Leeny answered...

This is a question I had to really consider before joining the Church. My mother is a non-denominational chaplain, and both my sisters are pastors. Female leadership in church settings is very important to my family.

It is to me as well. I think many people become offended when they learn that only men hold the priesthood because they misunderstand it. The priesthood is a tool given to men in order that they might serve others more. It does not in any way give them power or dominion over women. Those people who suppose the priesthood is a way to control others are deeply mistaken.

My husband is a priesthood holder, this means I am too. I have claim on my husband's priesthood power. Even more than he does. If I am sick, discouraged, or in need of help I can call upon my husband to give me a blessing through the priesthood that he holds. I then recieve many blessings because of my husband's worthiness to work in behalf of Christ. My husband is never able to give himself a blessing though. If he is sick or discouraged he must call on other priesthood holders to administer to him. My husband holds the priesthood so that he can bless me and our child - never himself.

The priesthood is the power of Christ on the earth. It allows those who hold it to serve their families in the same way Christ served the Church. Did Christ do any deed for himself during his earthly ministry? No. Christ spent all his energy serving the people. This is what the priesthood does for my husband. It infuses him with Christ's compassion and ability to love, and then my husband is able to use that celestial love in our family.

Why don't women also recieve this special gift then? The simple answer is women don't need it. As women we are innately endowed with compassion, selflessness, and love. Think about the way a mother loves her child. I believe there is nothing more pure and similar to Christ's love for us, than a mother's love for her children. Women naturally have the ability to love as Christ does.

In an ideal situation, which is what God always intended for us, there are two partners in marriage. There is the husband and father, a priesthood leader who can be called upon to administer blessings and serve in Christ's name. And there is also the wife and mother, who is blessed with the ability to love as Christ loves and sacrifice for her family. These are two seperate and divinely appointed roles. Each complementing the other. Both make a complete home.

Women do not hold the priesthood because they do not need it. Women have other God-given powers that raise them up to the task they are called to. A man is appointed to serve his wife and children - it is the power of the priesthood that enables him to do this.

I am grateful to have a husband who is worhty to use the priesthood in my behalf. It has blessed me many times and I know that it is a special gift from God - not only to my husband, but to me as well.