Catholic Church Bans Filming of Records by LDS

I just learned of this and think that all of us who deeply care about genealogical research need to make our protests heard to the Catholic Church and the genealogical community as this can result in grave consequences for the preservation of valuable genealogical records:

Full article is available at: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0802443.htm

Vatican letter directs bishops to keep parish records from Mormons

By Chaz Muth
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In an effort to block posthumous rebaptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Catholic dioceses throughout the world have been directed by the Vatican not to give information in parish registers to the Mormons' Genealogical Society of Utah.

An April 5 letter from the Vatican Congregation for Clergy, obtained by Catholic News Service in late April, asks episcopal conferences to direct all bishops to keep the Latter-day Saints from microfilming and digitizing information contained in those registers.

The order came in light of "grave reservations" expressed in a Jan. 29 letter from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the clergy congregation's letter said.

Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said the step was taken to prevent the Latter-day Saints from using records -- such as baptismal documentation -- to posthumously baptize by proxy the ancestors of church members.