The Christian Century

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints isn't changing its tune about homosexuality, but it has launched a new website to alter the tone.

Mormon apostle Jeffrey R. Holland predicted that lowering the age limits for young Mormon missionaries would trigger a "dramatic" uptick in their numbers.

Turns out, "dramatic" was an understatement. Try a 471 percent jump in applications – so far.

c. 2012 Salt Lake Tribune SALT LAKE CITY (RNS)

Call it a change for the ages.

In a surprising move that promises to transform Mormon social and spiritual dynamics, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday (Oct. 6) announced that it is lowering the age of full-time missionary service to age 18 for men (down from 19) and 19 for women (down from 21).

c. 2012 Salt Lake Tribune SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) For some Mormon feminists, there can be only one goal on the road to gender equality: ordination to the all-male priesthood.

c. 2012 Salt Lake Tribune SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) In the summer of 2008, Sarah Irish Nicholson's well-ordered Mormon life was unraveling, and she needed someone to talk to.

c. 2012 Salt Lake Tribune (RNS) Archbishop Michael Seneco, of Washington, D.C., is a gay man who plans to marry his longtime partner in September.

Bishop Jim Morgan, of Ogden, Utah, is also gay and has been with the man he considers his husband for 30 years.

c. 2012 Religion News Service SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) If you suspected the newly released U.S. Religion Census overstated the Mormons' growth rate, you were right. That's because, this time around, the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints changed the way it reported its membership to the researchers.

The Mitt Romney who is on the campaign trail is often depicted as wealthy, wooden and out of touch with the working class. To some, he seems gaffe-prone, detached, even distant.

c. 2012 Salt Lake Tribune (RNS) Britain's Prince Charles kicked off a yearlong celebration of Charles Dickens' 200th birthday on Tuesday (Feb. 7) with a wreath-laying ceremony at London's Westminster Abbey.