Tech Forum

I notice in MLS that there are some offices in the PH that cannot be entered under "Ordinances" in MLS.

Our Patriarch does not show an ordination to the office of Patriarch in the Melchizedek PH, only as a HP. He does show Patriarch as a calling but not as ordained. The same is true of the Aaronic PH Office of Bishop.

Any explanation is appreciated.

barryhill wrote:I notice in MLS that there are some offices in the PH that cannot be entered under "Ordinances" in MLS.

Our Patriarch does not show an ordination to the office of Patriarch in the Melchizedek PH, only as a HP. He does show Patriarch as a calling but not as ordained. The same is true of the Aaronic PH Office of Bishop.

Any explanation is appreciated.

That's just the way MLS works. It only tracks the ordinations for High Priest and Elder. But the ordinations for Bishop and Partiarch are tracked at CHQ. We can only guess why that is so. My personal guess is that since wards and stakes are not allowed to ordain bishops and patriarchs without approval from appropriate general authorities, CHQ has to be involved with those ordinations already and they have to make sure the appropriate approvals have happened before recording them. So there is no reason to allow them to be recorded in MLS.

Also, for ward purposes the ordinations to bishop and patriarch aren't relevant for quorum membership. Each belongs to and meets with the high priests quorum. There is no bishop's or partriarch's quorum. The bishop is the president of the Priest's quorum but only as long as he has the calling of bishop. Once he is released he is no longer president of the Priest's quorum even though he still holds the office of bishop.

Makes sense I guess. I just figured that even though it would not allow entry at the ward level that it would be documented in the system like sealings, endowments etc. so it would print out on the IOS.

There's some helpful information in the older topic Ordination to the office of Patriarch, including the fact that these ordinations are recorded in CDOL (but some of the information is out of date -- for example, New Patriarch Recommendation forms can be submitted through MLS; they used to be on paper only).

For a bishop the stake does record the ordination (in the Leader and Unit Change Request).

I'm guessing that part of the reason they are treated differently is that they don't affect your priesthood line of authority like Elder, High Priest and Apostle ordinations do.

It would sure be nice for the stake to be able to run a report to see who your ex-bishops are

mlh78 wrote:It would sure be nice for the stake to be able to run a report to see who your ex-bishops are

What would you do with that list? Sometimes we can suggest other ways to get what you need depending on what you are trying to do.

eblood66 wrote:That's just the way MLS works. It only tracks the ordinations for High Priest and Elder.

It also tracks ordination to the office of Seventy.

jonesrk wrote:

mlh78 wrote:It would sure be nice for the stake to be able to run a report to see who your ex-bishops are

What would you do with that list? Sometimes we can suggest other ways to get what you need depending on what you are trying to do.

Our stake is in a fast growing area with constant move ins. It would just be another tool for the stake presidency and bishops to identify strengths and resources among the priesthood.

It would also be helpful when submitting recommendations for bishops by providing the information to answer the question about whether they have previously served and, if so, where and when. Without this report, we either have to call church headquarters or beat around the bush to get the information.

mlh78 wrote:

jonesrk wrote:

mlh78 wrote:It would sure be nice for the stake to be able to run a report to see who your ex-bishops are

What would you do with that list? Sometimes we can suggest other ways to get what you need depending on what you are trying to do.

It would also be helpful when submitting recommendations for bishops by providing the information to answer the question about whether they have previously served and, if so, where and when. Without this report, we either have to call church headquarters or beat around the bush to get the information.

I was going to suggest searching for them in CDOL (which is what I would do), but then I tried it as you and Stake callings don't have enough rights to see historical bishop's (out of your stake).

For now all I can say is, for this use there are improvements coming.