More than 1,000 students at the Orem Institute of Religion at Utah Valley University
packed a lecture hall Sept. 18 to hear Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake
City speak about the Catholic faith.
Bishop Wester's visit was at
the behest of the university's LDS Student Association Interfaith
Committee, which was formed this year.
"One of the purposes of
the Interfaith Committee is to form those bridges between religions and
let the students come and learn more about those religions because there
is a lot of ignorance when it comes to other faiths," said Spencer
Bennett, co-chairman. "This is a way that we can come together and to
ask questions that we've had and to learn about them."
In
addition to students and faculty members, the event was attended by
dignitaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
including Elder Whitney Clayton of the First Quorum of Seventy and Elder
Steven J. Lund, a regional LDS leader.
Bishop Wester opened his
remarks by saying that the gathering of students and Elder Clayton's
presence "are wonderful signs of our ongoing collaboration and
friendship and mutual desire to stand shoulder to shoulder as we give
witness to Jesus Christ as his disciples."
This hasn't always
been so, Bishop Wester said, pointing out that religious conflicts are
ongoing in many parts of today's world, so interfaith gatherings are
important. "I believe that what we're doing today is to help us be open
to the different ways in which God acts in our lives in our different
religions, and to see the ways that we can work together," he said.
Acknowledging
the difficulty of summarizing the Catholic faith in less than an hour,
Bishop Wester outlined several key aspects of the faith, then touched on
some differences between the Catholic and Mormon faiths and ended with a
summary of similarities between the two.
Bishop Wester started
with St. Ignatius Loyola's first principle: "We are created to be one
with God forever, to give him glory and praise."
This, Bishop Wester said, is "the fundamental, absolute principle of our existence."
He
also discussed the paschal mystery as the center of the Catholic faith
and said Jesus Christ founded the church as the "living memory" of his
salvific presence among human beings.
The sacraments "are the
lifeblood of the church," Bishop Wester said, and Catholics believe "we
have moral imperative to live what we receive" in the Eucharist.
Saints
are important to Catholics because of their example and as
intercessors, with Mary having a special place as the mother of God and
mother of the church, Bishop Wester said.
The foundational
difference between the Catholic and LDS faiths is the doctrine of God,
Bishop Wester said: Catholics believe in the Trinity.
Catholics
also believe that divine revelation ended with the conclusion of the New
Testament, although revelation continues to unfold in the life of the
church and its people, Bishop Wester said, adding that another
difference between the faiths is that Catholics believe Christ never
abandoned his church.
Belief in infallibility and universal salvation are other points of difference, Bishop Wester said.
Despite
these differences, there are areas where the two churches share common
ground: belief in the Lordship of Jesus Christ, adherence to the Ten
Commandments and the Beatitudes, a call to social justice and love for
the poor, respect for human life and the dignity of every person made in
God's image, and the importance of family life and Christian marriage,
among others, Bishop Wester said.
About 8,000 students are
enrolled in the Orem Institute of Religion at Utah Valley University,
said Blair Van Dyke, adviser to the Interfaith Committee. The institute
offers classes on a range of subjects, including church history,
Scripture, the Book of Mormon, and dating and courtship.
Van Dyke
introduced Bishop Wester as "an able defender of religious liberty" and
said the "Latter-day Saints and other faith traditions beyond
Catholicism benefit from his articulate voice in the public square."