By Michael Patrick O’Brien
With All Saints Day arriving later this week, I can timely note that it would be unusual for a Catholic to call herself or a colleague a saint. It is quite common, however, for someone from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to refer to his fellow members as “the saints.” What’s up with that?
I started thinking about the question in August 2018 when the Latter-day Saint church issued a new style guide asking that people no longer use the word “Mormon” or the acronym “LDS” to refer to its church or members. (See https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/08/16/lds-church-wants-everyone/.) I had used those terms quite often, but I want to honor someone’s polite request to call them by the name they believe is most accurate.
Such deference has its limits, of course. No matter how respectfully or persistently I ask, I doubt people will start calling me “NBA player” or “Michael the Archangel.” Yet, there is nothing wrong with honoring someone’s reasonable request to be called by a name closer to their true and historic identity, rather than by a name that has been used by some in a derogatory or demeaning manner.
(The Catholic Church, by the way, is struggling with this very issue in other ways. A prominent Catholic archbishop has argued that the acronym “LGBTQ” should not be used in Church documents. See http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/archbishop-chaput-term-lgbtq-catholic-should-not-be-used-in-church-document. Yet, a popular Catholic Jesuit writer uses it regularly. See https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/03/05/father-james-martin-lessons-all-catholics-six-lgbt-parables.)
But back to my point…I wondered what word I could use to replace “Mormon” in my conversations and writings. Well, what about “saint?” Some may think using that term except in reference to canonized Catholic exemplars is immodest, or maybe even disrespectful. Thus, I did some research to find out why many in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints feel comfortable using the term.
I learned that use of the term has New Testament biblical roots, and that by calling themselves “saints,” the Latter-day Saints “are not saying they are perfect or holy, but rather that they are called to strive for perfection according to the standards God set.” (See https://aboutmormons.org/1931/why-are-mormons-called-saints and http://www.patheos.com/mormon/mormon-saints-james-faulconer-01-10-2013). In other words, use of the word “saint” is not a description, as in the Catholic usage, of someone’s renowned character or status, but rather is aspirational and describes the relationship with God of someone who is trying to be a better person.
That works for me. Goodbye Mormons. Adios LDS folks. Hello Latter-say Saints!
