My family and I are moving 1/2 a block away from a mormon church what can we expect?

[zaffiroborant]

The Crucifix idea I posted here, is actually something this nice little old lady of 87 years told me she had done just very recently. We have a sense of humor about it all and we support each other in those cases where things get weird.

Maybe this picture framed and in full view of anyone standing outside the front door would be more visible and to me nothing says Catholic quite like this image
http://godzdogz.op.org/uploaded_images/SacredHeartJesus2-732233.jpg

 

[PaulDupre]

Mormons are not allowed to bring non-Mormon kids to church, or to baptize them, without parental permission. Even in cases where there is one Mormon parent, divorced from a non-Mormon parent, we won’t baptize the kids without permission from both parents.

With all due respect, BDawg, this may be the official policy but it is rarely followed. I know of many, many instances where Mormons have invited non-Mormon kids to their homes (without the parents’ knowledge or permission) for the express purpose of introducing them to the missionaries. When the missionaries start teaching these kids, the kids are told not to tell their parents because “they don’t have the truth - they wouldn’t understand”. Then it escalates to “your parents aren’t worthy”, then to “call us mom and dad - we’ll be your new family now”. Before long the kids are completely brainwashed. Then as soon as the kid turns 18, he is baptized without the parents’ knowledge and the parents never knew what hit them.

There are support organizations for parents who have had their children stolen away from them by the Mormons in this way. One that I am involved in is called “Mormons Have My Child”. Note especially the posts entitled “Introduction”. You will read the same story dozens of times from people all over the country who have been victimized in this way and by other low-down Mormon cult tactics, including “date 'em and dunk 'em”, wherein cute LDS teens seek out shy kids, flirt with them, date them and then hand them over to the missionaries. Then once the victim is hooked, the LDS teen dumps him and moves on to someone else.

It is heartbreaking to read about when their child cuts off relations with his parents and siblings, announcing that they “have a new family now”. All of these people have been treated horribly by their newly-LDS children, who are encouraged by the Mormons to cut off relations with their “unworthy” families.

Happy reading,
Paul

 

[zerinus]

RebeccaJ- If you don’t mind me asking do they seem to try to get the children to go to church more than talking to the parents? I would hate for my children to be in that situation. They are young 7, 5, 2 and 4 months (I don’t worry about the 4 month year old). My children will be going to a Catholic school. I was told by someone that the mormon children in her area would wait outside of the Catholic school to hand out Mormon items to the children!

No, we don’t waste our time with that. We abduct them, and inject them with a special drug that turns them into instant Mormons! It is a secret formula, nobody else knows anything about it.

zerinus

 

[zerinus]

RebeccaJ- If you don’t mind me asking do they seem to try to get the children to go to church more than talking to the parents? I would hate for my children to be in that situation. They are young 7, 5, 2 and 4 months (I don’t worry about the 4 month year old). My children will be going to a Catholic school. I was told by someone that the mormon children in her area would wait outside of the Catholic school to hand out Mormon items to the children!

We abduct them and inject them with a secret drug that turns them into instant Mormons!

zerinus

 

[AMDGtoo]

A Crucifix inside your front door works well. When the missionaries tell you they have a message about the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, you can open your door wide, point to the Crucifix, and say you already know allll about Him.

With all due respect, that honestly didn’t work for me! I have a Mary Garden with a statue of Mary and the sets (and one triplet) of missionaries walked right passed it. I have crucifixes on the wall, Bibles (several versions–from the KJV to the Douay-Rheimes) prominantly in view, a holy water font by the door, other statues of Jesus and Mary in the house, an actual framed “picture” that declares that Christ is the head of our house, rosaries in full view and still I have been harrassed by the missionaries who see it as a “loving” thing to do. They don’t seem to believe in “live and let live” and their they give “lip service” to that 11th Article of Faith–the one that says that they believe people should worship however they want.

And it’s not restricted to Utah and Idaho either. Evidently there’s a “Mormon Belt” in the western part of the United States just like there is a “Bible Belt” in the southern states. And yes, the missionaries canvas all neighborhoods–not just ones that are closest to their ward building, but the white shirted, name tagged elders are seen walking or else “they come on bicycles” so they’ll probably live in their apartment close by the ward building. And maybe it is coincidence but I started getting more and more missionaries after the ward meeting place was built. (Oh, be advised that there seems to be a “tour of duty” with the missionaries, so if you say “no” to one set and they finally honor it, it starts all over again about six months later with a new set.)

