LDS Church Makes Women’s Meeting an Official General Conference Session

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced that the General Women’s Meeting held semi-annually is now an official session of the Church’s General Conference.

This meeting is always held on a separate weekend than the rest of the sessions of General Conference, adding to the confusion of if the meeting is included as a session or not. Church spokeswoman, Jessica Moody, clarified this change stating:

[pull_quote_center]The First Presidency has decided that the General Women’s Meeting will be designated as the General Women’s Session of general conference.[/pull_quote_center]

There was some confusion as to whether or not the meeting was included in the general sessions when President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency of the Church, alluded to the Women’s Meeting being the first session. During the meeting, which took place on September 27, 2014, Uchtdorf opened his remarks by saying:

[pull_quote_center]I am honored to have this opportunity to be with you as we open another general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the coming week the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles will meet with all the General Authorities and general auxiliary leaders, and the remaining sessions of our worldwide general conference will follow on the coming Saturday and Sunday.[/pull_quote_center]

Although Uchtdorf implied the change had taken place, the Church had not officially recognized the change until recently. There is no indication that the Women’s Meeting will be moved to the General Conference weekend, but according to FOX13, Moody says that is a change that may come later on.