Who is the ward's "Young Men Secretary"

[dansmith]

This is a question about callings and responsibilities, but it gets surfaced in the (default) configuration of technology like LCR and Gospel Living.

I was recently called as a ward executive secretary. Broadly, my role is to support the bishopric in their responsibilities. One of their major responsibilities is to act as the presidency of the Aaronic priesthood, supported by quorum presidencies (youth) and advisors (adults).

Meanwhile, the Young Women organization has a dedicated presidency and secretary. In our ward, the Young Women secretary supports her presidency by doing things like sending out a monthly newsletter and creating events in Gospel Living.

It doesn't seem like these sorts of things are my job. For example, I don't have access (by default) to any Aaronic Priesthood-related Circles in Gospel Living; my LCR dashboard doesn't surface anything Aaronic Priesthood-related (again, by default). Nothing in the General Handbook (7.3) specifically mentions Aaronic Priesthood responsibilities.

So... whose job is it to take on "Young Men secretary"-like duties? Of course we can informally arrange this however we like, but how is this typically handled? How is it meant to work?

Some possible answers:

- Delegate to the quorum presidencies. But if there's a task that can be delegated to a quorum secretary, couldn't/shouldn't it also be delegated to a YW class secretary?

- Bishopric takes on the responsibility directly, among their many other responsibilities. Fine for certain tasks, but... there's a reason a Young Women secretary exists.

- Just don't do this stuff. Leading to a Young Men program that is much more disorganized and ad hoc than the Young Women. (I'm guessing this is how it often plays out.)

- Designate an advisor to work with all the quorums and oversee these sorts of secretary duties. Makes sense to me, but I'm not sure this is a common arrangement. In our ward, we have two advisors assigned to each quorum.

[russellhltn]

General Handbook 10.4.1 has your answer

The bishop calls one or two priests to be his assistants in leading the priests quorum. A member of the bishopric may also call a quorum secretary.

A member of the bishopric calls the deacons and teachers quorum presidents. When there are enough Aaronic Priesthood holders to serve, these young men prayerfully consider quorum members to recommend as counselors and a secretary. The bishopric considers their recommendations and extends the callings.

[dansmith]

"The bishop calls one or two priests to be his assistants in leading the priests quorum. A member of the bishopric may also call a quorum secretary."

You're talking about young men who serve as quorum secretaries. There are also young women who serve as class secretaries.

I'm asking about an adult whose role is to perform secretary duties for the whole Aaronic Priesthood organization in the ward, analogous to a Young Women secretary.

[dansmith]

Related to my observation about access in Circles: in Member Tools, under "Bishopric", it lists 3 members of the bishopric, plus the executive secretary and clerks. Under "Aaronic Priesthood Quorums", there's an entry "Presidency of the Aaronic Priesthood"; this lists the 3 members of the bishopric, but not the executive secretary or any clerks. (And, of course, under "Young Women", the "Young Women Presidency" item lists 4 people, the presidency with their secretary.)

This sort of suggests that, at least as far as the Member Tools developers are concerned, the bishopric is meant to fulfill their "Presidency of the Aaronic Priesthood" duties without the support of a secretary.

[russellhltn]

A valid point. Let's try a different angle: 7.3.

The executive secretary works closely with the bishop and his counselors, but he is not a member of the bishopric.

That reinforces your observation. I'm not seeing anything in the duties of an Executive Secretary that would cover the Aaronic Priesthood. There is "prepare agendas as assigned", but the context suggests meeting with the bishopric, not the YM.

There's also the scheduling of appointments for the youth.

Depending on what you're being asked to do, you may need to respond that you don't have the needed rights to do that.