Two apostles of the LDS Church, Elders M. Russell Ballard and D. Todd Christofferson, accompanied by Senior President of the Seventy Elder L. Whitney Clayton, attended the installation mass for Catholic Bishop Oscar A. Solis, the 10th bishop of the archdiocese of Salt Lake City. In response to their attendance, Bishop Solis talked about how welcoming the Church has been as he has commenced his new assignment. Both Bishop Solis and the three representatives from the Church talked about the relationship the Catholics and Latter-day Saints share, and how they all hope to foster greater understanding and cooperation between those of all faiths.
It is amazing to think how far we as Latter-day Saints have come in our relationship to those of all faiths. From the moment Joseph Smith stepped out of the Sacred Grove for at least the first 15-20 years of the Church's establishment (round about the 1850s), Latter-day Saints were misunderstood and at times even hated and persecuted for their beliefs, even and especially by those who professed to be devoted to God and to have a love of all of their fellowman. Joseph Smith remarked on that hatred numerous times. And it was that hatred that led a group of evil men with ill will against Brother Joseph that led to his death. On numerous occasions, those who accepted Joseph Smith as a prophet and who held to the belief that he was the means of bringing back the Church that was originally established by Jesus Christ in New Testament times were driven from their homes and lands.
When the Saints were driven west, the tide began to turn. Finding sympathy from the US government, who had not previously intervened in their behalf, the Saints trekked westward to Utah. And here those pioneers found acceptance and appreciation that has allowed the Church to spread throughout the world. Here we have found friends of other faiths, and the Church has worked for the almost 170 years since we came here to foster good relationships with all, regardless of their religion.
The Catholic and LDS Churches have had a particularly long-standing relationship in partnering in community projects and initiatives. And the leaders of both churches have likewise been very supportive of each other, especially in times when the leadership of either have changed. Today's events truly continue the long-standing tradition of that spirit of cooperation, support, and unity.
While many news outlets have been reporting on this, I prefer the Mormon Newsroom report above any others. Here is a link to that report. I hope this information is helpful to those who read it. In the meantime, as a Latter-day Saint blogger, I am proud of the relationship that people and leaders of my faith maintain with those of all faiths. During the time I grew up, one of my best friends in Junior High and High School was a Jehovah Witness. My guidance counselor in Junior High was a Presbyterian. Some of the first people I met after moving to American Fork were Catholic. And I feel, as Joseph Smith said, that I would be ready to fight for the rights of any other faiths just as surely as I would be ready to fight for my own right to live and practice my faith as a Latteer-day Saint.
One of the greatest privileges I have as an LDS blogger is to share my faith in this public way, and also to be a Latter-day Saint in a land that respects my God-given right to practice and share this faith. I hope that my posts, in some small way, can help those who read them. I welcome and look forward to any feedback. Thanks to you all for your readership and support.
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
2 LDS Apostles Attend Installation Mass for Catholic Bishop
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.
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James: don't you have gainful employment now? Last I knew you have that job that you had reported about. If I am wrong then I apologize; I have gone through times underemployed or without work, and I think those times have tried my patience and worked on my self-confidence.
ReplyDeleteHope your profile and more importantly your personal affairs are doing well.
Eduardo, I did get a job, which I had started on December 26, and I had intended to make it work. But my health made me miss a lot, and, when I came down with a double-infection from which I am still recovering, that resulted in my missing three weeks straight of work. I had advised my team leader every day as soon as I knew I was going to be absent, but she never liked me, and, from what I can ascertain, never relayed my situation to management. When I met with management on March 1 to defend myself from the charge of job abandonment, their statement to me was that they had heard nothing from me for three weeks. I therefore believe that my team leader lied to them about not hearing from me in order to effect my termination. But I am not broken up about it. If she doesn't want me on the team, I'm better off not dealing with her. My focus needs to be my health for the moment. When I can, I will look for an opportunity which I can do from home. For now, it's just a messy situation that is causing so much strain on everything. We have been getting assistance from the Church and from the government, but the SSA cut off my aid because of my report of having a job. I am working through that. So it is a hard situation, to be sure. We are working through it. And I have appointments with doctors this week to see what can be done about getting me recovered. In the meantime, I have one or two leads to follow on at-home jobs I can do, which I should excel at, not having to waste my health and energy on trying to just be well enough to leave the house to work. So it is difficult right now, but things can always improve. When I wrote the post above, I felt very small and was being very hard on myself. I am doing better in that regard now, and have received the assurance that the Lord is on our side. And with that knowledge, everything else will fall into place as we need it to. Thanks for taking time to comment.
DeleteI am sharing a link to my updated post about our situation. Please feel free to post any comments there. Hopefully this explains things better than I did above. Thanks.
Deletehttp://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2017/03/elder-david-bednar-defends-traditional.html