chrisgrant wrote:Is there an official directive somewhere to the effect that the High Priests Group has the default responsibility for home teaching single sisters? I can't find one in the Handbooks. Section 7.4.2 of Handbook 2 makes it sound like there is no default.
The First Presidency letter dated 3 November 2004 transferred responsibility for the progress of prospective elders to the high priests. The letter said that where there are insufficient numbers of high priests, the elders quorum would retain that responsibility.
The letter includes instruction that the bishop continues to oversee and coordinate the efforts of the high priests group leader and elders quorum president in this work. At that time, the default became that the elders quorum was responsible for an elder and his family, and the high priests group was responsible for all other households in the ward, unless the bishop made a different assignment.
I am not aware that there is specific guidance concerning single sisters, but they became the responsibility of the high priests at that point. Before then, high priests normally had responsibility for older single sisters anyway. Because of that, I believe the default became that they would have them all until the bishop approved a different assignment.
But as you mentioned, the Handbook requires the bishop's approval of any home teaching assignment. And while there may be a default for administrative purposes, it will usually be a short-lived one, as families are assigned to either the elders quorum or the high priests group for care.