Community of Christ to Consider
Calls of Women into Two Leading Quorums

For the first time in its 172-year history, Community of Christ will consider the calling of a woman to serve as a member of its Presiding Bishopric. The church will also consider the calling of a woman to its Council of Twelve Apostles, which currently consists of 10 men and two women. These are two of the three leading quorums of the church.

Stassi D. Cramm, Southwest Pacific Region administrator and stewardship commissioner, has been named by church president W. Grant McMurray to fill a vacancy in the Presiding Bishopric, the highest financial council of the church. Mary Jacks Dynes, administrator for the Pacific Northwest Region and the Alaska Development Area, has been named to fill a vacancy in the Council of Twelve Apostles, the lead missionary and field administrative quorum of the church. David D. Schaal, Tri-Stake Mission Center president, has been named to fill a second vacancy in the Council of Twelve. Their designation is subject to the approval of the biennial World Conference to be held April 6-14.

The vacancies will be created by the expected reassignment of Bishop Orval G. Fisher and Apostle Lawrence W. Tyree, and retirement of Apostle A. Alex Kahtava. They have served in their roles since 1996, 1992, and 1988, respectively.

For Cramm and Dynes, their anticipated Conference approval and subsequent ordination will create opportunities for them to serve in a way that continues the church's effort to engage women in increasingly responsible and influential leadership roles throughout the world. As an ordained bishop, Cramm will enter the Presiding Bishopric as a counselor to the presiding bishop. As ordained apostles, Dynes and Schaal will serve as major field administrators with the tasks of developing and supervising the ongoing activity of the church's jurisdictions in a wide variety of functional areas.

Women were first formally ordained as ministers in the church in November 1985. Community of Christ now has 6,448 women in ordained service out of a total of 20,605 ministers, most of whom serve in a self-sustaining capacity. Most of those serve in local jurisdictional settings with 437 in presiding officer roles.

Stassi Cram	Cramm has been a full-time minister since 2000. Prior to World Church appointment, she held several congregational and district offices including worship commissioner, youth choir director, Sunday school teacher, co-pastor, and stewardship commissioner. She holds a B.S. in general engineering from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She completed an M.A. in organizational management from the University of Phoenix while working as a flight test engineer as a federal employee for the United States Air Force. She is pursuing an M.A. in religion from Graceland University, Lamoni, Iowa.
Mary Jacks Dynes	Dynes has been a full-time minister since 1993 and is currently president of the Fifth Quorum of Seventy. Prior to accepting full-time ministerial responsibilities, she was a teacher and counselor at Ridgefield High School, Ridgefield, Washington. She holds degrees including a B.A. in Spanish, English, and American literature from Graceland College, Lamoni, Iowa; an M.A. in counseling psychology from Lewis and Clark, Portland, Oregon; an M.A. in theology from the University of Portland, Portland, Oregon; and a doctorate of ministry focusing on “Evangelism for the 21st Century” from Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C. She has served the church in various positions of leadership including presiding elder, women's ministries leader, congregation and region youth leader, and region Missionary Outreach director.
Dave Schaal	Schaal has been a full-time minister since 1984. Before World Church appointment he was a full-time pastor in Santa Cruz, California. He has served as president of the Tri-Stake Mission Center, pastor of Stone Church congregation, president of Michigan Region, president of Omaha-Council Bluffs Stake, pastor of Council Bluffs Central congregation, Omaha-Council Bluffs Stake missionary director, and in Advanced Leadership Studies. He holds a B.A. in social studies from Graceland College, Lamoni, Iowa, and an M.A. in religion from Park College, Parkville, Missouri.
Orval Fisher	Fisher has been a full-time minister since 1981. His assignments have included counselor to the presiding bishop; bishop of Denver Stake and West Central States Region; treasurer of the North Central Region, Canada and USA; and Advanced Leadership Studies in Independence, Missouri. He is expected to be released from the Presiding Bishopric with the approval of the 2002 World Conference in order to continue serving the church as a full-time field minister.
Alex Kahtava	Kahtava has served as a full-time minister since 1967, including 14 years as a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles. Since 1994 he has been president of the Council of Twelve. His assignments have included director of Field Ministries; the East Central USA/Eastern Canada Mission Field; responsibility for missional dialogue in the nation of Canada; the Southeast Field; senior president of the Council of Presidents of Seventy; president of the Portland Metropole, Portland, Oregon; and administrator of the Ontario, Canada, Region. He is expected to retire with the approval of the 2002 World Conference.
Larry Tyree	Tyree has been a full-time minister since 1985. His assignments have included the West Central USA Mission Field, the West Central States Region, development of Internet Ministries and Young Adult Ministries, Northeast/Europe Field, Young Adult and Campus Outreach Ministries, the Haiti and Caribbean Regions, and Advanced Leadership Studies. He is expected to be released from the Council of Twelve with the approval of the 2002 World Conference in order to continue serving the church full-time in development of international resources, translation ministries, and language training.

Community of Christ Headquarters is located in Independence, Missouri.

Letter regarding the presiding quorums from President W. Grant McMurray to the Councils, Quorums, and Orders, to the World Conference, and to the Church.