The Priesthood Quorum

I am convinced that the subject of the priesthood quorum deserves more attention.  I am convinced that the support group of choice ought to be the Melchizedek priesthood quorum. 

We may not have arrived at that stage yet.  But it isn't for want of the brethren trying to teach us the appropriate place of those quorums in our lives.

The following is from A Royal Priesthood: A Personal Study Guide.  This book was the Melchizedek priesthood study guide for the year 1975-76.

"The Quorum" by Elder Boyd K. Packer

"In ancient days when a man was appointed to a select body, his commission, always written in Latin, outlined the responsibility of the organization, defined who should be member, and then invariably contained the words: quorum vos unum meaning, 'of whom we will that you be one.'

"....In the dispensation of the fulness of times, the Lord instructed that the priesthood should be organized into quorums; meaning, selected assemblies of brethren given authority that His business might be transacted and His work proceed.

"The word quorum is so recognized in the Webster's Dictionary, as 'a Mormon body comprising those in the same grade of priesthood.'

"The quorums are made up of worthy men of whom you are designated to be one....

"When you reach the age of twelve, you have conferred upon you the Aaronic Priesthood and are ordained to the office of a deacon.  Automatically, immediately, you become a member of a deacons quorum.  From then on through life it is contemplated that you will hold membership in a quorum of the priesthood.

"Quorum membership is not optional.  You may not present yourself to be ordained to an office in the priesthood and yet choose at once not to belong to a quorum, or choose to affiliate with a quorum made up of brethren having a different office in the priesthood.

"You are a member of the appropriate quorum, and by your actions you either sustain or degrade it.  You maintain your membership in the quorum until you are ordained to another office in the priesthood and automatically become a member of another quorum.

"A man who becomes inactive does not lose his membership in the quorum.  He may lose interest in the quorum, but the quorum must never lose interest in him.  The quorum is responsible always and continually for each of its members.  To ignore an inactive member, to withdraw interest in and contact with him, is an abrogation of his rights as a holder of the priesthood.

"....If his priesthood quorum functions properly, a man sustained by the brethren of his quorum, almost could not fail in any phase of life's responsibility.

"...I confess that I have come to dislike, in a sense, the word auxiliary.  I can easily think of our Sunday School, for instance, as a priesthood Sunday School.  It is presided over by a Sunday School president who is a holder of the priesthood and is himself a member of a quorum.

"His calling, which is relatively temporary, is an honorable service that he renders for a time and a season.  He is a credit to his quorum in the rendering it.  He will, of course, one day be released from it, but it is not contemplated that he will spend a day on this earth without being a member of a quorum.

"When you are called to a position in an appendage organization, you are representing your quorum in that sacred responsibility.  You are not taken away from your quorum to fulfill the assignment.

"These appendant services round out a fullness of life and provide members of the quorums and their families a fullness of experience, activity, and training.  They are, in a very real sense, priesthood functions and activities.

"Such callings in the Church are important and ought so to be esteemed.  Their relative importance, however, does not and must not give them presumed ascendancy over those offices in the priesthood and those callings to govern the quorums of the priesthood.  The priesthood is the source of all strength and authority for all organizations and offices in the Church."

It appears that the priesthood quorum is and ought to be one of the mainstays in the life of a man.  There he ought to be able to find friendship, help, and encouragement in the challenges of his life.  There he will labor with other men.  There he will be taught how to become a better man.