Even BYU Wonders After...· March 22, 2010

      The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Cardinal Francis George, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently told a huge audience of 12,000 at a forum at Brigham Young University that “Mormons and Catholics must strive together to proclaim truth even as pressures mount to exclude religion from the public square.”

      “George — with LDS apostles M. Russell Ballard and Quentin L. Cook on the dais — noted the two faiths have worked together to alleviate world poverty, combat pornography, defend the unborn and push for traditional marriage.

      “‘I’m personally grateful,’ George said, ‘that after 180 years of living mostly apart from one another, Catholics and Latter-day Saints have come to see one another as trustworthy partners in the defense of shared moral principles.”
      “Marriage, the union of one man and one woman, must be defended, he added, ‘against various efforts to redefine in civil law that foundational element of God’s natural plan for creation.”

      The Cardinal spoke also about freedom of religion as” a fundamental right that cannot be reduced merely to a freedom to worship or freedom of conscience, as some in this country now advocate,” and said that such a limited notion was “the tradition of the Soviet Union.” True religious freedom, he said, includes “the right to exercise influence in the public square.”

      The Roman Catholic Church views society as the domain of the church. Therefore influencing the public square actually involves controlling the public square to a large extent, as in past ages before the reformation. But at the moment they have to say things that are acceptable to other denominations until the time will come for Rome to regain that power.

      “God’s word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution.” Great Controversy, page 581.

      “After George’s speech, BYU freshman Katie Bates said she felt “kind of like the Catholic Church was hugging the Mormon Church.” Her friend, Coco Mack, also a freshman, especially liked praying the ‘Our Father’ in unison, a Catholic tradition not typically seen at LDS gatherings. ‘That was so, so cool,’ Mack said.”
      Imagine 12,000 Mormons praying the Roman Catholic liturgical “Our Father.”
      “Two returned LDS missionaries, both now BYU students, said it was interesting to hear the Catholic perspective and how it parallels their own church’s teachings. ‘It seems like [Catholics] want to establish a good foundation with family, so society is strong,’ Gustavo Velasquez said.

      “David Parkinson found George’s comments refreshing because, in his experience, relationships between Mormons and Catholics are sometimes hostile. ‘It was good to learn what we have in common,’ Parkinson said.”

      “The wide diversity of belief in the Protestant churches is regarded by many as decisive proof that no effort to secure a forced uniformity can ever be made. But there has been for years, in churches of the Protestant faith, a strong and growing sentiment in favor of a union based upon common points of doctrine. To secure such a union, the discussion of subjects upon which all were not agreed—however important they might be from a Bible standpoint—must necessarily be waived…
      “When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result. Great Controversy, page 444 -445.
      “And all the world wondered after the Beast.” Revelation 13:3

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