What Is Mormonism How Did it Start and How Does it Compare to Catholicism

Mormonism was founded by Joseph Smith in the early 19th century in New York. Its formal name is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. During the Second Great Awakening (a Protestant movement in America in the early 1800s), Smith generated and drew support for his vision of America's privileged place in the history of Christianity.

Smith's vision was rooted in the reformist movement of the Great Awakening and the doctrines that Smith taught were of the Romantic spirit that fueled the Awakening, attracting many people of the time who looked forward to the return of Christ to the world as foretold in the New Testament (Smith, 2004).

The new message that Smith gave to his followers was that "on the morning of the 22nd of September 1827 the Angel of the Lord delivered" to him "a series of records of the aboriginal inhabitants of North America" -- records that were engraved on (apparently) gold plates and which showed that the Native Americans were actually the "Lost Ten Tribes of Israel" (Kauffman, Kauffman, 1995, p. 1). This was a new and compelling religious idea that no one had expressed before. Smith's convincing manner (and evidence) quickly won him adherents.

By 1830, he had organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Manchester, New York. What did Smith teach about the latter-day saints? As Jackson (2012) notes, the teachings of Smith "reflected many of the common Christian trends of the times" in that they were oriented towards a vision of prophecy and centered on the evangelical and strong, character-driven leadership of the preach -- Smith himself (p. 20). Smith's version of Christianity was "noncreedal, staunchly Arminian, fervently restorationist, evangelistically driven, end-time-focused and characterized by isolated communal living" (p. 20).

Its basic narrative consisted of the vision which Smith received and the history of the American Israelites (aka Native Americans) as it pertained to the Christian New Testament. It was a story that interwove aspects of the Old and New Testament along with visions that Smith received from an angel. His recruiting ground was the cotton-cloth manufacturing plant in Waltham, Massachusetts and similar areas, where "propertyless wage-workers" were in abundance while being deficient in organizational resources designed to meet their social/spiritual needs (Kauffman, Kauffman, 1995, p. 5-7).

Thus, Smith attracted through personal charisma by identifying the religious trends of the time and adding to them his own novel ideas. However, what he taught to his followers in the early 19th century and what Mormons today believe are not quite the same. The church today has "toned down" the lessons that Smith first taught -- such as the notions of "eternal progression, the Great Apostasy, the 'only true Church,' and the Gathering of Israel" (Bushman, 2006, p. 3).

But the church today still holds that the prophets are used by God to send direct messages to people on earth -- that Smith was one such prophet, that man can achieve a "godlike state through ages of afterlife," and that Christ's Atonement and Resurrection are instrumental in their salvation (Bushman, 2006, p. 3).

The Mormon Church views itself as the "restored Christian church" -- in fact, the very same church that Christ instituted when on earth (a claim that the Catholic Church also makes, though it has a stronger historical basis for making it) (Laux, 1933).

It is important to note that at the time of its first appearance, there was nothing particularly offensive about the Mormon religion: dozens of Christian sects had sprung up in America due mainly to the influx of immigrants and the rise of Protestantism in the European nations from which they hailed. Mormonism was essentially one more addition to the group, with its own unique take on historical details.

It built on the ideology that America was special, privileged and even sacred in God's eyes and by uniting this sense to the Biblical history, Smith developed a church that was both distinctly American and Biblical, with a dash of prophecy and "golden plates" thrown in to make the case for authenticity more compelling. Today's Mormons still believe that revelation from God continues to be given to the Mormon Church, via the church's president. Personal revelation is also a widely-held belief among Mormons.

The Church's structure, moreover, resembles to some degree the same hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church, with bishops, a priesthood, and congregational leaders. Women are allowed to hold positions within the organizational structure but are not admitted to the priesthood in what is another resemblance to the order of the Catholic Church. The Mormon Church, moreover, has missionaries who travel around the world preaching the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and thus it expresses an evangelical character, again, like that Catholic Church.

Members of the Church are expected to observe laws of purity and fasting as well as attendance at church on the Sabbath (and they are also obliged to tithe) -- and all of this is a practice that it has in common with the Catholic Church. In the early days of its founding, Smith's church spread westwards. Early clashes with other Protestant sects in the East (particularly in Missouri where settlers were unfriendly to Smith's vision) forced the new church leader and his disciples to move westward still further.

When Smith and his brother were murdered in Illinois in 1844, Brigham Young took over as leader of the Latter Day Saints. Led by Young, the early Mormons eventually settled in Utah where polygamy became a publicly acknowledged practice. This was a controversial pronouncement and became known as the "Mormon Question" all around America, even causing a stir at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair where the religion was put on display (Neilson, 2011, p. 167).

The church's stance on plural marriages was not the only position it held that separated it from the other Christian sects. It also has its own Book -- the Book of Mormon, which is a canon of scriptures that consist of revelation made directly to the Mormons. Today's mainstream Mormonism adopts a more standard stance towards issues like polygamy, which it does not uphold, although branches of the Mormon Church do still practice it (such as the fundamentalist branch).

Mormons still follow a number of "Christian" concepts, such as the practice of baptism and the sacrament of communion. They do not, however, believe in the transubstantiation of communion into the Body and Blood of Christ -- only Catholics believe this. Catholicism is my own religion and Mormonism differs from it a number of ways despite some of the similarities mentioned above.

For instance, Mormonism has no historical claim or basis prior to Joseph Smith, whereas the historical basis of the Catholic Church stretches all the way back to the disciples of Our Lord. The Catholic Church, in fact, holds St. Peter to be the first Pope, and every Pope since Peter can be traced right on up to the present pope. So there is a direct lineage connecting the modern Catholic Church to the ancient Church that Christ instituted.

The Mormon Church can point to no such direct lineage, though it makes the claim that it is the reformed church instituted by Christ. But this is similar to the claims of most Protestant churches that assert some form of reformation as the basis of their being. Mormonism differs from Catholicism in another way, which regards the act of revelation. The Catholic Church that all revelation concluded with the last of the disciples, St. John, who wrote the Book of Apocalypse.

Mormons hold that revelation continues to this day and that it is given to the president of their Church. To some degree, the Catholic Church also accepts private revelations (though it does not bind its faithful members to believing in these revelations under pain of excommunication).

For example, the private revelation of Our Lady, the Mother of God, to the children at Fatima in 1917 is a very famous revelation that is celebrated and honored by Catholics around the world -- but despite its prominence in modern Catholic devotion (Our Lady of Fatima is a celebrated title given to the Mother of God because of this revelation), the Catholic Church does not oblige anyone to believe in the revelation because it is a private revelation.

The Catholic Church also has a very explicit creed that each of its members is expected to affirm for union within the Church: this is known as the Apostle's Creed. Each line contains an article of faith and it is taught that a Catholic must believe each article in order to be saved.

(The Church teaches that there is no salvation outside of the Church, though persons who are saved -- as some Catholic artists have depicted, such as Dante in his Divine Comedy -- are considered "spiritual" members of the Catholic Church even if outwardly they do not appear to be physical members).

For many centuries, the whole of Europe was Catholic, with Catholic kings and queens leading their subjects in the Catholic faith, with everyone attending the Catholic Mass and the Holy Sacrifice on the altar, celebrated in every Mass, just as Christ instituted the practice at the Last Supper, where He turned.