President Gordon B. Hinckley, in his priesthood session address, announced that he would be doing something unusual: repeat a talk, with minor changes, which he gave 15 years ago in general priesthood meeting. "I am going to speak again of the bishops of the Church," he said, "that wonderful body of men who are in a very real sense the shepherds of Israel."

Photo by Michael Brandy

On a remarkably warm Saturday evening, Oct. 4, conference goers make their way toward the doors of the Conference Center for the priesthood session of the 173rd Semiannual General Conference.

President Gordon B. Hinckley

In doing so, he said he is confident there is not a man anywhere in the Church still serving as a bishop who was doing so when he first gave the talk. "I feel it is needed, and I humbly pray that substantial good may come out of it."

President Hinckley invited every member of the Church to do all he or she can to ease the burden of bishops and branch presidents. "We must pray for them. They need help as they carry their heavy loads. We can be more supportive and less dependent upon them. We can assist them in every way possible. We can thank them for all that they do for us. We are wearing them out in a short time by the burdens which we impose upon them."

The Church president said that when a young man asked him if he attends tithing settlement with his ward bishop, he replied that he does, that he has "an accountability to my bishop just as every other man and woman in this Church is accountable either to a bishop or a branch president. He was somewhat amazed. I was surprised to think that he would even raise such questions. I thought of the genius of the Lord's work and the wisdom of the organization of His Church."

President Hinckley said each of the more than 18,000 bishops in the Church has been called by prophecy and revelation. "Every one of them holds the keys of the presidency of his ward. Each is a high priest, the presiding high priest of his ward. Each carries tremendous responsibilities of stewardship. Each stands as a father to his people."

He quoted from the pastoral epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus relative to the qualifications of a bishop. "Those words aptly describe a bishop today in the Church," he noted.

The ward where he grew up, he said, had 1,500 members, but the bishop "seemed to know and love us all. He was our friend, our counselor, our presiding officer, our confidante, our teacher. He knew us boys by our first names and so addressed us. We respectfully addressed him as 'Bishop.' He was not a martinet who ruled with a heavy hand. He could laugh with us. He could sympathize with us. He understood us, and we knew it. We knew also that he loved us."

Speaking directly to bishops, President Hinckley said they must be men of integrity and stand on higher ground so they can lift others. "You must be absolutely honest for you handle the funds of the Lord, the tithes of the people, the offerings that come of their fasting, and the contributions which they make from their own strained resources."

Bishops must be wise in all their relationships lest someone read into their actions some taint of moral sin, President Hinckley warned. "Your moral strength must be such that if you are called upon to sit in judgment on the questionable morals of others, you may do so without personal compromise or embarrassment."

He said a bishop must not compromise his qualifications to sit as a common judge in Israel, determining the worthiness of people to hold membership in the Church, enter the temple, be baptized, receive the priesthood, serve missions, to teach and serve as officers in the organizations, and, in times of distress to receive help from the fast offerings and commodities "from the storehouse of the Lord."

"You must know something of the circumstances of all of the flock over whom you preside," he admonished. "You must be their counselor, their comforter, their anchor and strength in times of sorrow and trouble. You must be strong with that strength which comes from the Lord. You must be wise with that wisdom which comes from the Lord. Your door must be open to hear their cries, and your back strong to carry their burdens, your heart sensitive to judge their needs, your godly love broad enough and strong enough to encompass even the wrongdoer and the critic. You must be a man of patience, willing to listen and striving to understand. You are the only one to whom some can turn. You must be there when every other source has failed."

A bishop stands as a watchman on the tower of the ward where he presides, President Hinckley said, adding that the bishop is the chief teacher among many teachers in that ward. "You must see that there is no false doctrine creeping in among the people. You must see that they grow in faith and in testimony, in integrity and righteousness and a sense of service. You must see that their love for the Lord strengthens and manifests itself in greater love for one another."

A bishop is privy to deep secrets with the obligation to hold absolutely inviolate the confidences placed in him, President Hinckley said. "Unless specifically mandated by legal requirement in cases of abuse, what is told to you in confidence must remain with you. The Church maintains a hotline which you should call concerning cases of abuse which may come to you."

He said the bishop presides over the Aaronic Priesthood of the ward and is the presiding high priest, the father to the ward family, "to be called upon as arbiter in disagreements, as defender of the accused."

"You preside in meetings where the doctrine is taught," he said. "You are accountable for the spiritual nature of those meetings and for the administration of the sacrament to the members, that all may be reminded of sacred covenants and obligations incumbent upon those who have taken upon them the name of the Lord."

He declared that a bishop "must stand as the strong friend of the widow and the orphan, the weak and the beleaguered, the attacked and the helpless."

Acknowledging that the work is demanding, he said, "You must not rob your employer of the time and energy that are rightfully his. You must not rob your family of time which belongs to them. But as most of you have come to know, as you seek for divine guidance, you are blessed with wisdom beyond your own and strength and capacity you did not know you had. It is possible to budget your time so that you neglect neither your employer, your family, nor your flock."