Priesthood Quorums' Table

Priesthood Quorums'^ Table

High Priests in Granite Stake.— It appears from the 1912 annual report of the High Priests Quorum of the Granite stake of Zion that there are in that stake 429 High Priests, an increase of 43 over 1911. Among them there are 31 stake officers; 63 bishops and counselors; 138 who are laboring in the Sunday School, the Mutual, and in other ward work outside of the bishoprics; 112 who are 70 years and over; 11 patriarchs, and 20 who are disabled or infirm under 70 years. There are only 79 who are not engaged in ward or Priesthood duties; 336 out of the total number attend sacrament meetings, and 246 attended Monday evening Priesthood meetings one or more times. There are five members who are engaged in the general Church work outside of the stake; namely, one apostle, one presiding bishop, two on the General Sunday School board, and one on the Y. M. M. I. A. board.

Certificates of Membership. —The annual, circular of the Bishop's Office, for 1913, contains the following instructions relating to membership:

"Certificates of membership should be presented with the least possible delay. If for any sufficient reason members are not able to be present when the certificates of membership are presented, they may still be received by the vote of the congregation. Certificates of membership presented to a ward should be retained for reference, and new ones issued when members remove. In no instance should old certificates of membership be returned as a notice of removal to another ward."

Where persons absolutely refuse to be identified in the ward and do not desire to become identified with the Church the following instructir s of the annual circular should apply:

"If a recommend is received by a bishop for a person residing in hisward who expressly desires not to be a member thereof, or of the Church, and who requests that his name be stricken from the records, such person should be summoned before the bishopric and if he still feels that he does not desire to have a membership in the Church he should be dealt with."

Priests Quorums. — One of the stakes report that it has organized, or appointed, apresidency of the Priests Quroums for the stake. So far, we have not heard of a similar arrangement made in any other stake of Zion. There is objection to forming one Priests quorum for a stake, and that is that the Lord has placed the bishop as president of the Priests Quorum and has required him to sit in council with them

518 IMPROVEMENT ERA and teach them their duties. This could not be done with the quorum in a stake capacity. The bishop of each ward should preside over the Lesser Priesthood of the ward by virtue of his bishopric. If each bishop of a ward will take personal charge of the Priests, there will soon be enough to carry on the work in the ward, and the bishop will find young men enough of suitable age and capacity to be Priests, to form a quorum. We hope that each bishop will enter into the spirit of this calling, and feel that it is his duty to teach the Priests their duties, and to be his aids and assistants in the ward. This does not preclude a committee of two or more members of the High Council being appointed to look after the work of the Priests, and aid and assist the bishops in this important duty and calling, where so desired.

— The manner of receiving new members into the ward. It has been asked what the manner of receiving new members into a ward, and what action should be taken where they neglect or refuse to be present at the ward meeting, to be admitted to fellowship. It is, indeed, very desirable that the members of the Church should be present when their certificates of membership are submitted to the Saints for the purpose of their being admitted to fellowship in the ward. In many wards the practice is being followed for the bishop or a merj3.be of the bishopric to call on those who have arrived in the ward, "welcome them, and make other inquiries. Certificates of membership are then applied for, and later the ward teachers or Priests call upon them, notify them of the arrival of the certificates of membership, and invite them to be present at the next meeting. If the visitor finds that through sickness, occupation, or other causes the family, or any member of the family, cannot be present, he so reports. The bishop submits the names of the family to the Saints for fellowship, and, as a rule, they are accepted as members of the ward. If persons show indifference, they should be visited and labored with in kindness, by the ward teachers. If necessary, special teachers may be appointed to call upon such persons to impress upon them their responsibility as Latter-day Saints, and to create a feeling that they will be welcome in the ward. The mission of the Latter-day Saints is to save people; that is the object and the purpose of the gospel, and of the organization that we have. By visiting the wayward, the neglectful, and the indifferent, we but carry out the teachings of Jesus in his remarkable parable concerning the lost sheep. It is to be hoped that the bishops everywhere develop the missionary spirit, and that prominent will brethren, with the right kind of ability and tact, may be called to assist them in laboring with the indifferent and the neglectful Latter-day Saints. This is a subject that might well be taken up by High Councils and bishops.

"Ward Teaching" is the title of a helpful article by Bishop H. H. Blood, that will appear in the April number of the Era.

Mutual Work

M. I. A. Mid-Season Conferences, 1913 To the Stake and Ward Officers, Y. M. and Y. L. M. I. A.: Dear Brethren and Sisters : — The stake superintendents and presidents of the Y. M. and Y. L. M. I. A. are instructed to make arrangements for holding the annual mid-season conferences of their stakes for our organizations, in conformity with the dates given below. Heretofore the dates have been set by the officers of the stakes; but a large proportion of the stakes have neglected holding these conferences, so the General Boards have decided that this year they would set the dates. DATES FOR THE M. I. A. ANNUAL CONFERENCE February 9— Yellowstone, Wayne. — February 16 Fremont, Rigby, Bear River. — February 23 Snowflake, South Sanpete, North Weber, St. Johns, North Davis, Emery, Liberty, Hyrum, Duchesne, Granite, Weber, Parowan, Young. — March 2 Pioneer, Panguitch, San Juan. — March 9 St. George, San Luis, Big Horn, Blackfoot, Summit, Millard, Bannock, Juab, Bingham, Carbon, Salt Lake, Nebo, Malad, Uintah, Kanab. — March 16 Oneida, Union, Benson, Cache, Star Valley, Teton, South Davis, Tooele, Deseret, Ensign, Ogden. — March 23 Box Elder, North Sanpete, Wasatch, Beaver, Jordan, Alpine, Utah, Morgan, Woodruff, Cassia, Alberta, Pocatello. — March 30 St. Joseph, Maricopa, Sevier, Moapa. In case any of the dates are not satisfactory for any reason, the stake superintendents will please notify the General Secretaries of the General Boards immediately, and state the date desired for their conference, after consultation with their stake presidency. The stake officers are expected to conduct these conferences, and not depend on representatives of the General Boards being present. The stake secretaries are requested to send a report to the General Secretaries of the proceedings of the conference and the general condition of the work. PURPOSE OF THE CONFERENCE. The main purposes of these conferences are: First— To check up the work of the associations in the stake to date, enabling the stake officers to have a definite understanding of the condition of the associations in their stake, with a view to suggesting remedies for such organizations as may have fallen down in any line of our work. Second— To discuss and devise plans for an M. I. A. Day and for the summer work of the associations.