Why are new callings 'secret?'

[wuapinmon]

My wife, Primary Pres, has been having a pill of a time with a new bishopric and callings. Without belaboring the story, let's just say that a counselor told her today that this counselor was released on June 11th, given a new calling (YW2nd), accepted, but was waiting for it to happen in Sacrament. She told my wife that she wishes she could "just do the nursery and nothing else."

My wife, meantime, a week later, gets told by the bishop that they're going to release this counselor due to "fertility issues" and how being in the Primary is hard for her.

Anyway, my wife is furious that she had to act like she didn't know anything for a few weeks, and that she couldn't go to her counselors and pray about who to get to replace her. I don't care about all of the drama, really. I'm just wondering why we have to keep callings so secret in our Church.

In this case, there is no current YW2nd (she got called as Stake YWP), so there's no toes to step on. But, that problem could easily be fixed by not telling the replacement until after the other has been released.

I've heard people try and say that you don't have the calling until you're sustained, but that's poppycock. Our sustaining vote is the epitome of perfunctory, and if we all voted no, the person would still get the calling. I don't see a reason why we keep them secret unless is vestigial from Nauvoo and not wanting to get a line of people griping beforehand about it before a real vote. Help me out here.

[All-American]

I'm with you. I say give a week's notice before putting it up for a sustaining vote.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I think the word you are looking for is "sacred" not secret.

[myboynoah]

I think the word you are looking for is "sacred" not secret.

Thank you for seeing through to the core of this principle.

[jay santos]

She's furious she didn't have more time to pray about a calling? That sounds funny.

[Joe Public]

Optics/plausibility?

[Sullyute]

Just rolling things off the top of my head here are a few reasons that callings are kept secret (sacred) after a person has been interviewed, extended the calling, and the calling accepted...

1. People change their minds. Someone may say yes in the bishops office but after a few days of thinking decide they do not want the calling.

2. New people and/or callings come available at the last minute. Things can change quickly and one person might be a better fit for a calling that comes available at the last second and this allows changes to be made without too much headache.

3. The church values equality and likes to be able to give the information to everyone at the same time. This is an attempt to minimize cliches and circles of insiders amoung the general membership.

4. It also may be a way to keep someone from sabotaging the calling. If members X hears that member Y was picked as the ABC president, member X may march into the bishops office and brow beat the bishop into picking someone else. If the announcement is made in public then it is much harder to subterfuge.

5. Mormonism puts a high emphasis on keeping secrets. The temple rites stress this quality with fear and trembling. Keeping callings secret is an extension of this value and a way to show that you are a faithful follower.

6. It encourages sacrament attendance (especially when it is a new bishop) so that you know what is happening in the ward.

7. Until the calling is made public it is none of your dang business.


That is all that I could think up on the spot.

[Indy Coug]

Just rolling things off the top of my head here are a few reasons that callings are kept secret (sacred) after a person has been interviewed, extended the calling, and the calling accepted...

1. People change their minds. Someone may say yes in the bishops office but after a few days of thinking decide they do not want the calling.

2. New people and/or callings come available at the last minute. Things can change quickly and one person might be a better fit for a calling that comes available at the last second and this allows changes to be made without too much headache.

3. The church values equality and likes to be able to give the information to everyone at the same time. This is an attempt to minimize cliches and circles of insiders amoung the general membership.

4. It also may be a way to keep someone from sabotaging the calling. If members X hears that member Y was picked as the ABC president, member X may march into the bishops office and brow beat the bishop into picking someone else. If the announcement is made in public then it is much harder to subterfuge.

5. Mormonism puts a high emphasis on keeping secrets. The temple rites stress this quality with fear and trembling. Keeping callings secret is an extension of this value and a way to show that you are a faithful follower.

6. It encourages sacrament attendance (especially when it is a new bishop) so that you know what is happening in the ward.

7. Until the calling is made public it is none of your dang business.


That is all that I could think up on the spot.

I have experience with 1 and 2 happening.

[BigFatMeanie]

4. It also may be a way to keep someone from sabotaging the calling. If members X hears that member Y was picked as the ABC president, member X may march into the bishops office and brow beat the bishop into picking someone else. If the announcement is made in public then it is much harder to subterfuge.

That was a good list Sully. Some entries on the list have more potency than others but they all probably contribute in some degree to the policy of keeping callings confidential until they're ready to be publicly announced and sustained.

A corollary to #4 is that along with preventing someone from sabotaging a calling, confidentiality could help prevent people from campaigning for or against a calling. Just imagine the politicking, gossip, and campaigning that will take place, both to be selected and to not be selected, if the ward finds out that Sister X is going to be called to be the new RS president in a few weeks and will need two new counselors.

Most large organizations keep promotions/assignments/terminations, along with the deliberations about those items, confidential until the decision has been made and is ready to be announced. It's a rational practice and the church operates rationally like any large organization would in this regard.

[Paperback Writer]

A corollary to #4 is that along with preventing someone from sabotaging a calling, confidentiality could help prevent people from campaigning for or against a calling. Just imagine the politicking, gossip, and campaigning that will take place, both to be selected and to not be selected, if the ward finds out that Sister X is going to be called to be the new RS president in a few weeks and will need two new counselors.

That reminds me of one of the more humorous episodes in one of my past wards. The current Bishop was being transferred by his company out of state. However, his transfer got moved up and he had to immediately report to his new position. This essentially left the ward without a Bishop and rumors began to circulate on his replacement. Meanwhile, a man started attending regularly after an absence of a few years. During that time, the ward had grown rapidly so only the “old-timers” knew who this guy was. In EQ, this guy is asked to introduce himself since he was thought to be a visitor or another new move in. The man politely gives his introduction saying he’s returned to attending church “after a long vacation”. His friend sitting next to him jokingly quips that it cannot be a mere coincidence that he is back attending church now that the ward needs a new Bishop.

This man, being gregarious in nature and quickly tiring of people coming up to him and introducing themselves thinking he was new in the ward, decided to go on the offensive. So he begins introducing himself to everyone, new and old ward members alike, by shaking hands and declaring “I’m Brother So-and-So, pleasure to meet you, and I’d really like to be your next Bishop”. As background, this was occurring shortly after the 2000 presidential election (Bush v Gore) so politics and campaigning was a topic of frequent conversation. And as rumors continued to circulate on the new Bishop, they did so with the comment of Brother So-and-So’s mock campaign to be the next Bishop.

Finally, a ward conference was scheduled to announce the new Bishop. The out-going Bishop was friends with Brother So-and-So and learned of his mock Bishop campaign while he was out-of-town. When it was the outgoing Bishop’s turn to speak in the ward conference, his first remarks were to issue a “Bishop’s Pardon” to Brother So-and-So in the spirit of President Clinton’s many presidential pardons during his last days in office. That got a good laugh.

[smokymountainrain]

I agree that Sully's list is good and I will add another. There may be times that a calling is extended, but a release doen't happen until some later date. You don't want the person who is going to be released to find out somebody else has been called to their position before they've been informed of the release.