Missions

[_Dr Moore]

No, not Mormon missions.

I refer to the first organized proselyting outposts in California, known as the Spanish Missions. Pioneered by Fray (Brother) Junipero Serra, these missions were vital to the founding of the state of CA. Fourth graders in the state are required to visit or study one of the 21 missions and prepare a diorama or a video to document what they learned. This is a historical and spiritual journey designed to foster appreciation of this sacred heritage. Recently it was my pleasure to tour the second established mission, founded in 1770, just outside of Carmel CA.

These 21 mission settlements were established approximately a day’s walk apart, stretching from San Diego up past San Francisco. Their namesake construction style continues to be popular in warm, arid climates.

Here is a photo of a sculpted work in the courtyard, illustrating the benevolent teaching of the previously savage natives.



Meticulous records were kept of each baptism. Here is a photo of a conversion registry, located in CA’s first library in the Carmel mission.


Here is a contemporary artist’s rendering of the mission in year 1823. By then, the mission system was flourishing with thousands of combined converts, trading, industry, naturally all revolving around the spiritually awakened Indian converts. Indians were commonly referred to as “gentiles” by the missionaries. What a thrilling fulfillment that the gospel was being taken to far away gentiles in fulfillment of New Testament prophesy.


The display vignette about Apostle Junipero Serra opened my eyes to the depth of CA’s reverence toward brother Serra and his work.


Children bonded with the church leaders, which no doubt validated the effort as these young souls embraced the true gospel.


Questions and ideas on my mind following this enlightening experience:

(1) have LDS scholars or general authorities addressed the obvious problem with God sending Catholic missionaries, literally representing the great whore according to early Mormon teachings, to bring the gospel to the Lamanites so long before the promised restoration? Spanish missions to Alta California indians were established fully 60 years before the LDS church, and achieved vibrant success just as Joseph began learning about Lamanites. How could God allow this to happen?

(2) is it possible Joseph heard word of the Catholic successes with missions and sought to mimic that outcome by sending missionaries specifically into Lamanite territories? Could Joseph Smith have felt somewhat competitive with the Catholics, realizing their head start and success in numbers with the Indian he sought to co opt into the Lamanite framework? Could this competitive dynamic explain some of the subsequent vindictive condemnation of the Catholic church specifically?

(3) anticipating the theory that Satan may indeed be behind Catholicism, how then has God so utterly failed in the Book of Mormon promises to restore the Lamanites and to preserve them for the marvelous work and wonder? Are we to understand that Satan worked on the Lamanites for hundreds of years, due to Spanish exploration and missionary efforts? What then of the Book of Mormon promises? And this cannot be easily passed aside as mere “preparation” — the head start continues to this day with significantly more Catholics in Latin America. Catholicism as a culture and familial bond may be the single largest impediment to Mormon missionary work among Latin Americans. Is the latter point a testable or measurable theory?

(4) Obviously it cannot be allowed that the Lamanite promises have actually and quite successfully been fulfilled by Catholic missionaries, although this theory is deeply meritorious. It was the Catholics, not Mormons, who first taught Latinos about Christ, baptism, faith, prayer, and more broadly the way and the word. What does Mormonism really bring these so called Lamanite people that is not in the gospel as taught in the Book of Mormon? Precisely nothing.

(5) So the church appears trapped in a dilemma of its own theory here. Either the Lamanites already blossomed as the rose thanks to the Catholics, or God has failed them entirely by allowing Satan’s great whore to disrupt the promises made before 400 AD. If this is a false dilemma, what other explanation exists?

[_Simon Southerton]

Dr Moore,

Thank you for this wonderfully informative post. My wife and I recently returned from a holiday on the Pacific coast of the US and stayed with friends in Monterey. During our stay we did a very quick tour of the Carmel Mission where we learned about Father Serra's success in converting the Indians. The Carmel Mission means so much to the Catholic Church that the Pope even paid it a visit.

It is interesting to contemplate the reason God allowed "the whore of all the earth" to get such an early head start on his one true Church.

[_Finn the human]

Thank you Dr. Moore for a very informative post about the evangelical efforts of our Catholic brothers and sisters. And thank you for your thought provoking questions. One thing that came to mind while reading your questions is how to square the ecumenical efforts of the Mormon church with what the Book of Mormon bluntly says and what Elder McConkie explicitly made clear about the Catholic church being the church of the devil.

The words of President Hinckley come to mind about how everyone can bring all the good they have to the Mormon church and then see what the church can add to it. It seems to me that even an adherent of Satanism could bring some positive things to God’s one true church so why would that not be true for one of Satan’s wholly owned subsidiary’s? Namely the Catholic Church. Catholic missionaries were and are paving the way for Mormon missionaries to bring the world the entire gospel. Line upon line etc.

[_Dr Moore]

The Carmel Mission means so much to the Catholic Church that the Pope even paid it a visit.

Indeed, as did Pres. Kennedy, the first Catholic president of the United States.

Pope Francis granted sainthood to Serra in 2015, the first person to be sainted on US soil. The action was not without controversy, as more than 50 Indian tribes campaigned against the sainthood on grounds that the missions ultimately led to death and hardship for thousands converted Indians. Once the missions began to close, most of the resident Indians died of starvation.

[_SuperDell]

Somehow all these fine stories miss the very real "convert or die" program that was often used with the native people these Catholics came in contact with.