May 2013 - Visit to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

For the May 2013 meeting, RCC visited the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) Stake Center in Franklin, TN.

The Council was led on a tour of the center by Nashville Mission President William McKee.

RCC members learned that the LDS church has a mission to help people find their roots. The Franklin Stake Center houses a facility where research is conducted, both by members of the church and the community at large, to discover genealogical history. The church runs a free website: familysearch.org where this research can also take place.

One of the core tenets of the faith is that the Lord permits Church members to be baptized on behalf of their friends and relatives who have departed this life (see mormon.org). Baptism of the dead evolved from the beliefs that baptism is necessary for salvation and that the family unit can continue to exist together beyond mortal life if all members are baptized.

RCC members were given a rare glance into the LDS Temple, a site in which visitors are often restricted, and were able to sit in the anteroom and get questions answered by the Temple President.