Salt Lake City ? In his first official address, the new president of the Mormon church called upon the faith’s men and boys to strive to be steadfast examples of virtue in a “complex world.”

“We have been placed on Earth in troubled times,” Thomas S. Monson said in prepared remarks Saturday night. “We live in a complex world with currents of conflict everywhere to be found.”

Monson spoke at the 21,000-seat church conference center to a gathering of men and boys in the faith’s lay priesthood, calling them a “chosen generation.” At age 12, all worthy Mormon males can be ordained.

The session, which prohibits attendance by women, was also broadcast to church facilities worldwide via satellite.

“Ours is the task to be fitting examples,” Monson said, before adding a direct message to church youth. “My young friends, be strong. You know what is right and wrong … be the one to make a stand for right, even if you stand alone.”