It is my understanding that the HLC will only go to bat for active, regular publishers. This was told to me about 10 years ago by my half-brother who was HLC member. He said HLC would not help "low hour" publishers. (I think he was trying to encourage Rocky and I to increase our field service hours with the fear tactic.) It is my belief that HLC has no concrete directive to help all baptized JWs and can arbitrarily decide who they will assist. So for someone like my sister, who is technically "inactive" because she doesn't go door to door regularly, but attends all assemblies/conventions and only some of the meetings, she wouldn't normally have access to HLC assistance. But she has good connections - Dad is a prominent elder and lives in the same area. Someone like me and Rocky (when we were still associated), we were stellar in attending all meetings, assemblies, conventions, active in the Ministry School, but under 5 hours/month field service, my half-brother insisted HLC would not help us, our connections aren't so good in E. Washington (Dad lives in Seattle, half-brother in Tacoma). Half-brother also indicated he would not intervene on my behalf unless my hours were better.
but...
We sure would get DFd or DAd for exercising our conscience in the "personal decision" area. I know this would be true. Right before we stopped attending meetings there was an newly baptized sister who had moved to a remote part of the congregation territory to care for her elderly, non JW parents. Consequently, she was not able to attend meetings and there were no shepherding calls to her by the elders. I had minimal phone contact with her as her parents hated the JWs (they knew I was JW) and had financial control of her affairs, often threatening to cut her off if she kept associating with JW (they were elderly in body but still pretty sharp in mind). She had a medical emergency and was taken to the local hospital ER where she asked the nursing staff to call me. She was hemorhaging. She had consented to blood transfusion at her non JW sister's counsel. Before I could get to the hospital, another JW who worked as an aide had already called the elders. One of the elders was ready to DF her. Rocky and I called the PO and pointed out the confidentiality issue and how this sister receiving the blood transfusion had not had any spiritual contact with the elders for more than a year. Also, this sister was raised by her family to believe she was mentally retarded. I don't believe her IQ qualified...she may have had learning disabilities and was a slow learner, socially challenged, but she functioned quite well independently. We told the PO that if they DFd her, we would walk away from the KH and never look back. They didn't DF her. Can't you feel the love and spiritual light?
