[TI] Catholic church ban on Mormans accessing Sacramental records.

[Kim Sansone]

I belong to another list and received this email
through that list regarding catholic sacramental
records.   Click on the link or copy and paste it to
read the article.   Let's hope this doesn't happen! 

Dear List:
 
Back in the dark ages (about 25 years ago) I remember
often being rebuked by a secretary in a Catholic
rectory.  Back then only priests or their designees
were deemed worthy of viewing their so-called
"Sacramental Records".  These included baptism
(birth), confirmation, marriage, and burial (death)
records.  For many, many family historians this was a
crushing blow, the only avenue left in which to gain
knowledge of their ancestors.  The Catholic Church
guarded the information with the same zeal that they
still guard orphanage home records (regardless of the
fact that the inmate was there for adoption or not).  
Somehow (I'd love to know the story behind this) the
St. Louis Archdiocesan Parish Records were recorded by
the Genealogical Society of Utah.  BTW, the
Genealogical Society of Utah is dedicated to
gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical
information throughout the world. Established in 1894,
it is an incorporated, nonprofit educational
institution entirely funded by The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka the Mormons).  The
St. Louis records were microfilmed in the early 1990s,
and are currently available (all 242 microfilm reels)
at the St. Louis County Library (as well as anywhere
in the world with a Family History Library).  You
might want to avail yourself of these records
immediately.  Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, current
head of the St. Louis Archdiocese, is well-known for
his staunch support of Vatican directives, and I
wouldn't be at all surprised if he takes the next
logical step to have the existing microfilm burned. 
 
Link to news article on Catholic Church ban on Mormons
accessing "Sacramental Records" :
 
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695276377,00.html
 
Dave Lossos
Lossos at Gmail.com