40 years ago today - Mar 2,1980

Introduction of "Consolidated Meeting Schedule" of three-hours on Sundays. This eliminates week-day meetings of auxiliaries, as well as traditional twice daily Sunday meetings. This eases transportation and weekly scheduling but erodes fellowshipping opportunities and diminishes tightly knit social environment of LDS Wards. By 1996, this has severely diminished emotional ties of North American Mormon youth to LDS community, eroding what is called "Mormon ethnic identity." Most dramatic manifestation of this trend is fact that for first time in Mormon history, young women cease LDS participation at greater percentages than young men (according to general authority Jack H. Goaslind's statement in BYU Daily Universe, 31 Aug 1992). Likewise, despite absolute increase in missionary numbers, proportion of Mormon males who accept full time missions has decreased significantly in North America.

[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, Appendix 5, Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1848-1996, http://amzn.to/extensions-power]