I saw probably 15 minutes of it, then had to leave for work. I just watched the whole thing on
byu.tv.
They sung one of my favorite hymns at the opening, “All Creatures of Our God and King” (you can hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing it
here.
I was amused by the invocation, which was given by a Catholic (who is also a BYU professor). It was introduced as a prayer “in keeping with the Catholic prayer tradition”, so the thought crossed my mind that it would be funny if she said the Hail Mary
. She gave a very nice introduction to the prayer (“Catholics have a tradition of praying together, reciting in unison a common prayer. This tradition reflects our theology that while we are known and loved individually, we are saved in community, and that by praying in communion, we raise a single united voice of prayer to our Father in Heaven”). She then said “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”, and I assume made the sign of the cross off camera (didn’t see any students do it, though there was a girl that began to raise her hand to her forehead, then stopped
), and began the Our Father. She followed the KJV in saying “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”, and said (along with everyone else) the doxology (“for thine is the kingdom…”). So much for Catholic tradition
Francis Cardinal George mentioned that he had the opportunity to lead the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at a concert once, in an “encore number”. He then joked that when he conducted, he “was doing better with the Mormons than I am with the Catholics…I have a lot harder time getting them to sing together”. He then got into the speech, and touched on many issues related to religious freedom, and what Mormons and Catholics can work together on, despite our differences in doctrine. I don’t think he said anything…new or revolutionary, but emphasized what we already knew, that Catholics and Mormons work together on various social/moral issues that we share common (or mostly common) views on. It was a good speech, and Cardinal George is a good speaker.
