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Caring for the poor and needy is not just one item "in the catalog of Mormon programs," Dieter F. Uchtdorf said Saturday night. "It is central to our doctrine; it is the essence of our religion."
Uchtdorf, second counselor in the governing LDS First Presidency, was discussing the church's long-standing Welfare Program with boys and men of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the priesthood session of the LDS Church's 181st Semiannual General Conference.
Speaking from the giant Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City, Uchtdorf outlined the church's mandate to help those members and others who are suffering.
"They are hungry, stretched financially, and struggling with all manner of physical, emotional and spiritual distress," Uchtdorf said. "They pray with all the energy of their souls for succor, for relief."
The charismatic leader warned his listeners not to shrug off such needs as someone else's responsibility.
"It is mine, and it is yours. We are all enlisted ... rich and poor, in every nation," Uchtdorf said. "In the Lord's plan, there is something everyone can contribute."
And don't look to Salt Lake City, he said, to dictate the way.
"You're going to have to figure it out for yourself," Uchtdorf said. "Every family, every congregation, every area of the world is different. There is no one-size-fits-all answer in [LDS] Church welfare."
Other speakers Saturday night discussed missionary work, being prepared to serve, being teachable and standing for moral principles.
Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland used military and athletic metaphors to get the attention of young Mormon men who need to clean up their behavior so they can serve a two-year mission for the Utah-based church, because, as he said, "anything more subtle seldom seems to work."
The church needs "young men already on the team to stay on it," Holland said, "and stop dribbling out of bounds just when we need you to get in the game and play your hearts out."
Continuing the metaphor, he said, almost all athletic contests have "lines drawn on the floor or field within which every participant must stay [within] in order to compete."
For Mormon missionaries, the lines include sexual abstinence among other standards.
"No missionary can be unrepentant of sexual transgression or profane language or pornographic indulgence and then expect to challenge others to repent of those very things," the impassioned apostle said. "You can't do it."
Young men can repent and go, he said. "But you can't do it without an active commitment to the gospel and you can't do it without repentance where it is needed."
LDS President Thomas S. Monson ended the session by talking about the importance of moral courage.
"Brethren, none within the sound of my voice should be in doubt concerning what is moral and what is not, nor should anyone doubt what is expected of us as holders of the priesthood of God," Monson said. "We have been taught and continue to be taught God's laws. Despite what you may see or hear elsewhere, these are God's laws."
He told two personal stories, one from his time in the Navy, when only a couple of others were LDS, and once on a bus in Dallas, where he was asked to explain Mormon beliefs.
"May we ever be courageous," Monson said, "and prepared to stand for what we believe."
The two-day conference will conclude Sunday.