The recent spate of letters critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the sometime defensive retorts of faithful saints should serve as a reminder that the shell of civility which gives some cohesion to our pluralistic society is very thin. The criticisms and the defensive responses are, of course, not new — they permeate the history of Utah from 1850 on.
Sometimes, however, individuals on both sides were able to rise above the rhetoric and promote a "live and let live" perspective that seems missing in much of the current debate.
One notable example of this can be seen in the life of Father Lawrence Scanlan, the Irish Roman Catholic priest who later became the first Catholic bishop of Utah. In May 1879, Scanlan visited Silver Reef near St. George to minister to the spiritual needs of the Irish miners there. Because there were no public buildings large enough in which to celebrate Mass, the leadership of the St. George LDS Stake invited him to use the St. George Tabernacle. They even provided him with the Tabernacle Choir which, under the direction of a Scottish settler, John MacFarlane, sang Peter's Mass in Latin.
According to the "Manuscript History of St. George Stake," after the Mass, Father Scanlan preached. Addressing the Mormons in the audience he said: "I think you are wrong, and you think I am wrong, but this should not prevent us from treating each other with due consideration and respect."
Can we rise above the anger and resentment of the present moment and start "treating each other with due consideration and respect?" Of course, truly understanding others can be dangerous to long-held personal perspectives — we might change! But in the long term interests of our community, it's worth the risk.
Fred S. Buchanan
Salt Lake City