Posted by:
txrancher
(
)
Date: October 11, 2020 08:34PM
I don't think he goes to church much. Mom died a couple years ago and even then, they weren't going much because of health and who knows what else.
He was raised Catholic. By the time I was born he and Mom had converted to Mormonism.
He and Mom were welcoming about a Black girlfriend I brought to their house a handful of years ago. For that I will ever be grateful. And for my dark Mexican wife now, as much. Below is my message to him tonight. I've never had this kind of conversation before, might be a shock. But I felt I needed to say it as he's approaching 87 years and Mom died a couple years ago.
Dad,
I am Catholic.
How did I become Catholic?
I didn’t intend to be. But it started a few years ago when I sent a message to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that I wanted to renounce my membership and remove my name from their records.
Why? I couldn’t reconcile the Mormon racist and untruthful past. Things like a letter from the first presidency in 1947 saying, “Intermarriage of the Negro and White races, a concept which has heretofore been most repugnant to most normal-minded people from the ancient patriarchs till now.” They also say that this has “never questioned by any of the Church leaders”
https://ia803006.us.archive.org/29/items/LowryNelson1stPresidencyExchange/Lowry_Nelson_1st_Presidency_Exchange.pdfWell, I questioned it. And it was because this official declaration was repugnant to me. I can't love someone with dark skin?
More issues came to light, including statements from Brigham Young that anyone who mixes with Negros is “death on the spot.”
http://www.mormonthink.com/QUOTES/blackintermarriage.htmWomen I have loved, black and brown, would not fit their definition of whom I should be associated with or love.
The Church now says that they have never been racist. It’s a lie. Covering for their past leaders' statements. If they had direct communication with God, why say these things?
Added is knowledge that Joseph Smith married over 30 women, most without his wife knowing or giving consent, and two that were fourteen year-olds. Only with pressure and evidence the church has admitted this (and made excuses.) Send husbands on missions and marry their wives, or simply say God told him to. And finally admitted that according to the LDS website was “including the possibility of sexual relations.”
So, I married in the Catholic church in Mexico.
My wife Rosa wanted to marry in the Catholic church. We approached a representative in Mexico and asked.
The first thing the priest asked me was to prove I was no longer a member of the Mormons. I showed them the letter from Salt Lake saying I was no longer a member. I was glad that I had already taken this step before I met Rosa.
The priest then gave me a couple pamphlets to read. I did.
A couple months later, he gave me my test. It was a ten-minute conversation, including my understanding of the Trinity and recitation of the ten commandments. I passed. And in Spanish, too.
Do I believe everything? No. Can I reconcile everything horrible that the Catholic church has done in the past? No. Do I attend every week? No. Most weeks I play golf on Sunday mornings, like today. But I am content that I’m not attending or giving any more money to a cult. anymore.