Relief Society President, as autonomous leader
 

To what extent, in your experience, is the RS president allowed to choose people for callings in her organization?

In my experience, a lot of latitude was given.

Which makes sense. Lord called the RS President. Lord can inspire her to call sisters in her organization. She is going to be in much better touch with the needs of the RS than the men. Inspiration without knowledge is sometimes a losing effort--what men micromanaging the RS might turn into.

Based on my limited experience, I would say RS President is more important calling than EQ Pres and HP GL (exponentially more important). More important than counselors to Bishop as well.

A Bishop without a good working relationship with the RS President is up the creek.

I think ranking callings in terms of importance is a pretty fruitless exercise. Strikes me as a little mullah-ish, too.

In my experience, most auxiliaries and quorums get wide latitude in selecting their counselors. A wise bishop will do his best to accommodate his leaders' recommendations, for a lot of reasons.

Still, speaking strictly on a doctrinal basis, an auxiliary president only ever recommends. The presiding authority calls.

A good manager knows what positions are linchpins.

A good bishop teaches and inspires people to serve diligently where they are called, no matter the scope of the responsibility.

A good troll knows what lures to use and when the fish are biting.

A lucky bishop has many capable people who can do well in a variety of callings.

An unlucky bishop has to call people like me to be exec. secretary.

I like the story of my mom, who as a missionary, was bringing dozens of investigators to church--and she thought the Sunday school teacher was awful. So she went to the Branch President and said, you gotta release this guy, I can't be bringing all these people for *this*. And released he was.

Some of us are very passive. Other people are quite willing to intervene.

Did you interview your female friends at BYU yet?

I contacted one who was a science major. She said yes, she did receive discouragement.

Shocking.

btw, AA, when you lose an argument in a court of law, are you going to accuse the other side of trolling? Will that work for ya?

One friendly word of advice for you while you are at NYU--never open your mouth about your opinions on gender roles with anyone whom you work with or might work with or who might know someone you might work with.

Heh. Guilty as charged.

In my ward, the RS President, after years of faithful service was just released. And on the same morning that it was announced she was released as RS President, was called to be the Primary President.

Does it sound like a ward with a lot of capable able-bodies that are sitting on the sidelines, wasting away, for lack of opportunity?

You know, the Lord calls, but the Lord fires as well. Sometimes when you are released, it's not that the Lord needed you in another part of the vineyard. He merely needed you out of the part of the vineyard you were occupying. Of course, the sad thing is many of us serve very well, spend tons of time and effort, and in the end, only feel guilty for the things we didn't accomplish.