VATICAN CITY — Deseret News Editor Paul Edwards sat down in Vatican City with President Henry B. Eyring of the LDS Church's First Presidency, Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Bishop Gérald Caussé of the church's Presiding Bishopric to discuss the significance of Humanum: An International Interreligious Colloquium on The Complementarity of Man and Woman, and what it means for families around the world.
Paul Edwards: Thank you so much for visiting with us. This has been a big event. This meeting didn’t happen in isolation. Elder Perry, I’m wondering if you could describe some of the interfaith dialogues that preceded this event that has brought us to this point.
Elder Perry: I think it started with, really, one organization that got really excited about this, was able to propose it to the Catholic Church that it could be held here. And of course that’s significant, that it would be held in the largest church we have in the United States. To have the opportunity to have it originate from there with the gathering of all these faiths made it exciting and wonderful as a beginning.
Paul Edwards: President Eyring, would you think of this then as a culmination of efforts, or is this a waypoint in the discussions we are having today?
President Eyring: It’s both. It’s a culmination in a sense that, a lot of it is Elder Perry, had made many friends who I think when they were putting their program together, someone said, "You know, you really ought to have Latter-day Saints in the meeting.: And I believe it’s from friends that Elder Perry’s worked with telling the organizers we ought to be invited. I am really convinced, so it’s a culmination of his efforts, but it’s the beginning, as he’s already said, because there’s much yet to be done, including some of these people who are friends. They are talking about how are we going to get the word out and what more can we do. They want to do more. So it’s both a culmination but it’s also a beginning.
Paul Edwards: Bishop Caussé, what is the general mood inside the colloquium? What’s the feeling there?
Bishop Caussé: Well, there was a spirit of friendship. You know you come and you know a few people, you don’t know others, and it feels like you’re on the same page pretty easily. Everybody will have their same objectives. We share a common belief in values in favor of families.
Paul Edwards: What was your sense, President Eyring, of the feeling in the conference?
President Eyring: I thought it changed actually during the meetings, that perhaps partly because we were meeting some of them offline, as we met with them. But I would think, by and large, just walking into the room was different at the end than it was in the beginning. More cardinals and more representatives of other churches were coming up to me and shaking hands as if I knew them. And I think it grew over the conference.
Paul Edwards: Elder Perry, the Catholic Church has such a long-established teaching and doctrine about marriage through natural law, and their social teaching and theology. Why do you think that they wanted to convene this kind of a conference here at the Vatican?
Elder Perry: I think they recognized the strength in us. As we’ve gone out and met with them, it’s been amazing how receptive they have been to us. Some of the finest men I’ve ever met in this world are these archbishops we’ve had the opportunity to become very close to. And I think that we’ve developed a relationship now that they recognized that we have the strength and our structure in our organization that can reach out in a way that other churches do not have. And that brings up power to this structure that we are developing with them.
Paul Edwards: There were many faiths represented there. President Eyring, you said that people started to come up and talk throughout the colloquium. Could you describe a bit of those connections with the other faiths represented.
President Eyring: I think the thing was, even with other faiths, they have exactly the same feeling that the root of good society is good families. And so, I think, it’s not so much that they were beginning to like us personally more, I think it was they began to be excited to see how much we were committed to what they were committed to — that the world needs stronger families.
Paul Edwards: So is the retreat from marriage an international problem?
Bishop Caussé: Oh yes. We talk to people from all kinds of countries and different languages and all of them recognize that this is an issue in their country. So we found so much common ground between different cultures. And it was truly an international colloquium.
Paul Edwards: President Hinckley used to say, about working with other faiths, he would say, “Bring all the good that you have and come and let us see if we can add to it.” I’m interested to know what was some of the good that came from the other faiths that you met with this week? Were there things that stood out?
Elder Perry: I think the major thing that happened is that they suddenly realized that we’re a strong body. We’re united together on this one fundamental doctrine that’s so essential in Our Father in Heaven’s kingdom. The basic foundation of everything is the family, and I think that by having us together, it brought strength to all.
President Eyring: I would take your statement and turn it another way. President Hinckley said, "Let’s see what we can add.” What we added was eternal life. And there was no one else — no one — even the most religious, that … have the picture we have that you can live forever in a family.
Paul Edwards: Let’s say just a bit more about that because as you were talking today, President Eyring, you came after a pastor who talked about no marriage in heaven. What did you add to his teachings?
President Eyring: Well what we said was there is marriage in heaven and it’s possible and it’s the happiest thing that can happen. It is the greatest of all the gifts of God.
Bishop Caussé: One of the strongest moments was when President Eyring testified of his own sealing in a temple to his wife and the promises. He had a list of those promises that have an eternal value. It was really a moment where we felt the spirit strongly.
President Eyring: The man, you see, that went before me said we need to give more examples. We need to give them a hope. Well the hope was that you can be together forever in a family, and we added that.
Paul Edwards: So where do we go from here? What are the vital next steps for shoring up family and marriage?
Elder Perry: We must start with our own people. And start teaching it, the fundamental doctrine of family. We have to teach the value of father and mother as the major teachers of the family unit. And we start with that basic organization and build a strong foundation of our own faith, because that will multiply among other people. Start with our own.
President Eyring: And family prayer, and reading the scriptures and being together. Family home evening, which we talk about it a whole lot. We could do more. There could be more in families where they really came together to share their testimonies and love.
Paul Edwards: One of the interesting things about the conference was the use of video to portray the beauty of marriage and family life and some of its importance. How important is that in the cultural dimension to the discussion? We’ve heard a lot of theology and we’ve heard a lot about legal aspects. How important is the cultural dimension of shoring up marriage?
President Eyring: Well, Elder Perry talked with some of the other people that we were with about what more we could do with the very kind of media that we have, and I believe we will do more and others will do more. I think media, particularly with the young generation that’s coming. And so they, that is other churches, and we, I’m sure we’ll do much more. We’re doing quite a bit. There’s an article that Elder (Jeffrey) Holland sent to me that said we are ahead of the curve when it comes to using social media; that will be one of the things that will happen.
Elder Perry: We had hoped that we would build networks with other religious faiths, so when some great documents are prepared, like the ones we saw here, we’ll be able to take parts of that and spread it not only through our network, but through the Catholic network, through the Evangelical network, and through the Baptist network, so that it will be populated.
Paul Edwards: Elder Perry, is there a connection between the retreat from marriage and the concerns about religious liberty in our society?
Elder Perry: There surely is. We have to have a religious liberty in order to have the power to declare the doctrines that the Lord has given to us. Not only in the pulpits, but to other avenues that we can influence people in the value that this is, that we must have religious freedom in order that the churches can be this conscience that America needs, that the world needs.
Paul Edwards: Any special memories that you’ll take back, President Eyring?
President Eyring: Mostly the feeling of the great devotion to family that is worldwide and deep.
Paul Edwards: Do you leave feeling a greater burden, or do you feel like there’s kind of an optimism going forward?
President Eyring: When you are with Elder Perry, you always see opportunity, never problems. He’s an opportunity man, and we saw lots of opportunities.