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 Kelly in 2013 founded the group Ordain Women, which has pushed for
gender equality and has appealed to the faith's highest leaders to
seek direction from God on the issue of women joining the
priesthood.
A three-man panel held a church disciplinary hearing for her on
Sunday in Virginia, where she lived until recently, and their
verdict was delivered by email.
"Our determination is that you be excommunicated for conduct
contrary to the laws and order of the Church," Kelly's former
ecclesiastical leader in Virginia, Bishop Mark Harrison, said in the
message. "These conditions almost always last at least one year," it
said, adding that if she showed "true repentance" and gave up
teachings and actions that "undermine the Church, its leaders, and
the doctrine of the priesthood," she could be readmitted.
Kelly, a former Washington human rights attorney, said the decision
forced her out of her community and congregation.
"Today is a tragic day for my family and me as we process the many
ways this will impact us, both in this life and in the eternities,"
she said in a statement.
Kelly is about to move overseas and did not attend the hearing,
sometimes called a church court. Instead she wrote a letter
defending herself and asking to keep her membership.
She has said she continues to believe in Mormon leaders and has
suffered no crisis of faith, but rather has sincere questions about
policies that bar women from the priesthood.
The Ordain Women group say they are steadfast in their faith but
want a more significant role in the life of the Utah-based church
that claims more than 15 million adherents worldwide.
Men ordained to the lay priesthood can perform religious rituals,
including baptisms, confirmations or blessings. Women may only hold
leadership roles in auxiliary organizations.
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"Feminists might go underground for a generation as we've seen in
the past, but their questions aren't going to go away," said Mary
Ellen Robertson, who runs the Sunstone Symposium, a forum on Mormon
culture and scholarship. The church has accused some members of
"actively teaching and publicly attempting to change doctrine" due
to their personal beliefs, and it says Mormon leaders have a duty to
defend the church's fundamental principles.
Kelly's parents Jim and Donna have also suffered for publicly
supporting her activism, being removed from volunteer jobs in their
Provo, Utah congregation and banned from entering Mormon temples.
Jim Kelly, a former bishop who has participated in disciplinary
hearings, said the family was reeling but that the ruling would not
undermine his daughter's faith.
"The people who took this action ... have control over a building,"
he said in an interview. "They do not have control over her
relationship with the Savior. There are no doors that they can
control for that."
(Reporting by Jennifer Dobner; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Will
Dunham)
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