Yes, diana, I have heard of that reasoning before (that the ban came into effect (or God never ended the ban prior to 1978) because of an unworthy surrounding society. It’s always interesting to note the views of Black LDS on this issue, and most seem okay with the above reasoning.
Someone else can comment on priests or priestly organizations owning slaves, as I am not as read in that area. However the difference I see is this: the Catholic Church’s priesthood has been open to all males that desire it forever.
I have just shown you where, in practice, it wasn’t.
Not really. If it were true, it wouldn’t have taken three hundred years to get one in North America, nor would that first one have had to go to Rome for training because he wasn’t welcome in American seminaries.
There have been black bishops for a long period of time. We not only have to look at the number of black bishops and priests, but also the percentage of such members and the timeline for evangelization of those areas. Also note that people are not “ordained” a Cardinal. The highest ordination in the Catholic Church is that of bishop. We have had black bishops for centuries.
Not in the Americas, you haven’t. See, the problem is that if racism is a problem anywhere, then it is a problem everywhere.
In contrast, the LDS Church had an institutionalized doctrine of not ordaining those of African descent to the priesthood. When one thinks of the role that the priesthood plays in Mormonism, it was quite devastating spiritually. Yes, Blacks could always be members of the church, but it is through the priesthood that males fully participate in the LDS Church. Even if priests owned slaves (again, someone else can comment on that, I know nothing about it!), the Catholic Church never stated that Blacks were somehow not the same as Whites and others as to hold the priesthood and be Endowed, Sealed, and other ordinances. I remember one black LDS on the 30 year anniversary of the Priesthood Revelation video said something to the effect of “blacks coveted the priesthood, but were unable to hold it”.
But again, black LDS today don’t seem to care much about the ban.
Why should they?
Do you, in all honesty, care about the very real racism of the Catholic church in the Americas? About how priests owned slaves, supported slave owners, and saw to it that no black priest was ordained until the late 1800’s?
The thing is, black Mormons should not care; the ban was a policy, upheld by all. Upon the change of that policy, it was instantly (and I do mean instantly) put into place. The first black priesthood ordinations occurred within days, and literally within weeks we had the first black high priests, high council members and bishopric members. Within 11 years we had the first black general authorities. Our actions match our policies in this matter, in other words.
It is done. It is time to move on.
Catholics, too, should not care about the racism of their past, either…because there has been so much change, improvement and progress. True, it took the Catholics longer to get their act together than we did, (by several centuries, when you compare lengths of years) but y’all did. Right now there are no Mormon blacks under the age of 40 who have experienced the sort of racism that we are being accused of. I don’t think there are many Catholics of that age who have, either. Don’t you think it’s time we both laid off each other in this matter?
As I said…the argument that can be used against one is equally usefull against the other…Catholics and Mormons (and, come to think of it, most Protestants, as well) who get all self righteous about LDS racism really are forming a circular firing squad.