This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

For more than a decade, adult Mormons have studied the writings, sermons and moral views of the faith's presidents during Sunday services.

Week after week, LDS women and men, learning separately, have heard the voices of the various men whom Mormons view as "prophets, seers and revelators."

Because The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has an all-male priesthood, there has been no similar attention to the faith's female leaders, writers or teachers.

Feminist Mormon Housewives is seeking to balance that by publishing excerpts from one particularly beloved woman: Chieko Okazaki.

A Hawaiian-born Mormon convert of Japanese descent, Okazaki was raised a Buddhist but joined the LDS Church at age 15. She eventually moved to Utah, where she lived with her husband, Ed, and two sons, and taught elementary school.

It was also where she faced virulent anti-Japanese opposition.

In 1961, Okazaki became the first person of color ever to serve on an LDS general board, and, nearly 30 years later, was called as a counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency.

The dynamic Okazaki emerged as one of the most popular speakers and writers the church had ever seen — her books routinely outsold those penned by male general authorities.

She was one of the first speakers to address, in a church setting, the question of sexual abuse, longtime friend Kathleen Flake told The Salt Lake Tribune when Okazaki died in 2011, and to discuss balancing work and home life; homosexuality; blended families; and coping — as she had — with racism.

"She took real and pressing problems and not only comforted," Flake said then, "but led women in how to constructively engage those problems using the resources of the gospel."

Now, every Sunday in 2015, Feminist Mormon Housewives will publish a short excerpt from Okazaki's writings or speeches.

" 'The Teachings of Chieko Okazaki' series might not be as organized or cohesive as the church publications (we don't have an entire curriculum committee, after all)," writes Sara Katherine Staheli Hanks at FMH, "but we hope that they will provide at least occasional insight, encouragement and spiritual promptings to our readers."

Chieko, as she was fondly known, "was truly a magnificent person," Hanks adds. "Her goodness and wisdom [should be clear] to you in the coming months."

Peggy Fletcher Stack