Catholic gives Mormon tips
On Nov. 12, students, as well as the community, were invited to attend a discussion by Rev. William Taylor about Mormonism and Catholicism.
Taylor was ordained about 40 years ago and has been studying Mormonism and Latter-day Saints for about 25 years. He now lives in Boise, Idaho.
His family became Catholic when he was 6.
He welcomed questions and comments saying that it made him nervous when he was doing all the talking.
Taylor spoke about Mormon life and attitude, saying they focus a lot on progress, work and being active.
“If you’re not willing to be active, they don’t want you,” he said.
He said that a Mormon is very active, with a young boy spending about 14 hours a week involved in church activities.
“My kids think they have done something heroic if they’ve gone to mass once a week,” he said.
Taylor compared an LDS service to a Catholic mass, saying that an LDS service commemorates while a mass remembers the death of the Lord. Catholics also use scriptures to learn about the word of God. He also said that while in an LDS church there is always something happening, in a Catholic church you get to experience sacred silence.
“I quite enjoyed his presentation,” said LDS member Branigan Knowlton, a junior majoring in public relations.
Knowlton said Taylor provided an insightful outsiders look on the Mormon religion as well as an inside look at the Catholic religion.
Along with talking about the LDS way of life, he also spoke of Joseph Smith, who founded Mormonism as the world knows it today.
“This man is one of the three or four most interesting people that America has produced,” he said.
He talked about how Smith claimed to be a seer, and found a seer stone he at the bottom of a well. Smith used the seer stone to supposedly find hidden treasure, Taylor said.
Taylor said Smith was later taken to trial for the allegations. He was fined and told to throw the stone away. He later used the seer stone to find the gold plates with the scriptures written on them.
Taylor also said there were four inconsistent accounts of Smith’s first vision (of heavenly figures). At this point an audience member brought up an example where one biblical story had two different versions. Taylor explained that there were two versions because the story was told by two different people.
“Everybody has problems [and] it’s OK to talk about them,” said Rachelle Tuttle, a freshman majoring in elementary education, about how Taylor brought up what he called problems or flaws in the religion.
Taylor also talked about what each religion believes about heaven and dying.
“Mormons want to nail things down,” he said about how they know exactly what happens in the plan of salvation. “Catholics are willing to be surprised.”
He also spoke about DNA evidence proving that the Lamanites (people in the Book of Mormon), or American Indians, are not related to the Hebrews. He showed a video with a Mormon DNA expert talking about the problem.
Taylor also said the Mayan Indians also lived during the time the Lamanites supposedly did, and in the same area. He said both the Lamanites and Mayans were supposed to have been very great fighters and territorial. But yet there is no mention of them ever meeting.
Taylor answered the question ‘Are Mormons Christians?’ by saying, “Mormons are Christians the way Catholics are Jews.” He meant that they had some roots in Christianity.
“In the broadest possible sense Mormons are Christians,” he said.
He said that 40 years ago, Mormons did not want to be called Christian, but now they do.
Taylor said he came to Logan to speak because he wanted to help Catholics understand Mormonism, especially those in a place like Logan where Catholics are the minority.
-vramirez@cc.usu.edu