And I don’t recommend the “fireside meetings”, Relief Society meetings, or other events unless you and your children can withstand “high pressure salesmen”. They seem to interpret just going to one of the events at a Mormon ward as interest in Mormonism and a right to send the missionaries to visit you.

I agree with Paul Dupre. Just about all the heartbroken parents of convert to Mormonism children can tell about the same story–from the “date 'em, dunk 'em, then dump 'em” to the “I’ll be your friend and we’ll keep this a secret between us until you are old enough to leave your parents–they don’t really love you like we can”. They’ll just wait until the child reaches legal age if necessary.

On the plus side, the ward building is clean and neat and beautifully landscaped (thus property values will not plummet.) And if the community needed a traffic signal, you can be sure that there will be one with the LDS ward. Oh, it has been my experience that the people themselves are polite and friendly and will offer to help you out–I get it from the missionaries all the time (unlike some of the other religious solicitors). Of course, I think it goes with the “every member a missionary” way of thinking.

 

[estesbob]

My strong Catholic family and I are moving to a town with a mormon church down the block and many in town. We are a little worried about it because we have little children

we have 4 girls and the oldest is 7 and we want to raise them strong in the Catholic faith.

May be it sounds odd to feel weird but we are moving Monday and just feel that perhaps this may be a little bit of an ajustment for us. I don’t know much about Mormons. All I knows is that they knock on doors and such.

Any advice? f this is a silly topic I am so sorry.

You will find that they are great neighbors and they will not be constantly prostelyzing you.

 

[lovesMary]

You will find that they are great neighbors and they will not be constantly prostelyzing you.

Ditto to that. Mormons seem to be the creme of the crop. They are family oriented, take care of their own, don’t drink or smoke, have strict morals.

 

[RC_Matt]

My strong Catholic family and I are moving to a town with a mormon church down the block and many in town. We are a little worried about it because we have little children

we have 4 girls and the oldest is 7 and we want to raise them strong in the Catholic faith.

May be it sounds odd to feel weird but we are moving Monday and just feel that perhaps this may be a little bit of an ajustment for us. I don’t know much about Mormons. All I knows is that they knock on doors and such.

Any advice? f this is a silly topic I am so sorry.

Put your children in the Parochial School, the education is much better and their peer group will share the same faith; they will avoid being ostracized and constantly proselytized. Otherwise they, and you, are in for a very rough ride; take it from one who knows, it can be very ugly. If you plan on staying in Utah and keep your kids in the public school system, particularly as they get older, there is a very good possibility that one or more will ultimately end-up Mormon. This can destroy families and the Mormons couldn’t care less; if they can’t get you, they’ll go after your children.

 

[RebeccaJ]

Don’t make Mormonism a huge mystery, and especially not a taboo. It isn’t a mystery and taboos only become a magnet point for teen rebellion.

Let your children be a part of the community and interact with everyone, Mormon or not. At the same time, work at making experiences for them that you want them to have. In Utah, you have to work at this, they just don’t happen. Look for activities where your children can be involved with Catholics. Many parishes have youth groups who do things together. Get to know the parents in your parish, and you will find that they can give you good community information.

My entire extended family is LDS. So Mormonism has never been a mystery. But, I know the conversion tactics, however slight and sly they may be. Whenever they occurred, with my daughter and I together, I would explain to her what happened. What the person was attempting to do. And she was there to see how I handled it. Politely if possible, but never, ever with any kind of commitment. Mormons are always trying to get you to commit to something, whether it be going to church on Sunday or other Mormon based activities. Just politely tell them no, and don’t offer any excuses. Otherwise, they start offering ways to help you out of those excuses.

Raise your children strongly Catholic, but make it clear that if they did happen to choose something outside of Catholicism, that you would be disappointed but would not love them any less. If you make it an all or nothing affair, you open up the window for them to be isolated from you based on a fear of you not accepting them. And there are Mormons (and others cults) who will play on this to their advantage.

