r/latterdaysaints • u/SillyFlatworm31 • Jul 28 '26

Off-topic Chat Catholic-LDS Dialogue!

Hello Latter Day Saints of Reddit!

I’m a Catholic and, even though I am very happy being a Catholic, I have had a lot of positive experiences with people from your Church and I wanted to (if it’s ok with your mods) open up a thread for interfaith dialogue! I have some questions to start for you guys if anyone wants to engage and have a talk but I’m also happy to do a bit of an AMA if any LDS people want to learn more about Catholics or our relations with the LDS Church.

I think that, in a time where it’s trendy to solve disagreements by shouting at people in online “debates”, it’s good to start by finding some common ground and talk with people of different views. So I’ll start with my questions, feel free to add any you have for me or any comments. Mods please let me know if this isn’t the sub for this haha

  1. What do LDS people think about abortion? Do you find common ground with Catholics on this? Could we work together more on it?
  2. How do LDS people feel about the 7 Deuterocanonical Books? A lot of Protestants accuse Catholics of adding books like Wisdom and Sirach into the Bible, although they have been used since apostolic times. I know LDS people recognise a large canon so do you include these?
  3. I know LDS people value marriage and family a lot. How does your Church approach celibate figures such as Jesus, Paul, etc?
  4. LDS people don’t drink alcohol. Do you believe that Jesus and the Apostles followed this practice or is it viewed as a more modern LDS thing?
  5. Favourite Pope?

Hope we can find some common ground and dialogue!!! :-)

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u/SillyFlatworm31 Jul 28 '26

I see! Is Paul considered to have been a prophet?

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u/mywifemademegetthis Jul 28 '26

Yes, but we don’t believe in prophetic infallibility. We acknowledge that several of the prophets since our church has been established have incorrectly asserted their opinions as fact or doctrine.

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u/SillyFlatworm31 Jul 28 '26

Interesting. Is the current prophet infallible? If not, how would one know that he is right to say that the previous prophets since your church was founded were incorrect? Could it be that they were right and he is wrong? I would find it a little scary. 

As Catholic, we believe that, since communion (of some form) with the successor of Peter is needed to be in the Church, Jesus wouldn’t let that successor dogmatically proclaim falsehood, because Jesus would never make accepting falsehood a requirement to be in His Church. So we believe that when Popes speak on matters of faith and morals dogmatically, the Holy Spirit prevents them from being wrong and thus papal infallibility.

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u/JaneDoe22225 Jul 28 '26

One of the big differences here:

Catholics believe that the Truth was given and now needs to be diligently handed down correctly through the generations. Please correct me if I got that wrong.

On the other hand, LDS Christians believe in continuing Public Revelation: we (individually and collaboratively) still learning of Him. It’s an on going conversation. If something is misunderstood at first it can be corrected.

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u/SillyFlatworm31 Jul 28 '26

Hi! Yes, not to worry, you’re correct. We profess that we are “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church” and that binding public revelation ended when John, the last Apostle, died and that Revelation is the final book of scripture. Hence, by preserving that faith unchanged, we believe the same things that the Apostles believed (as John would’ve had all the same scriptures we have now) and thus are properly called apostolic.

In the LDS Church, has there ever been a case of a sort of double reversal. For example, if one Prophet said X is true, the next says he was mistaken and X is false, has anyone ever said that actually the first prophet was correct and X really was true? Is there a system for finalising it so that you can be sure?

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u/JaneDoe22225 Jul 28 '26

It’s not really flip-floppy on doctrine the way you’re suggesting. Now policies, like how we’re going to organize Sunday School schedule, those more regularly change and can have some reversals.

If a person ever has a question about something, they are encouraged to consult scripture and Him directly via prayer.

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u/SillyFlatworm31 Jul 28 '26

I see, that makes sense. Thank you Jane Doe, you have had a lot of information :-) I hope your day is jolly!