on purple shirts, ties or socks (the color purple carries historic ties to the suffrage movement).
Since that day in 2012, some dress issues have been, well, addressed. Female missionaries now can wear slacks (though not at Sunday services) as can women who work for the church at its headquarters and its schools.
While dresses and skirts remain the norm at most Latter-day Saint services, pants have hardly worn out their welcome. And for those congregations still allowing Zoom meetings, PJs may be the attire of choice for many members.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Full-time female missionaries now can wear dress slacks during much of their proselytizing service.
From Saint to saint
A former Latter-day Saint is on the path to becoming a Catholic saint.
Cora Louise Evans was born in 1904 in Ogden, according to the Catholic National Register, and married in the Salt Lake Temple before growing disillusioned with Mormonism.
“I was without a God and religion but had gained a very wonderful husband. As I looked at him and learned to love him more and more, I resolved to help find a God for him,” she once said. “...After 10 years of searching, we found the one true God in the Roman Catholic Church.”
She also found — and wrote about — profound visions (some dating to her childhood), the article notes, witnessing the Virgin Mary and many events in Christ’s life. California’s Diocese of Monterey says she also experienced “stigmata,” the Los Angeles Times reports, suffering unexplained wounds matching those Jesus endured during his crucifixion.
Evans, who died in 1957, recorded her encounters in “The Refugee From Heaven,” which is now among the thousands of pages of documents being studied after U.S bishops voted to see whether this Catholic mystic is worthy of beatification and canonization.
The latest ‘Mormon Land’ podcast: Understanding marriage
(Courtesy) Rachel Rueckert, author of “East Winds: A Global Quest to Reckon With Marriage."
Rachel Rueckert discusses her new memoir, “East Winds: A Global Quest to Reckon With Marriage,” about her first year as a newlywed and what she learned about herself, her relationships, her past and her faith during the couple’s yearlong backpacking honeymoon. Listen to the podcast.
From The Tribune
(Patrick Semansky | AP) President Joe Biden signs the Respect for Marriage Act on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington.
• As clear proof the church is all-in on the amended Respect for Marriage Act, it sent representatives to attend Tuesday’s bill signing, while issuing a release lauding the new law’s religious protections.
• The number of Latter-day Saints has declined in 17 of Utah’s 29 counties during the past decade. See other membership trends in the Beehive State.
• A stained-glass window from a soon-to-be-razed First Congregational Church is going to find a new home in a Latter-day Saint temple.
• Latter-day Saint scholar Dan McClellan has become a TikTok star as he debunks Bible conspiracies, misinformation.
• Citing the church’s “misguided” backing of the Respect for Marriage Act, two leading conservatives make their case as to why the faith’s top leaders should stay out of politics in these excerpts from last week’s “Mormon Land” podcast.
• How did an organ made by Latter-day Saints in Utah wind up in a Catholic monastery in Iowa?
