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Join us for this one-time-only recording of our FIRST Latter Day Struggles "Live Fellowship"!

What is this, you ask? Valerie has decided to offer a gathering place for those on the LDS and surrounding faith expansion journey wanting consistent (2x/month!) connection with her to go deeper into the mind & heart expanding content on both the Monday and Friday tracks of the Latter Day Struggles podcast.

In this opening gathering, Valerie explored with those in attendance how both The Family Proclamation to the World and the call of Clark Gilbert to the Q12 are reflections of a historical moment and a choice point that all organizations confront as they grow. The question?

Do we adapt to a more connected and pluralistic world that is experiencing an awakening of light and truth? Or do we double down in fear-based conformity?

This amazing interactive Fellowship Live episode gives you a taste of how your faith journey can move beyond a passive listening experience and towards active healing and connection with other seekers like yourself.

Jump in now and you can become a founding shaper of the first cohesive and intentional community of individuals whose LDS faith journey was an entry point into their greatest spiritual growth and evolution.

If you listened and this is for you, jump into the Latter Day Struggles LIVE FELLOWSHIP by clicking on the link below and enroll.

Timestamps:

00:00 Welcome: Why Seeing Faces Matters

00:51 Building a Faith-Expansion Community

02:33 What a "Sangha" Is

04:14 How the Fellowship Works

05:23 What This Space Is (and Isn't)

07:43 Ground Rules: Staying with Growth

09:28 Why Context Heals

10:48 The Family Proclamation & Clark Gilbert

13:57 America and the LDS Church as Parallel Institutions

15:52 Master Narratives & Threatened Identity

19:38 Retrench or Adapt: The Choice Point

27:00 Discussion: Authoritarian Systems vs. Healthy Communities

32:54 Pocket Communities Over Polarization

34:08 Seeing the System with Compassion

37:50 Why Narrative Change Feels Threatening

40:00 High-Level Language vs. Real-Life Details

42:42 Moving Beyond Fixed Rules

46:45 Transcend & Include

51:37 Rethinking Prophecy

56:13 Our Role in the Larger Awakening

01:00:16 Closing: Breakout Groups & What's Next

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Series Title: What does the Family Proclamation Mean to You? [Episode II of II]

This episode of Latter Day Struggles continues a two-part conversation about the LDS Church's Proclamation on the Family, examining the tension between claims of unchanging doctrine and the historical reality of doctrinal evolution.

Petrey demonstrates through historical analysis that LDS teachings on gender, sexuality, marriage, and family have repeatedly changed over time—from positions on interracial marriage and the priesthood ban, to birth control prohibitions, plural marriage, conversion therapy for LGBTQ individuals, and women wearing pants.

The conversation highlights how church leaders have consistently taught that their current positions were "unchanging doctrine" until those positions eventually changed, creating a pattern that contradicts claims of doctrinal fixity. Petrey offers a constructive framework for understanding doctrine as historically contingent and evolving—consistent with the LDS concept of continuing revelation—rather than eternally fixed.

The Family Proclamation

Op Ed by Taylor Petrey

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction and Welcome

00:19 - Overview of the Proclamation to the Family

01:19 - Recap: Last Week's Discussion

01:31 - Defining Doctrine and Authority

02:08 - What Does 'Doctrine' Mean to Members?

03:48 - The Salvational Weight of Doctrine

05:31 - Elder Rasband's Talk and Proclamation Analysis

09:40 - Historical Changes in LDS Doctrine

11:41 - Race, Interracial Marriage, and Doctrinal Change

13:14 - Birth Control and Plural Marriage

15:11 - History vs. Faith-Promoting Narratives

17:34 - Redefining Doctrine: Making Space for Change

20:06 - Conversion Therapy and Evolving LGBTQ Positions

22:31 - Holding Contradictory Positions Simultaneously

25:31 - Challenges of Authoritarianism in the Church

28:09 - Religious Authority Across Denominations

32:33 - Who Defines History vs. Who Defines Doctrine?

34:22 - Doctrine as Continuing Revelation

35:15 - Concluding Thoughts and Future Directions

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Support the show

Listen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES

Friday Episodes Annual Access $89

Friday Episodes Monthly Access $10

Valerie’s Support & Processing Groups

Gift a Scholarship

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Series Title: What does the Family Proclamation Mean to You? [Episode I of II]

Welcome to this two-part series where Valerie welcomes returned guest scholar Taylor Petrey to discuss the LDS Church's Family Proclamation to the World as it reaches its 30th anniversary.

The heart of the episode centers on Taylor's controversial Salt Lake Tribune opinion piece in September 2025 (linked below) arguing that The Family Proclamation should be understood as commentary rather than revelation or unchanging doctrine. This characterization sparked significant pushback from conservative church members who insisted the document represents eternal, unchanging truth.

Taylor and Valerie explore the complex and often inconsistent ways that the LDS Church uses terms like doctrine, revelation, policy, and commentary, noting how these categories shift depending on context and speaker. They discuss how the proclamation itself has been reinterpreted over time and set you up for the second part of their conversation where they dive deeply into the changing interpretations themselves.

The Family Proclamation

Op Ed by Taylor Petrey

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

00:11 Discussing the Family Proclamation

01:48 Cultural and Political Context

04:20 Historical Background of Family Proclamations

07:04 The 1995 Proclamation and Its Impact

13:21 Opinion Piece and Public Reaction

24:43 Controversy and Clarifications

27:57 Historical Changes in Church Teachings

28:33 Modern Reinterpretations of Doctrine

30:42 Balancing Eternal Truths and Continuing Revelation

32:58 The Controversy of Words and Authority

36:15 Revelation vs. Policy: A Case Study

38:10 The Fluidity of Revelation

43:45 The Role of Commentary in Church Doctrine

48:20 Setting Up for the Next Episode

51:36 Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Support the show

Support the show

Listen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES

Friday Episodes Annual Access $89

Friday Episodes Monthly Access $10

Valerie’s Support & Processing Groups

Gift a Scholarship

Download Free Resources

Visit our Website