Is he called a priest, minister, or what.
As there is no paid clergy in mormonism, it’s a temporary lay position. The bishop is the spiritual leader of a ward (parish), he has 2 counselors. He holds the position for typically about a year. It’s been a long time since I was an active mormon, I’m sure one will come along and verify/correct me.
I think the way it works is that there is no one priest or minister – all the men over a certain age are considered priests, and offices such as bishop (I don’t know what Mormon bishops do) are voluntary. They don’t have a paid clergy as such, anyway, though I suspect the higher-ups get some sort of compensation for what they do.
So, say you had a panel of people from different faiths. A Catholic Priest, a Lutheran minister and a Mormon priest.
You’d have Father X, Reverand Y and what for the Mormon? Just Mister Z?
Bishop Hansen, or Stake President Harmon.
As BMax said, the leader of the local congregation (ward) is a Bishop. A group of several wards, similar to a Catholic diocese, is called a stake, presided over by a Stake President.
Yep. But a bishop generally serves for about 5 years.
I just wanted to say that “suspect” might not have been a good word choice; it’s got to be a full-time job to be one of the people running a big organization like the Mormon church, is all, and I’d be incredibly surprised if they, unlike the local leadership, get paid.
What you might also find interesting is that in the Mormon church, 16-18 year old boys are known as “priests.”
Most of the jobs are unpaid. Bishops, stake presidents, and so on don’t get paid (and of course all the other jobs everyone else does). Once the work gets to be full-time, at the Quorum of the Seventy or Apostle level or whatever, they get living stipends according to need. By then, however, many of them have reached retirement age and have savings. The stipends don’t add up to much, and some apostles (and the president) live in the Church-owned apartments by Temple Square in Salt Lake.
IIRC, mission presidents don’t get paid even though it’s full-time and not at home; it’s a three-year calling and then you go home again. Missionaries, of course, pay their own way out of savings (it costs $350/month for a young man or woman, but I don’t know about the older couples).
Hope that helps.
Priests ?
The two young men who knocked on my door introduced themselves as “elders.”
My reading of Titus 1:5 I left you on the island of Crete because I wanted you to straighten out things that still needed to be done and to confirm elders in each town as I told you. 6 An elder must be above suspicion, must be a faithful, married man,• must have faithful children … tells me that an elder of the Lord’s church must not only be married but have faithful children!
This confounded them and they decided to proceed to greener pastures to proselyte.
Minor correction - the verb is to proselytise.
The young men of the church are ordained to the “priesthood” at the age of 12, when they become Deacons. At 14 they become Teachers and at 16 Priests. Typically at the age of 19 they are called as missionaries and ordained as Elders (of course based on personal worthiness and willingness to accept the calling).
Each of these offices has specific duties and responsibilities. For example, the Deacons pass the Sacrament (eucharist) to the congregation. Teachers have the responsibility to prepare the sacrament table, and the Priests officiate in blessing the emblems of the sacrament. An Elder is the first office of the “higher” priesthood and is charged to preach and teach the gospel, among other things.
Cool, that’s about what I thought. Thanks.
Quite a bit of titular inflation, wouldn’t you say?
No offense meant to LDS members. I just wanted to use the phrase “titular inflation.” Hee.
Also, when attending an LDS service, the Bishop will usually speak, but also other members of the congregation are contacted ahead of time and asked to speak on specific topics. So unlike a Lutheran or Catholic service where you have one key person providing the bulk of the ceremony, in most LDS services you will have a variety of people speaking on topics each week.
The Bishop, or one of his counsellors, will conduct the meeting and announce the speakers, but usually they do not speak themselves, although they do on occasion.
The pastor/minister/priest of a ward is the Bishop, who is a male member of the ward, in good standing, called to serve as Bishop for a period of approximately 5 years by the Stake Presidency. A Bishop presides over Sacrament Meetings (Sunday service) as well as other duties. Sermons, referred to as “talks”, are given by the ward members, and pretty much everyone, including children, are given a turn.
A 12 year old male member in good standing receives the Aaronic Priesthood, which makes him eligible to bless the Sacrament.
At (generally) the age of 19, young males in good standing are called to a mission. Since this entails both receiving temple endowments and going out into The World to spread the gospel, he is also given the blessing of the Mechizedek priesthood. Now he is also eligible to perform the laying on of hands for blessings and healings, as well as having extra protection from evil while serving his calling amongst the gentiles.
As far as “paid clergy”, last I knew, it wasn’t a paid poition until one moved up the ladder into “management” in Utah.