American Embassy, Beijing July 1992 Robert D. Hales Presiding Bishop Church Headquarters Dear Bishop Hales: During Priesthood Meeting yesterday here in Beijing we were discussing the restoration of the priesthood. Aaronic Priesthood Restoration Day is coming up soon and several members of our group have A.P. age children. It was mentioned that it is now common, if not universal, that when a man is ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood that he is given a priesthood lineage card. I know from experience that when General Authorities perform such ordinations (as Elder Harold B. Lee did for me) that they routinely give out such lineages. As I recall, Elder Lee was ordained by President Heber J. Grant, who was ordained by George Q. Cannon, who was ordained by Brigham Young, who was ordained by the Three Witnesses, who were ordained by Joseph Smith, who was ordained by Peter, James, and John. So my lineage is fairly short. Someone in the group mentioned that it seemed to him that we don't do much these days to keep our young men (and women) as active as was done when we were growing up forty or fifty years ago. There was some desultory talk about its being time to reintroduce an Aaronic Priesthood Awards program (which after a number of years of phenomenal success, was quite properly discontinued when it began to deteriorate into a numbers game). Others thought that the YMMIA and YWMIA Boards should again develop detailed program outlines and the activities schedules which brought us all together on a regular basis, making close friends of the boys and girls within a stake unit -- though perhaps with the singing, drama, athletics, and dance competitions being organized on a regional rather than all-Church basis. We all recognized that stakes have full authority to do these things now. And a good number have strong programs. But talent is not universally distributed (as many of us know from having lived in Mexico and China and some other places where available talent is sometimes stretched rather thin) and it was many thought it had been helpful to have Boards which concentrated some of the strongest talents in the Church to develop detailed programs for the rest of us. May be good ideas have their seasons and we need new approaches when old programs have run their course. And we all recognized that new leadership is always tempted to introduce something to be remembered by. But tradition has its own strengths: and some of us thought that some of the "golden oldies" which had proved their worth might be recycled once they've been out of use for awhile. We agreed that the Consolidated Meeting Schedule might be applied more flexibly. At least locally, it imposes too much burden on families with small children who can't wait out three and a half hours (plus); and it deprives teenagers, non-working sisters, and school-age kids the chance for a mid-week spiritual boost. We wondered whether local leaders might be authorized to at least go back to the two meeting schedule on Sundays, plus mid-week Relief Societies, Primaries, and MIAs where local leadership believes such schedule preferable in their circumstances. We all noticed that unlike our generation, our kids' closest friend are often non-members from school. And while this is fine from many standpoints, it results in considerably more inactivity in the late teens and more marriages to non-members than in our day. I know much of this isn't your bailiwick, but the Presiding Bishops of our day certainly had a leading role in the Young Men's and Young Women's programs, including YMMIA, YWMIA, and the annual A.P. Awards banquets which were very influential in our lives. Can you and your Counselors think about this? More importantly, and to the point upon which I was requested to write this letter, our Priesthood Group also thought it would be a useful boost to the understanding and dedication of Aaronic Priesthood youth to receive a Priesthood Lineage printout at the time of their ordination like their fathers and older brothers when they were ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood. The A.P. we are told in the D&C is also an Eternal Priesthood, and i'm sure you'll agree that Bishops, who after all are the Presidents of the A.P. (and particularly the Priests of the Church) do some pretty important work handling the tithes and offerings, constructing and managing all Church buildings around the world, and otherwise managing the hugely important temporal affairs of the Church. Nor is the work of the Priests who preside at the weekly Sacrament Table, or that of the Deacons who assist the Priests during the Sacrament Service any less important to the overall work of the Lord.. Implementing suggestion: With the new electronic membership record program, it shouldn't take notable additional space to carry the priesthood lineage of each priesthood brother, or to electronically reconstruct it for those who've lost their own. Thus when a new Deacon is ordained, either the ward clerk (or the Presiding Bishop's Office) could readily print out a lineage chart for early presentation. While on this subject, while serving in Bishoprics or Stake Presidencies in Paris, Guatemala, and Mexico, I've mentioned to a number of visiting officials from Salt Lake the idea of also including in the electronic membership record members' educational and professional qualifications, special talents, and avocational interests -- possibly even a coded gross income figure estimated from tithing receipts, and cause of death when one dies. This would greatly facilitate calling people to the increasing number of service missions around the world, as well as making possible any number of useful demographic and sociological studies to help guide Church leaders with respect to program successes and weaknesses and post-retirement mission calls. The records people have consistently said this couldn't be done because of the "Privacy Act". This is nonsense. A substantial and growing number of Church members do not reside in the U.S., so the Privacy Act does not apply. And even for U.S. residents, I doubt that many would be unwilling to sign a Privacy Act waivers to facilitate Church studies and programs (most government employees are routinely expected to sign such waivers). To recapitulate: Our Priesthood Group in China hopes you can 1. Consider reviving the A.P. (and girls') activities/awards programs. 2. Adopt the idea of presenting each newly ordained A.P. member with a lineage card. 3. To facilitate this, include some formerly non-standard information in the electronic membership records. With prayers and best wishes from China for success in your calling,