Posted by:
Wally Prince
(
)
Date: October 01, 2019 10:15AM
the confusing euphemism "correlation" that is favored by the Church bureaucracy.
Just as the word "sacred" is misused to mean "secret"...
Just as the word "revelation" is misused to mean whatever the CEO of Mormonism thinks is a good idea at the moment...
Just as a "patriarchal blessing" is not given to you by someone who is actually a patriarch in your family lineage...
Just as "salvation" can actually be a form of damnation...
Mormonism's abuse of language is something that would probably astonish and surprise even George Orwell.
The word "correlation" has often been used in the church to refer to various programs for coordination between different units and organizations. THE BIG CORRELATION program that you are no doubt referring to was a program that was started by Harold B. Lee. It was not really a program for two-way communication and coordination (as the word would seem to imply), but rather was a top-down, sweeping, program of standardization that focused on centralizing all power and authority into the hands of a tiny few committees (under the FP and Q12) in Salt Lake City.
Here's a good summary:
--> "The movement began in 1960, when Harold B. Lee, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS church, took over a committee formidably titled the All-Church Coordinating Council. Their mandate was to coordinate the curricula of the church’s various programs—youth organizations, Sunday school, and so on—and eliminate overlap. But Lee, a talented administrator and forceful personality, had grander visions than simply curbing waste. Over the next decade, he successfully revamped the church’s organizational chart, consolidating governance in the Quorum of the Twelve and stripping independent authority from the women’s association, the Sunday school, and the youth programs. He also established a system of review for all publications produced in the church, from hymnbooks to Sunday school manuals to periodicals. This material is now surveyed for theological accuracy and adherence to various church goals. If it is given the official stamp of approval it is deemed 'correlated'."
https://slate.com/human-interest/2012/04/mormon-correlation-the-bureaucratic-reform-policy-that-redefined-mormon-culture.htmlNotice that it was not simply a power grab vis-a-vis wards/congregations at the local level, but it was also a power grab vis-a-vis other departments, divisions and programs within the overall system of church management.
By analogy, it was like there was a nationwide "Association of Restaurant and Diner Owners" who were committed to following certain sound principles for owning and operating clean, safe, family-friendly restaurants and diners, but still allowing for independent local management, independent menu decision, independent decor and building design decisions etc.... One day it gets bought out by MacDonald's and all of the members of the Association have no choice but to standardize everything according to the MacDonald's business model. (Of course in a voluntary association, many would simply leave, but under the authority hierarchical structure of LDS, Inc., that was not an option.)
It's one size fits all baby, from here to eternity! Send all your money to the Church Office Building and they'll decide what fraction of that, if any, they will send back to you to fund your local programs and activities.
Basically, it changed one of the key operative assumptions of the church with regard to local activities and programs from "whatever is not expressly prohibited is permitted" ... TO ... "whatever is not expressly permitted is prohibited."