Priesthood
In the RLDS church, there are Prophets (Presidents of the RLDS church), Apostles, High Priests, Bishops, Patriarchs, seventy, Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons. Although some members of the higher priesthood offices (such as High Priests, Seventy and Patriarchs) still survive within the Restoration Branches movement, for many years, the sect was only able to ordain elders, priests, teachers, and deacons due to the scattered conditions they perceived in their Church.
At the October 2008 United States National Conference (Joint Conference of Restoration Branches) several individuals were ordained to the office of Seventy. These are the first new ordinations to that office recognized by any Restoration Branches group in over 20 years. Others have been since called and ordained to the office of Sevently, and at the 2011 conference, several individuals were ordained to the office of High Priest. However, there is still debate within the Restoration Branches movement as to whether or not the ordinations were legitimate.
Read more about this topic: Restoration Branches
Famous quotes containing the word priesthood:
“The priesthood is a marriage. People often start by falling in love, and they go on for years without realizing that that love must change into some other love which is so unlike it that it can hardly be recognised as love at all.”
—Iris Murdoch (b. 1919)
“The priesthood in many ways is the ultimate closet in Western civilization, where gay people particularly have hidden for the past two thousand years.”
—Bishop John Spong (b. 1931)