In October 1995, at the General Relief Society meeting of the Latter-day St. General Conference,

then President Gordon B. Hinkley presented the family, a proclamation to the world.

It was the fifth of six proclamations. We now have seven, the most recent being the proclamation on the Restoration in 2020.

Church communications come in a variety of modes.

Official declarations, as we talked about in our last podcast, are faced inwardly

and dictate a significant shift in church doctrine or policy.

They're then accepted by the body of the church by the law of common consent.

The first proclamation in 1841 was given to the saints scattered abroad,

but in contrast, since then, proclamations have been generally oriented outward toward the rest of the

world. President Hinckley considered the proclamation a reaffirmation of standards, doctrines,

and practices relative to the family. While not canonized as scripture,

the proclamation holds an important place in Latter-day Saint thought, practice, and belief.

My name is Janice Johnson. I'm a Willis Center Research Associate at the Institute, and I'm

here with Joseph Stewart, public communication specialist at the Maxwell Institute. We will be discussing each week's block of reading from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

Come Follow Me, curriculum.

We aren't here to present a lesson, but rather hit on a few key themes from the Scripture block that we believe will help fulfill the Maxwell Institute's mission

to inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their

testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and engage the world of religious ideas.

Hi, Joey.

Hey, Janice. How are you?

I am well. We're winding things up.

Yeah, it's been a great six months being able to go through the Doctrine and Covenants in the

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