Posted on 05/06/2008 6:36:34 PM PDT by Revelation 911
The Catholic Church has ordered dioceses across the globe not to give information in parish registers to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Vatican Congregation for Clergy issued a letter directing all Catholic bishops to keep LDS members from microfilming and digitizing information in registers, according to the Catholic News Service.
CNS reported the Vatican had "grave reservations" about the LDS Church's practice of posthumous baptisms by proxy, a practice in which the names of the deceased are baptized into the LDS faith so that they may be united in the afterlife with LDS families, if they so choose.
Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S. bishop's Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs is quoted by CNS as saying the step was taken to prevent LDS members from using the records.
"The congregation requests that the conference notifies each diocesan bishop in order to ensure that such a detrimental practice is not permitted in his territory, due to the confidentiality of the faithful and as not to cooperate with the erroneous practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," CNS reports the Vatican letter stating.
Story continues below The letter was issued April 5, 10 days before Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. visit, which included an ecumenical prayer service attended by two LDS leaders. CNS reports this was the first time Mormons had participated in a papal prayer service. LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter said the LDS First Presidency hadn't had a chance to review the actual letter. "We haven't seen the letter yet, so it's premature to say anything," Trotter said. Church spokesman Mike Otterson said the church may have more to say on the subject later in the week and that LDS officials had not yet made contact with Vatican representatives about the issue.
Father Massa is quoted as saying he could see how the move could strain relations between the two churches. "It certainly has that potential," CNS quotes Father Massa as saying. "But I would also say that the purpose of interreligious dialogue is not to only identify agreements, but also to understand our differences. As Catholics, we have to make very clear to them their practice of so-called rebaptism is unacceptable from the standpoint of Catholic truth."
CNS quotes Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, as saying he didn't understand why the LDS church was singled out by the Vatican letter. "We have a policy not to give out baptismal records to anyone unless they are entitled to have them," Msgr. Fitzgerald told CNS. "That isn't just for the Church of the Latter-day Saints. That is for all groups."
The move by the Vatican could have a profound impact on the ability of genealogy researchers to trace many family histories.
Russell Bangerter has been doing professional genealogy research since 1979 and has a degree in genealogy family history from BYU. Bangerter said his clients, from many faiths, all have an interest in creating a bond with their heritage.
"Some of them are LDS and some of them are not LDS. They simply just want to know their roots," Bangerter said.
He said he has used parish registers in his research before. Bangerter said a typical parish register, Catholic as well as those of other Christian faiths, contain christening and birth data, marriage data as well as deaths and burial information.
Bangerter said much of his research doesn't have anything to do with religious work, and closing those records simply hurts families who want to know their roots.
"There's also the ecumenical side of things," Bangerter said. He points to the LDS Church's own Family History Library, in which people from all walks of life are welcome to access data. "I've seen all kinds of people there. I've seen rabbis, I've seen nuns and I've seen priests there as well."
Now you’re getting hysterical.
There is no paid clergy in the LDS Church. No one is getting paid, in other words. When we go to the Temple to do baptisms for the dead, no one is getting paid. I did not understand your post.
I am Catholic and am already baptized in the Catholic church and no one has the right to baptize me or mine without our knowledge or consent.
Dude.
Get a grip.
Your posts were pulled because you were being foul and abusive. If the Moderator didn’t agree with me he wouldn’t have pulled your posts.
There are no strings attached when baptizing for the dead. The LDS Church opens its doors to anyone interested in genealogy. I am certain many Catholics come to the LDS Church for help to trace their family history.
I love my Church and you love your Church.
Not according to the article. It says they are only doing proxy-baptisms for the relatives of Mormons who specifically request it for specific deceased people.
But it doesn't really matter to me. I'm not Catholic, have no Mormon relatives to request a proxy-baptism for my relatives and it's unlikely that I have any dead Catholic relatives. But I probably do have ancestors whose lives were recorded by the Catholic church in Europe and the Catholic Church may be making it difficult and expensive for me to research that whereas the Mormon Church would give me the info for free if they had access to the information.
I think we are talking at cross purposes here.
To me there are strings attached to the genealogy program. It is not free if it is being used to gather information and then baptize people who may not even realize that it is happening.
Which is why I will never use the genealogy services of your church.
He was responding to me. You are taking his words out of context so of course they don’t make sense to you. No one said anything about Mormon clergy being paid for baptisms.
Have a nice day.
You too,You too ,you too.Listen Mitty whatever in all fairness your doctrine sucks and insults all faiths.How dare you in the name of faith put the names of my loved ones on your baptized list.Release the names on your lists so we can read them,now.
Well, that’s just a difference in doctrinal opinion, and neither of us is going to change the mind of the other. We look at as an act of love and respect, to provide an ordinance necessary to salvation, that those who have died cannot perform for themselves, see 1 Corinthians 15:
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
Why are you so curious to see the names of those I’ve baptized? What purpose would it serve? They’re probably not related to you as I’ve only done ordinances for my immediate ancestors on my mother and father’s side.
Formatting is your friend. You don’t really expect people to read that, do you?
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