UPDATE: Who's that on the cover of the OCP missal? - Deacon Greg Kandra

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And then tried to ‘spin out’ on it.

Contrary to popular opinion, making an apology for doing or saying something wrong (making an error and owning up to it) will not cause immediate death or eternal public humiliation. I’m living proof.

OCP should realize that instead of trying to blame ‘third parties’ or waffle, a remark like, “We here at OCP, looking for a beautiful image of an angel blowing a trumpet, found this image and thought it suitable, not realizing that in fact the image was not of a Catholic angel but rather the Mormon Angel Moroni. We apologize for the confusion this has brought. We can’t afford to do a replacement etc so we will put on our website a permanent and prominent explanation, and stress that the image of an angel (not Moroni) with a trumpet is what we had wanted to show, and ask that all who see this image please consider it as showing a ‘generic’ angel. Again, our apologies for being too quick to choose this image, and our apologies to the Mormon people for the confusion our appropriation of THEIR ‘angel’ has caused” would be very well received by Catholics who would rejoice that SOMEBODY is at least being HONEST!
 
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I find their explanation to be questionable. Yeah, they made a mistake. They didn’t research the image. Just admit it. Don’t try to say it is something it isn’t. It is not just any angel, it is a specific one, as the artist’s son states.

As soon as I saw the image, I recognized it as Mormon. How did they not see that?
 
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Maybe they do not care because it is a picture? It is an angel, and last I heard, we do not know what any of them look like. In fact, since I do not believe in any “Moroni,” I would say that Joseph Smith stole the image of an angel from Christianity first. Maybe we are stealing it back?
 
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“Dear Partners in Ministry, we have heard your concerns, we admit our error and we apologize for the cover art on the 2021 Respond & Acclaim and Music Issue,” said a statement from Oregon Catholic Press published Aug. 25.
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Oregon Catholic Press said they were “unaware of the association with the Mormon angel Moroni,” and that “we should have done more research”.

“We apologize for this embarrassing mistake,” they said, adding that they would “never knowingly use an image that is not authentically Catholic on our publications.”
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I applaud OCP for (finally) admitting their obvious error.
 
While I tend to agree that the Angel Moroni doesn’t exist and that Catholics used images of angels with trumpets for almost two centuries before Joseph Smith showed up, I think Catholic publications should use art by Catholic artists.
 
pnewton said:
It is an angel, and last I heard, we do not know what any of them look like. In fact, since I do not believe in any “Moroni,” I would say that Joseph Smith stole the image of an angel from Christianity first. Maybe we are stealing it back?
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My own opinion about this particular image of an angel blowing a trumpet is that it is so clearly the Angel Moroni, who is iconically LDS, that its use in Catholic worship would cause grave scandal. There’s no spinning this as being “just another angel” for a couple reasons. He’s posed exactly as he’s posed in every single depiction of him in LDS artwork and in every single statue of him that adorns the spires of LDS temples (the gold statue of him being the LDS analogue to a cross atop a church steeple). He’s lacking wings, which itself isn’t problematic for Christianity since our use of winged angels is just a matter of artistic expression, but it speaks to an actual dogmatic fact in Mormonism. Mormons stress the human likeness of angels in all their art, including their belief that angels positively lack wings, due to their belief that angels and humans are ontologically identical beings. Finally, and this is the biggy, he’s carrying the Golden Plates which are alleged by Mormons to be the source material for the Book of Mormon! There just is no Christianizing this angel. I’m glad OCP has changed course and made an appropriate apology for this oversight and have pledged to rectify it.
 
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ramartensjr said:
Oregon Catholic Press said they were “unaware of the association with the Mormon angel Moroni,”
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I wonder how many Catholics are into Mormonism enough to know this sort of iconography. I know I have never heard of it or seen it.

Hey, if it offends people, it is good to change it. Such is our world today anyway.
 
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pnewton said:
I wonder how many Catholics are into Mormonism enough to know this sort of iconography. I know I have never heard of it or seen it.

Hey, if it offends people, it is good to change it. Such is our world today anyway.
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Well, obviously Mormon converts to Catholicism would be intimately aware of the iconography. Also, Catholics in the western United States, where Mormonism is either a majority religion or significant minority, would likely be aware of the iconography. Ask a Catholic from Utah, from Idaho, from Arizona,… from Las Vegas, NV; eastern Oregon, San Bernardino, CA; … etc.

OCP should’ve done their due diligence, and even they have admitted such. They’ve apologized, and have pledged to rectify the situation for those parishes who now have scandalous missalettes. Even as a scandalized ex-Mormon Catholic I now consider this a settled issue. Good job, OCP for doing the right thing! 👍
 
I am Catholic and I am aware of it. I think I saw it over the years any time that the Mormons or Salt Lake City are shown on tv or such as in movies or news. It’s quite commonly used. That’s how I saw it.
 
That’s just goofy.

Someone should have spotted this. I’m by no means an expert on Mrmonism but I know that’s their angel they put on top of their temples.

I understand that it would be too expensive to reprint the books so I guess the faithful should just get a chuckle out of it.

It’s a blunder- but then again- not everything is SCANDAL!
 
Tis_Bearself said:
While I tend to agree that the Angel Moroni doesn’t exist and that Catholics used images of angels with trumpets for almost two centuries before Joseph Smith showed up, I think Catholic publications should use art by Catholic artists.
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The artist in question was baptized Catholic, so technically he is still Catholic even though he renounced his Catholic faith and joined the Mormons.

Baptism leaves an indelible mark. Once a Catholic, always a Catholic.
🙂
 
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