What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

Another PODCAzT is ready. Today we have part of a Lenten sermon of Pope Leo I, "the Great", s. 48, preached on 13 March 455. I use that as a stepping stone to some of Pope Benedict’s encyclical Deus caritas est.

 

 07_03_20 Leo I sermon 48 and Deus caritas est: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You’ve all seen them.

You’ve hated them for years.

Now comes confirmation of what I have always known.

When Liturgical Banners ATTACK!

San Francisco:: What started out as a faith filled Easter Vigil at Grace Cathedral Episcopalian turned tragic when Dean Alan Jones was attacked by one of his own banners in the middle of the Liturgy. His cry of "GAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaa!" filled the sanctuary while onlookers sat stunned in the midst of the carnage.

The witnesses later reported that several banners came swooping down and began attacking the worshippers while the main alter banner attacked their pastor and carried him off. A search party was quickly organized.

Does anyone out there have a link to a transcript of Sean Hannity of Fox News saying that Mormons are Christians?

Recently Mr. Hannity had an on-air run in with Fr. Euteneuer of HLI in which Mr. Hannity was clearly in the wrong about how Catholics are to embrace the Church’s teachings concerning faith and moral. That exchanged was muddied by a very ill-considered and rather weak-kneed intervention by another priest, alas.

Now, or so it seems, Mr. Hannity made an error about Mormons.  Mr. Hannity allegedly (according to the Cafeteria is Closed) said about the Mormon religion: "It’s a Christian church, too."  If this is true, the error must be corrected. If Mr. Hannity did not in fact make that error, the error still needs to be corrected, for it is wide-spread.

Mormons are not Christians.
Mormons do not have valid Christian baptism.

Mormons use the same terms Christians use but they mean very different things by those terms. For example, Mormons may use the term "divine" or "Trinity", but they do not thereby mean divinity of God or Trinity of three divine Persons in one God as Christians do.

Belief in the Trinity is a sine qua non for being a Christian.

You might want to read the Holy See’s Response to a ‘Dubium’ on the validity of baptism conferred by "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" called "Mormons".

Question: Whether the baptism conferred by the community «The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints», called «Mormons» in the vernacular, is valid.

Response: Negative.

The Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, in the Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect, approved the present Response, decided in the Sessione Ordinaria of this Congregation, and ordered it published.

From the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 5 June 2001.

+ Joseph Cardinal RATZINGER

Prefect

+ Tarcisio BERTONE, S.D.B.
Archbishop emeritus of Vercelli
Secretary

Mormons do not believe in a Christian Trinity. They do not believe in realities like Original Sin. They do not believe Christ instituted the sacraments. Etc. This is a good article by Fr Luis Ladaria, S.J., published in L’Osservatore Romano in 2001.

None of this is intended to convey disrespect for any particular Mormons. Whatever you think about Mormon doctrine, individual Mormons deserve respect. 

However, it is not respectful either to Mormons or to Christians to make fundamental errors, publicly, about their respective tenets.