By Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830 by Joseph Smith Jr. marked the establishment of a religion which holds a unique understanding of God, emphasizes family life and believes in continuing revelation of God in daily life.

CNS graphic/Emily Thompson

Today, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, is the principal body embracing Mormonism. Membership in the church has grown to more than 11 million, with about half in the United States and the remainder spread throughout Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Philippines and parts of Oceania.

Mormons also have a desire for order, respect for authority and engage in missionary work.

The LDS church makes no distinctions between laity and the priesthood. At age 12 all worthy males become deacons in the Aaronic priesthood. At 14 they become teachers and at 16 they become priests. At 18 they may enter the Melchizedek priesthood as elders and may continue rising in the upper ranks of church hierarchy.

Latter-day Saints regard Jesus and the Holy Spirit as children of the Father and the Heavenly Mother. They believe that baptism was instituted by the Father, not Christ, and that it goes back to Adam and Eve.

Because of this view of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, some feel Mormons are not Christian.

Speaking in June 2009 at the convention of the Catholic Theological Society of America, Father James Massa, executive director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligous Affairs at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said, “Mormons insist on being recognized as part of the Christian family.”

“In fact,” he continued, “they see themselves as that portion of Christ’s household that has benefited from a purer and subsequent revelation that not only confirms what is attested in the New Testament but fully elucidates its saving contents for modern-day believers.”

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