Mormon neighbors

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Orthodox Judaism is somewhat similar with family time due to Sabbath law. If you must go to synagogue and then can’t drive anywhere or do any work, it kind of MAKES Saturday a family day!

The difference, however, is that fellow Jews all tend to live in the same neighborhood (or used to) and there was a lot of visiting going on. It was still a pulling in of a smaller community with common values and centering around the family itself.

After I left the faith and was married and had children, I missed the feel of one day a week withdrawing from the world so our family started our own tradition of Sunday evening being family time…sit down dinner, discussions on whatever was in the news, and limited TV unless we watched it as a family and discussed it afterwards. Star Trek tended to be the best discussion generating show on Sunday evenings and we all love it to this day!

It’s a great habit to generate no matter how you do it. It strengthens the family in ways that may not be apparent for years to come.
 
Theo520 said:
great if more Catholic young adults did a mission to help solidify their faith and express God’s love for the less fortunate.
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Catholics don’t need to go on missions to help solidify their faith. Our faith is expressed not only in word but through our service to others which is shown each day to all we meet.

There are also retreats Catholics may go on if they wish to. Unlike the mandatory Mormon missions, Catholic retreats are voluntary.
 
lilypadrees said:
Catholics don’t need to go on missions to help solidify their faith. Our faith is expressed not only in word but through our service to others which is shown each day to all we meet.

There are also retreats Catholics may go on if they wish to. Unlike the mandatory Mormon missions, Catholic retreats are voluntary.
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I feel you are being highly defense.

Nobody NEEDS to go on a mission to enhance their faith, but the faith is enhanced by many who do so.

A short retreat is not a mission, but they do help.

If you bothered to read what I said, I was very critical of the LDS mission approach.
 
You are making assumptions whereas my post made it quite clear which part of your post I was responding to.
 
lilypadrees said:
Unlike the mandatory Mormon missions, Catholic retreats are voluntary.
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Most Mormon youth don’t serve missions. They aren’t actually mandatory, but there is a lot of pressure put on the young men and women to serve missions. If they choose not to go, nothing bad happens, other than what happens in the social mores of Mormon circles. For instance, many young Mormons have the mindset of only marrying a returned missionary. So if you’re not a returned missionary, your pool of potential mates gets a lot smaller. It’s just my opinion, but I think a big part of the reason that mission ages were recently lowered was because too many young men between high school and age 19 were slipping away. It’s easier to get them right out of high school and seminary while they are still fresh and gullible. As for the young women, I can’t say for sure. My youngest son was one of the pioneers of 18 year-old missionaries. For him, it was a very bad experience. Partly because he was simply too young and ill-prepared for what was ahead and partly because he happened to read the letter to the CES director and asked me what that was all about. Of course, I happily explained it to him.
 
I’ve always thought it odd when 19 year old comes to my door to tell me about a religion for my life. Aside from my 6 kids homeschooled with Catholic curriculum, my degree of theology from a Catholic university and 2000 years if saints. I usually just focus on sexual theology. You should see their eyes when talking of why each act should be ordered to creation…
 
Apache75 said:
When my children were younger they played with the lds kids all the time. Problem was that when they found out they couldn’t get us to convert they wouldn’t allow our children to play with theirs.
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Yeah, I’ve also heard from people in Utah that the socialization between kids is okay up to a point, but when the kids reach a certain age then the Mormon kids are expected to start spending all their time with other Mormon kids. If the non-Mormon kids aren’t going to convert then the friendships will be dropped at that time. Usually happens around age 12 or 13.

I have also heard some stories about adult Mormons befriending non-Mormons with the sole goal of converting them, and if it became apparent that the other adult was not going to convert then the Mormons would end that adult friendship also.

Based on these types of stories I have no problem being casually friendly with LDS in a workplace setting or being “neighborly” if they are neighbors, but I wouldn’t want to have any social contact past that. Too much chance of the friendship just ending abruptly.
 
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I grew up in Utah. Whenever I wanted to hang out with a friend who my parents didn’t know, the first question was always, “Is he a Mormon?” If I answered “no” then they usually did as well. But I could invite them over to our house.
 
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I grew up in California. My parents wouldn’t come right out and say ‘no’, but they’d say “Well why don’t you have him over the house. We’ll order pizzas and rent movies!”, and then of course they’d invite the missionaries over and proselytize my friends unbeknownst to either them or their parents.

I’m going to come right out and say it: These people very likely don’t want to be real friends with you. They want to be friendly to you so that you’ll convert. This woman will keep pestering you about coming to her church until you’ve had enough and tell her in no uncertain terms that you’re not interested, after which she’ll cut off contact with you.

Mark my words.
 
I love Mormons. Virtually all of my family are Mormons. I’m the black sheep of the family. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaa . . . 🤣
 
AlbertDerGrosse said:
I’m going to come right out and say it: These people very likely don’t want to be real friends with you. They want to be friendly to you so that you’ll convert.

Mark my words.
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If this is the case, how do you explain this story of a recently ordained Catholic priest who says his faith journey started with a visit from two Latter-day Saint missionaries, and that he still shares a deep friendship with one those missionaries today?

 
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gazelam said:
If this is the case, how do you explain this story of a recently ordained Catholic priest who says his faith journey started with a visit from two Latter-day Saint missionaries, and that he still shares a deep friendship with one those missionaries today?
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Sometimes it’s necessary for an individual to become involved in religious discussions with others with opposite viewpoints in order to awaken the individuals spirituality. Broussard apparently needed these discussions and the praying that went along with them. The goal of the missionaries was to convert him. They weren’t able to but it worked out for the best for Broussard anyway.
 
I have a feeling this is the case. That doesn’t bother me a whole lot, although I know it would be a bummer to my kids not to have neighbor kids to play with anymore (there are no other kids on our street). Obviously having convenient playmates is not more important than our faith.
 
I think you are very right about not wanting to be anyones assignment. When I was LDS I always wondered i the “friendships” I was making in the church were fake. When I stopped going to church, everyone stopped talking to me. turns out the friendships were fake i guess .
 
I don’t know what it is you want me to explain. A practicing Latter-day Saint meets a lax Catholic and they form a friendship, which prompts the latter to become more serious in his faith? It isn’t my position that it’s impossible for LDS people to be genuine friends with those of other faiths. My position is that more often than not the “friendships” LDS strike up with non-members are shallow and predicated on them being able to eventually make an investigator (and then a convert) out of the person. As has been said earlier in this thread: you’re more a project than a friend. Showing me an exception to the rule doesn’t disprove the rule. Mr. Blackwell is a genuinely good friend to Mr. Broussard since their friendship is clearly not conditioned on some kind of shared religious membership.

I have two such Mormon friends myself. Only two, after two and a half decades of being a devout Latter-day Saint myself, born to a pioneer family, and having served a mission. But those two are indeed good friends. One of them came to my Catholic baptism/confirmation 7 Easters ago (the other couldn’t make it due to his sibling’s wedding). I went to both of their weddings, and, yes, I stood outside of the temple while the sealing occurred and I don’t really care. I wasn’t there to see an LDS sealing (I’ve seen plenty). I was there to show my love and support.

None of this changes the fact that there’s a cultural pressure for LDS to, let’s be honest, be fake to people in hopes that they’ll show interest in the LDS Church. Given the fact the O.P. mentioned hardly knowing this woman and yet she continually pressures her to attend Sacrament Meeting with her, I’m willing to bet that she isn’t looking for a genuine friendship. Maybe I’m wrong. Hopefully I’m wrong.
 
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