Programs and Policies Newsletter

Manchester Conference. To assure that members of the Church in Great Britain can attend the area conference in Manchester next August, tickets will be made available only to those living within the conference area. Others are asked not to plan to attend, even though they may have a special interest in Great Britain. Seating space is limited and there may be difficulty even in providing for those who live in the conference area.

Interviewing Servicemen. Because servicemen desiring temple recommends cannot always be interviewed conveniently by the mission president or stake president who presides over the area in which they serve, mission and stake presidents (not their counselors) who preside over areas that include or that are near operating temples have authority to interview servicemen and, if the applicant is deemed worthy, countersign their recommends. This authorization requires that any serviceman coming for such an interview must present either a temple recommend or a letter of recommendation signed by the leader of the Church military group to which he belongs.

Church Member/Military Service. Church orientation is now offered at basic military training centers in the United States to help those entering the service to understand the Church programs available to them during this training period. This orientation is a part of the LDS serviceman’s religious services each Sunday as long as he is in basic training.

Unified Admissions Systems. To centralize counseling and admissions data and services, a unified admissions system for all Church institutions of higher learning has been established. Concurrent with this new program is the organization of a Church Admissions Center at Brigham Young University that will serve the entire Church. The new admissions center will utilize the large computer facilities and admissions organization already established at BYU, eliminating a duplication of admissions material for incoming students. Processing of applications by the new system is scheduled to begin in September 1971.

Social Service Task Committee. Church members with social/emotional problems will soon be able to receive help in their own stakes from a corps of professional, Church-employed social workers and nonprofessional stake members who work through regular priesthood channels. Stake presidents have been asked by the First Presidency to form stake social service task committees in each stake, consisting of as many high councilors as the stake president feels are necessary to solve the social problems of the stake. This committee, working together with professional social service workers employed by the Church, will survey its own stake for volunteer members who are capable and willing to help other stake members with social/emotional problems. Called a social service team, these professionals and volunteers will, on the invitation of bishops and through the stake president and stake social service task committee, help to solve problems of drug abuse, alcoholism, rebellious youth, marital problems, and broken homes. The task committee analyzes specific problems in strict confidence to determine whether the problems can be solved best by the task committee, the social service team, an agency of the Church Social Services Department, or some other available resource.

Deseret Clubs. Deseret clubs, which have served groups of LDS college students on many campuses that have had insufficient enrollment to warrant an institute teacher, will be incorporated into the Latter-day Saint Student Association. This change will permit a local priesthood leader, approved by appropriate Church Authorities, to more effectively administer to the needs of these young people.

Seminaries and Institutes. Frank M. Bradshaw has been named an assistant administrator to Joe J. Christensen, recently appointed associate commissioner of education for seminaries and institutes of religion. Elder Bradshaw will initiate a close working relationship between the Department of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion and the Latter-day Saint Student Association.