 

[RebeccaJ]

Ditto to that. Mormons seem to be the creme of the crop. They are family oriented, take care of their own, don’t drink or smoke, have strict morals.

This is true, 99% of the time, and especially in areas where Mormons are a minority. In Utah, things are little different. Proselyting never ends.

 

[BartBurk]

You might find some Mormons who are interested in becoming Catholic. A lot of Mormons are finding out about the problems with their religion. The internet is helping them a lot. I would put a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in your front yard so they know you are a serious Catholic. Drape some Rosary beads on your rear view mirror in your car.

If you are not fairly visible about your Catholicism you may find yourself getting all kinds of missionary bombardments. In my experience Mormons accept Catholics more than they do Protestants if that is any comfort. There are quite a few Mormons who attend Notre Dame where I work. I think it is because Mormons have respect for good Catholics.

 

[estesbob]

You might find some Mormons who are interested in becoming Catholic. A lot of Mormons are finding out about the problems with their religion. The internet is helping them a lot. I would put a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in your front yard so they know you are a serious Catholic. Drape some Rosary beads on your rear view mirror in your car.

I had a Hispanic friend who left Catholicism for the Mormon Church specically because they taught the American Indian was a descendant of the lost tribe of israel(or something like that). He died years ago but I wonder what his reaction would be to DNA evidence shwoing that simply is not true.

He was, BTW, a great friend and one of the kindest men I ever knew. He was shot to death while trying to break up a fight in a parking lot after a high school football game.

 

[RebeccaJ]

re: teen dating. If you are still in UT at that point, your children will date Mormons, it is inevitable. And this is where conversions happen.

When my daughter was dating a Mormon boy, I would talk to her and point out what was going on. Yes, he is a nice boy and cute, but did you know that when he turns 19 he is going on a Mormon mission and when he returns he will want to marry a Mormon girl, and a Mormon girl only? Did you know that he is being taught to date Mormon girls only? Are you a Mormon girl? Do you want to be a Mormon girl? Don’t you think he would be happier dating Mormon girls? Why do you think he is dating you when you know, and he knows, that his only interest is dating Mormons?

Which, sometimes Mormon kids go for the non-Mormon dating out of a sense of rebellion. Rebellious Mormon teens are a big flashing warning signal. My daughter has a friend who is on the tale end of this, and I would tell her that this friend was in Mormon rebellion, and that she should not let herself become a part of it. Be supportive and a good friend, but don’t get wound up in the rebellion. I mean, going to coffee with my daughter was a part of this rebellion! But she was also trying out drinking a drugs. I made her welcome in our home, but made sure that my daughter understood what was going on with her, and that she was making bad decisions.

You have to be clear, and point these things out, as teens don’t think of them. With boys, they just have the whole hormone, gosh he’s cute, paying attention to me, and I am a blind teenager who forgot how to think, happening.

 

[BDawg]

They don’t seem to believe in “live and let live” and their they give “lip service” to that 11th Article of Faith–the one that says that they believe people should worship however they want.

Hi A,

This seems kind of silly to me. How has anyone ever tried to force you to worship in a way you don’t want to? It seems to me that all anyone ever did was knock on your door and invite you to learn more about their religion, every few months.

 

[estesbob]

re: teen dating. If you are still in UT at that point, your children will date Mormons, it is inevitable. And this is where conversions happen.

When my daughter was dating a Mormon boy, I would talk to her and point out what was going on. Yes, he is a nice boy and cute, but did you know that when he turns 19 he is going on a Mormon mission and when he returns he will want to marry a Mormon girl, and a Mormon girl only? Did you know that he is being taught to date Mormon girls only? Are you a Mormon girl? Do you want to be a Mormon girl? Don’t you think he would be happier dating Mormon girls? Why do you think he is dating you when you know, and he knows, that his only interest is dating Mormons?

Which, sometimes Mormon kids go for the non-Mormon dating out of a sense of rebellion. Rebellious Mormon teens are a big flashing warning signal. My daughter has a friend who is on the tale end of this, and I would tell her that this friend was in Mormon rebellion, and that she should not let herself become a part of it. Be supportive and a good friend, but don’t get wound up in the rebellion. I mean, going to coffee with my daughter was a part of this rebellion! But she was also trying out drinking a drugs. I made her welcome in our home, but made sure that my daughter understood what was going on with her, and that she was making bad decisions.

