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Temple Recommends & Church Discipline
Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 2:27 pm
by DavidJTCampbell
Hello,
On the listing of current temple recommends there are several recommends that have not expired but have been taken away by the Bishop for disciplinary reasons. Does anyone know if there is a way to mark this in MLS so that these recommends do not appear in the lists of members with current recommends?
Thanks!
Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 3:22 pm
by lajackson
davidjtcampbell wrote:Hello,
On the listing of current temple recommends there are several recommends that have not expired but have been taken away by the Bishop for disciplinary reasons. Does anyone know if there is a way to mark this in MLS so that these recommends do not appear in the lists of members with current recommends?
There is not. If the bishop is holding the recommend temporarily, it is still a valid and current recommend, even though the member does not have it and cannot use it.
If the bishop has taken the recommend and does not intend to return it, he should advise the stake president, who can see that the recommend is canceled. Once that action is taken, the member should no longer be listed in MLS as having a currently valid recommend.
But if the bishop is just temporarily holding the recommend, its status has not changed.
Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 6:13 pm
by dannykos
There is a problem with the current setup in my opinion. Let's say I or the stake president withdraw someone's recommend on a permanent basis, pending significant discipline. The recommend get's cancelled on MLS - but the ward then gets a notification of change of status of the recommend.
That means that the ward clerk, or my counsellors will immediately see that change - and be able to infer the reason for it (ie. significant discipline). I'd rather not have the notification until the disciplinary council has been completed, to maintain confidentiality as much as possible.
Thank you
Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 12:36 am
by DavidJTCampbell
Thanks lajackson for your response
Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 1:13 am
by russellhltn
lajackson wrote:If the bishop is holding the recommend temporarily, it is still a valid and current recommend, even though the member does not have it and cannot use it.
Question: What is the procedure if a member shows up without a recommend? I know they've acted in situations where it hasn't been activated yet. If they had the ability to do a lookup, the computer system would indicate that they have a valid recommend.
Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 5:04 am
by dannykos
RussellHltn wrote:Question: What is the procedure if a member shows up without a recommend? I know they've acted in situations where it hasn't been activated yet. If they had the ability to do a lookup, the computer system would indicate that they have a valid recommend.
They phone me to check if they're okay. So I presume that's fairly standard practice?
Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 5:14 am
by aebrown
RussellHltn wrote:Question: What is the procedure if a member shows up without a recommend? I know they've acted in situations where it hasn't been activated yet. If they had the ability to do a lookup, the computer system would indicate that they have a valid recommend.
The temple always calls the bishop or stake president to get authorization; the temple would never simply do a lookup and let the person in. This does mean that it's important that the stake president is in the loop and aware that the bishop has taken a particular member's recommend, but in cases of pending discipline that would generally be the case anyway.