SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — While Kate Kelly's former church leaders meet in Virginia on Sunday night to decide if she'll be ousted from her church, the founder of a prominent Mormon women's group will hold a vigil in Salt Lake City along with hundreds of her supporters.
Kelly has decided not attend the disciplinary hearing in her former congregation. Instead, she has sent in a letter she wrote and about 1,000 letters from supporters.
It's unknown when Kelly will be notified of the decision, but she could find out by email Sunday night.
FILE - In this April 5, 2014, file photo, Kate Kelly leads a Mormon's women group pushing the church to allow women in the priesthood march to Temple Square during the two-day Mormon church conference, in Salt lake City. While Kelly's former church leaders meet in Virginia on Sunday night, June 22, to decide if she'll be excommunicated, Kelly, the founder of a prominent Mormon women's group will hold a vigil in Salt Lake City along with hundreds of her supporters. As the leader of group Ordain Women, Kelly is accused of apostasy, which is repeated and public advocacy of positions that oppose church teachings. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
She was shocked to find out earlier this month from her bishop that she is facing excommunication from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which she is a lifelong member. The leader of Ordain Women is accused of apostasy, defined as repeated and public advocacy of positions that oppose church teachings.
Kelly, an international human rights lawyer, said she stands behind everything she has done since forming Ordain Women in 2013. The group advocates for gender equality in the faith with the ultimate goal of allowing women in the lay clergy. Kelly insists that she has not spoken out against church leaders or church doctrine.
Women can hold many leadership positions in church, but aren't allowed to be bishops of congregations or presidents of stakes. Stakes are made up of up to a dozen congregations, known as wards. The church's highest leaders, called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, are also all men.
The church says only men serve in the lay clergy as prescribed in "the pattern set by the Savior when it comes to priesthood ordination."
Mormon officials aren't discussing Kelly's case specifically. They say that there is room for questions and sincere conversations about the faith, but that some members' actions "contradict church doctrine and lead others astray."
Mormon church spokeswoman Ally Isom said recently on KUER's radio program "Radio West" that the church is open to discussing gender equality in appropriate venues.
"It is not what is being said — it is how it is being said that becomes problematic," Isom said. "When you use a grammatical ultimatum — Ordain Women — that presents a problem. ... It's really a matter of intent, a matter of method."
Kelly's group drew rebukes from church leaders in April when they marched on church property in downtown Salt Lake City's Temple Square. The women asked to be allowed in a meeting reserved for members of the priesthood, which includes most males in the church who are 12 and older. Church leaders had previously told the group they wouldn't be let in and warned them not to disturb the faith's biannual general conference that weekend.
Mormon church officials say the women's group views represent only a small fraction of church members.
Kelly is one of two well-known Mormons facing excommunication. John Dehlin, an outspoken advocate for gays and the creator of a website that provides a forum for church members questioning their faith, has a meeting with his stake president in Logan on June 29 to discuss his case.
FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2013, file photo, the angel Moroni statue, silhouetted against a cloud-covered sky, sits atop the Salt Lake Temple, in Temple Square, in Salt Lake City. While Kate Kelly’s former church leaders meet in Virginia on Sunday, June 22, 2014, to decide if she’ll be ousted from her religion, the founder of a prominent Mormon women's group will hold a vigil in Salt Lake City along with hundreds of her supporters. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
Scholars who study the Mormon religion say Kelly and Dehlin are the most high-profile examples of excommunication proceedings since 1993. That year, the church disciplined six Mormon writers who questioned church doctrine, ousting five and kicking out a sixth only temporarily.
Jan Shipps, a retired religion professor from Indiana who is a non-Mormon expert on the church, said church leaders are practicing "boundary maintenance," using Kelly and Dehlin as examples to show people how far they can go in questioning church practices.
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