PROTECTING AGAINST MORMON ID THEFT

Vatican keeps parish records from Mormons
Associated Press
May 4, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Vatican has ordered Catholic dioceses
worldwide to withhold member registries from Mormons who perform
posthumous baptisms.

The order was issued by a clergy mainstay, the Vatican Congregation
for Clergy. Officials said the step was taken to prevent members of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from baptizing by
proxy their Catholic ancestors.

The order was first re****ted by Catholic News Service. There was no
immediate response from the Mormon church's world headquarters in Salt
Lake City.

Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald said the Catholic diocese in Utah already
has a policy to restrict baptismal records only to those entitled to
see the records.

One Mormon genealogist, Russell Bangerter, told the Deseret News of
Salt Lake City that the order cracks down on the free flow of
information.

Bangerter said the Mormon church has an open-door policy at its own
Family History Library.