Mormonism and Catholicism: Origins, Beliefs, and Differences

Origins of Mormonism and Joseph Smith's Teachings

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 revival 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 he taught carried the Romantic spirit that fueled the Awakening, attracting many people of the time who anticipated 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 engraved on (apparently) gold plates, 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.

As Jackson (2012) notes, the teachings of Smith "reflected many of the common Christian trends of the times" in that they were oriented toward a vision of prophecy and centered on the evangelical, character-driven leadership of the preacher — 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 Smith received and the history of the American Israelites (also known as Native Americans) as it pertained to the Christian New Testament — a story that interwove aspects of the Old and New Testaments along with visions that Smith received from an angel.

Core Mormon Beliefs and Early Church Development

Smith's recruiting ground included the cotton-cloth manufacturing plant in Waltham, Massachusetts, and similar areas where "propertyless wage-workers" were in abundance while lacking organizational resources to meet their social and spiritual needs (Kauffman & Kauffman, 1995, pp. 5–7). Smith attracted followers through personal charisma by identifying the religious trends of the time and adding his own novel ideas to them.

However, what he taught his followers in the early 19th century and what Mormons today believe are not entirely the same. The church today has "toned down" several 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). Even so, the church still holds that 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 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 doing so (Laux, 1933). 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 came. Mormonism was essentially one more addition to that 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 Biblical history, Smith developed a church that was both distinctly American and Biblical, with a measure of prophecy and "golden plates" 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, and personal revelation is also a widely held belief among members. The Church's structure resembles, to some degree, the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church, with bishops, a priesthood, and congregational leaders. Women may hold positions within the organizational structure but are not admitted to the priesthood — another point of resemblance to the Catholic Church. The Mormon Church also employs missionaries who travel around the world preaching the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, expressing an evangelical character similar to that of the Catholic Church. Members are expected to observe laws of purity, fasting, and Sabbath attendance, and are also obliged to tithe — practices it shares in common with the Catholic tradition.

Westward Migration, Polygamy, and the Mormon Question

In the early days of its founding, Smith's church spread westward. Early clashes with other Protestant sects in the East — particularly in Missouri, where settlers were hostile to Smith's vision — forced the new church leader and his disciples to move further west. 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 that became known as the "Mormon Question" across America, even causing a stir at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, where the religion was put on public display (Neilson, 2011, p. 167).

Comparing Mormonism and Catholicism

Catholicism and Mormonism differ in a number of important ways despite the similarities noted 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 Christ. The Catholic Church holds St. Peter to be the first Pope, and every Pope since Peter can be traced in direct succession up to the present day. There is therefore a continuous 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 claims to be the reformed church instituted by Christ — a claim similar to those made by most Protestant churches that assert some form of reformation as the basis of their existence.

Mormonism also differs from Catholicism in its understanding of revelation. The Catholic Church teaches that all public revelation concluded with the last of the apostles, St. John, who wrote the Book of Revelation. Mormons hold that revelation continues to this day and is given to the president of their Church. To some degree, the Catholic Church also recognizes private revelations, though it does not bind its faithful to believing in them. For example, the private revelation of Our Lady to the children at Fatima in 1917 is a celebrated event in modern Catholic devotion — yet the Catholic Church does not oblige anyone to believe in it, precisely because it is a private rather than a public revelation.

The Catholic Church also has a very explicit creed that each of its members is expected to affirm as a condition of union with the Church: this is known as the Apostles' 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 formal members.

For many centuries, the whole of Europe was Catholic, with Catholic monarchs leading their subjects in the Catholic faith, and with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated in every parish just as Christ instituted the practice at the Last Supper, when He transformed wine and bread into His Body and Blood. This is a practice that no other Christian religion lays claim to, and it remains what makes the Catholic Church theologically distinct to this day.

References

Bushman, C. (2006). Contemporary Mormonism: Latter-Day Saints in modern America. Praeger Publishers.

Jackson, A. (2012). The Mormon faith of Mitt Romney: What Latter-Day Saints teach and practice. Kudu.

Kauffman, R., & Kauffman, R. (1995). The Latter Day Saints: A study of the Mormons in the light of economic conditions. University of Illinois Press.

Laux, J. (1933). Church history. Benziger Brothers.

Neilson, R. (2011). Exhibiting Mormonism: The Latter-day Saints and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Oxford University Press.

Smith, T. (2004). Revivalism and social reform: American Protestantism on the eve of the Civil War. Wipf & Stock Publishers.

Watson, F. (2000). Statistical report, 2000. LDS. Retrieved from https://www.lds.org/ensign/2001/05/statistical-report-2000?lang=eng