RS Secretary and Teaching

[Anonymous UserParticipant]

What has been your guidance regarding the RS Secretary and teaching the 1st Sunday of the month along with the other RS presidency members?

[Jenny SmithParticipant]

I'm not qualified to give "guidance" beyond what is in the Handbook, which states the duties of a Secretary and the Presidency.  The secretary is not part of a presidency and is not released when a presidency is reorganized.  The handbook states that the presidency teaches.  Secretaries' duties do not include teaching.  https://www.lds.org/handbook/handbook-2-administering-the-church/relief-society?lang=eng#9.2.2

Some have tried to imply that since secretaries are not expressly prohibited from teaching in the handbook that somehow they can or should.  The RS president is not expressly prohibited from conducting sacrament meeting — does it follow that she can or should?  Of course not.  The handbook is a list of duties that those in callings should perform.  It is *not* a list of all the duties that a person with a calling should not perform.

I've answered this question before here:

http://www.mormonshare.com/forum/do-relief-society-primary-or-young-women-secretaries-teach-the-lesson-or-conduct-meetings

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