These are good questions, and, if I may, I'd like to explain what we believe.
Is this not worship?
No, it's not worship, which is to say, not the adoration which is due to the Supreme Being alone. It is honor, which we are permitted to give to human beings ("Honor thy father and thy mother," to give just one example) and it is, above all, a recognition that the whole Communion of Saints is involved in intercessory prayer based on being interdependent members of one Body, which is Christ.
(LDS members believe in intercessory prayer, do you not?)
"Is prayer to a saint a different act than worship of that saint?"
No, It is the same as asking your Mom or your bishop or your best friend to pray for you.
"Then what is the purpose of prayer to and reverence toward the saint?"
Honor to whom honor is due. And adoring, thanking, supplicating and praising God Almighty with these other precious believers who have on before us, who still love us and care for us, and who are so near to the heart of God.
"It seems to me that such figures would detract from the importance of Christ in the individual’s life."
Not at all. That would be like saying loving our neighbor detracts from the love of God. These saints are our forebears, our brothers, our sisters, our neighbors. Death does not separate us from them. How could it? They, and we, are in Christ: and death cannot separate us from the love of Christ.
Thank you for your explanation.
~”(LDS members believe in intercessory prayer, do you not?)”~
No, we do not, at least not in the way I think you mean it. We do, as a matter of course, pray in the name of Jesus; but we always address Heavenly Father (these are, according to the unique LDS belief in the Godhead rather than the Trinity, two separate and distinct individuals).
~”No, It is the same as asking your Mom or your bishop or your best friend to pray for you.”~
That’s an interesting analogy; but why did so many Italian Catholics, in my experience, tend to -replace- Christ in their lives, to some extent, with their chosen saint? It was almost as if they felt unworthy to address God themselves, that they needed someone ‘better’ than they to speak to their Father in their behalf.
Due to my belief in a loving, caring, and very intimate God, this seems a rather strange concept to me - would not a caring Father delight to speak with His child, regardless of their own level of righteousness? I would tend to think so.
Am I accurate in my assessment? Why would a person not speak with God directly? Why the necessity of intercession?