Tech Forum

when I try to produce lists of High Priests by sorting I get all males rather than just HP. If I choose Elders, I get only elders.

Are you sure you're not getting HP with Prospective Elders mixed in?

Are prospective elders supposed to be in the HP list?

johnstacer wrote:Are prospective elders supposed to be in the HP list?

By default, yes, MLS will put prospective elders with the High Priests. You can manually move specific prospective elders to the Elder's quorum but whenever a prospective elder moves in or turns 19 they will be put in the High Priests.

then how does the Elders Quorum keep track of Prospective elders?
Why are PE put in with HP?

johnstacer wrote:then how does the Elders Quorum keep track of Prospective elders?

The members list in the Elders Quorum organization has a "Priesthood" column. The prospective elders will be listed with an Aaronic Priesthood office. The most typical office will be Priest. To make locating all the prospective elders in the Elders Quorum the membership list can be sorted by the "Priesthood" column to get all the prospective elders either at the first of the list or the last.

johnstacer wrote:Why are PE put in with HP?

The default organization for prospective elders is the High Priests Group in MLS. There is no automatic organization for prospective elders to belong, but MLS needs a default or some place to put a male member age 19 or older. Handbook 2, 7.6, has information about prospective elders. I do not have access to Handbook 1, but I believe there is more detailed guidance in section 16.7.

johnstacer wrote:then how does the Elders Quorum keep track of Prospective elders?

As indicated in Handbook 2 7.6.1 the bishop and the quorum and group leaders should council together to determine whether the Elders or High Priests can best help each prospective elder. The clerk should then assign each prospective elder to the the correct quorum.

johnstacer wrote:Why are PE put in with HP?

A few years ago (before the new handbooks came out) there was a letter from the First Presidency that said that the High Priests should take primary responsibility for fellowshipping and assisting prospective elders. Soon after MLS was adjusted so that prospective elders were assigned to the High Priests by default. A year or two later the new Handbooks came out which (as indicated above) emphasize an individual approach rather than a blanket responsibility. However, as MLS needs some default I expect the church leadership didn't think there was any need to change how MLS works. The default will be correct for some and incorrect for others regardless of which quorum is the default.