You have to be clear, and point these things out, as teens don’t think of them. With boys, they just have the whole hormone, gosh he’s cute, paying attention to me, and I am a blind teenager who forgot how to think, happening.

My daughter dated a Mormon for a while when she was in college. He took her home to meet the family (making assumptions about their relationship that were not true) and during the course of the weekend she told his Mother there was no way she would even consider becoming a Mormon. They broke up a short time later.

 

[RebeccaJ]

You might find some Mormons who are interested in becoming Catholic. A lot of Mormons are finding out about the problems with their religion. The internet is helping them a lot. I would put a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in your front yard so they know you are a serious Catholic. Drape some Rosary beads on your rear view mirror in your car.

If you are not fairly visible about your Catholicism you may find yourself getting all kinds of missionary bombardments. In my experience Mormons accept Catholics more than they do Protestants if that is any comfort. There are quite a few Mormons who attend Notre Dame where I work. I think it is because Mormons have respect for good Catholics.

This is true. RCIA in UT has many former Mormons.

 

[majick275]

Hi A,

This seems kind of silly to me. How has anyone ever tried to force you to worship in a way you don’t want to? It seems to me that all anyone ever did was knock on your door and invite you to learn more about their religion, every few months.

and used car salesmen just display autos and offer to assist should you wish to purchase one…at least they don’t come to your door to “invite” you to the lot.

mormon missionaries receive extensive sales training and a have a very developed set of procedures for getting people to meet with them.

 

[RebeccaJ]

Hee hee. I once met a guy in Iowa who couldn’t stand Jehovah’s Witnesses. So he plastered his windows with American Flag stickers and put a totem pole up in his yard. The JWs would come around and ask things like, “Who is the God you worship?” (They were trying to get into a discussion about how the name of God is Jehovah.) Anyway, when they would ask that, the guy would point at the totem pole and say, “There he is.” After doing this once or twice, the JWs would never knock on his door again. He would see them pointing and whispering as they skipped his house, though.

As a Mormon missionary, I always found that the line that worked best on us was, “Sorry boys, but I’m not interested in your message. Thanks for stopping by.” Then we would thank the person for their time and move on. Maybe we would knock on the door a few months later, after we had gone through all the other streets in town. If someone tried something more extreme, however, it didn’t help them at all, because we didn’t keep records of who yelled at us, threatened us, or freaked us out.

BDawg, I have had missionaries at my door, “not interested” being the response to every sentence that comes out of their mouth. It is like I am not speaking at all. They always keep going on with their sales pitch. And they always return. Sometimes it might be a few years, but there they are, on my doorstep.

Also have had missionaries waiting to pounce on people as they come out of the grocery store. Offering to "help"with my groceries. And when I said no, they were rude.

Also have had Mormons give me BoMs at work.

Nice Mormon lady who would bother my daughter’s friend at work, where he bags groceries. This woman would purposely go to the check out line that he was working, and then proselyte him all the way to her car.

Mormon missionaries leaving proselyting materials in our churches.

I have endless stories like this as does every non-Mormon in UT. No, you can’t seem to leave us alone and let us live our lives how we believe is correct. We are Christian, there is no reason for you to be telling us about Christ’s Gospel. We already have it.

 

[BDawg]

I have endless stories like this as does every non-Mormon in UT. No, you can’t seem to leave us alone and let us live our lives how we believe is correct. We are Christian, there is no reason for you to be telling us about Christ’s Gospel. We already have it.

Hi Rebecca,

I know that every non-Mormon in Utah has a few “horror stories” about the Mormons who won’t stop bugging them. But the truth is that the vast majority of us aren’t like that. The sad thing is when people will take the actions of a few socially challenged people, and hold a grudge against all of us because of it.

FYI, I know lots of Mormons who have gone on missions in Catholic countries, and they always have several “horror stories” about how awful Catholics or their priests were to them. And yet, most of the time they don’t come away blaming all Catholics for the actions of a minority.

 

[BDawg]

Rebecca,

Case in point. My sister went on a mission to Spain, and she had a Catholic guy chase her with a sword. Yes, I said a sword. Top that.