Bishop of singles/student wards -- real Bishops?

[Tex]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

It's because all the crazies don't get married, and therefore the crazy-to-sane ratio is higher in singles wards.

I dunno. I've encountered plenty of married crazies.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I am guessing that affairs/fornication/marital problems are proportionally not as time-consuming.

And putting aside the time commitment, some issues are simply more interesting than others. Listening to how Brother Arschloch's piles have flared up again, or how 450 lb. Sister Fettberg really needs more meat in her weekly food order, can become tedious.

And during my tenure, my SP saw fit to make me the transient bishop for several years, meaning that in addition to my ward's problems, I got to deal with all sorts of calls for help from people passing through. I became quite beloved at the local Motel 6's.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by PaloAltoCougar

And during my tenure, my SP saw fit to make me the transient bishop for several years, meaning that in addition to my ward's problems, I got to deal with all sorts of calls for help from people passing through. I became quite beloved at the local Motel 6's.

Ah yes, the traveling welfare mooches. Come in, get the cash, burn bridges, and move on.

[ute4ever]

Originally Posted by PaloAltoCougar

And putting aside the time commitment, some issues are simply more interesting than others. Listening to how Brother Arschloch's piles have flared up again, or how 450 lb. Sister Fettberg really needs more meat in her weekly food order, can become tedious.

Last weekend I asked my uncle, when he was bishop and a ward member went to him for counsel, how often did he feel he was giving inspired advice as opposed to his own common sense? He said most of the time he was merely offering his personal opinion, because the majority of issues people took to him were not things he personally needed to resolve, but rather they just needed an ear. He says the main difference was handling marital problems; he always felt the Lord's hand in those.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I had a friend who was a bishop of a BYU student ward. He said that his job seemed to consist of one thing, and one thing only: listening to confessions of sexual sins. Hour after hour after hour.

[OrangeUte]

My dad was a bishop of a student ward in the late '70s and early '80s. Some of the stories he tells me still fry my mind - wow - the stuff people do! He had one couple who told him that swinging was okay b/c it was consensual between them and actually made their marriage stronger. I guess other members of the ward were disclosed through this couple, and it became quite a deal.

As a kid of about 3-8 at the time, all I remember were the football players, and the hippie couple who used to show up shoeless.

My dad was a first time bishop, and he tells me that it was no way to start out as a Bishop. He would have preferred some warmup to that calling.

[Black Diamond Bay]

One of the most interesting things about singles wards is that to some extent bishop's determine the popularity of their ward.

I was talking to a friend shortly after I moved to Southern California who was telling me that the reason the current ward I was in was so popular is because the bishop was actually pretty middle of the road. He didn't turn people away telling them the sins that were bothering them were insignificant, but he wasn't threatening excommunication over lustful thoughts either. That ward was huge. When they finally spit it they had something crazy like 400 records and more than that attending every Sunday. That bishop is an impressive man who was putting everything he could into his calling. I've heard him say since then that it simply became more than he could physically keep up with.

On the other hand I heard that the bishop who came after him was the kind of guy who wanted to revoke temple recommends for french kissing. I had moved out of the ward shortly after he was called, but a guy I know that was still in the ward told me that after about six months or so word got out to avoid confessions at all cost. He said one of the guys he knows had something to clear up, I was spared the details. However, my friend just told me that his buddy advised him that if he ever had anything that had to be confessed, to either go straight to the stake president or move out of the ward. My understanding was that the ward size shrunk significantly while that bishop was there, and that when the new bishop was called the poor guy had people lining up wanting to meet with him asap.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by Black Diamond Bay

One of the most interesting things about singles wards is that to some extent bishop's determine the popularity of their ward.

I was talking to a friend shortly after I moved to Southern California who was telling me that the reason the current ward I was in was so popular is because the bishop was actually pretty middle of the road. He didn't turn people away telling them the sins that were bothering them were insignificant, but he wasn't threatening excommunication over lustful thoughts either. That ward was huge. When they finally spit it they had something crazy like 400 records and more than that attending every Sunday. That bishop is an impressive man who was putting everything he could into his calling. I've heard him say since then that it simply became more than he could physically keep up with.

On the other hand I heard that the bishop who came after him was the kind of guy who wanted to revoke temple recommends for french kissing. I had moved out of the ward shortly after he was called, but a guy I know that was still in the ward told me that after about six months or so word got out to avoid confessions at all cost. He said one of the guys he knows had something to clear up, I was spared the details. However, my friend just told me that his buddy advised him that if he ever had anything that had to be confessed, to either go straight to the stake president or move out of the ward. My understanding was that the ward size shrunk significantly while that bishop was there, and that when the new bishop was called the poor guy had people lining up wanting to meet with him asap.

Branches in my mission, to some degree operated like this. But it had nothing to do with sexual sin, and everything to do with the charisma and popularity of the missionary.

In one branch, the missionaries held "movie night" where they would watch some innocuous movie. New missionary came in as zone leader and ended it when he was in the area. Attendance plummeted.

[Brian]

Granted, this is anecdotal at best, but my dad was the bishop of my home ward as a lad and the singles ward in the stake later on. He said singles ward bishop was the most rewarding calling he ever had and was much less taxing than the home ward. Lots of issues to deal with, but generally, the young kids wanted help and would listen to his advice. The same could not be said about the family ward. It was kind of odd, because I always knew how was having problems as they would call our house all the time.
In the family ward, he was bishop from when I was 12 until half-way through my mission. He wasn't home much and 8 years of that really wore on him. In the singles ward, I was gone and married, but he seemed to have _a lot_ more free time.

[myboynoah]

Originally Posted by PaloAltoCougar

A young man receives a revelation that a young woman is supposed to be his eternal companion, but the woman just isn't getting the same signal. Either or both of them come for guidance. My friend has observed that in every such case, the woman is always attractive, and usually better looking in absolute terms than the guy.

Why is it, we are left to wonder, that guys are never inspired that a truly unattractive female is to be their celestial soulmate?

Well, it is the Celestial Kingdom afterall.

Eternal damnation is knowing something better exists but only meriting the Terrestrial Kingdom ticket, along with all the wallflowers and butch lesbians and cougjunkie constantly chiming in, "I'd hit it!"