From the Catholic News Service (CNS) dated May 2:

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 reason for this decision is "to prevent the Latter-day Saints from using records -- such as baptismal documentation -- to posthumously baptize by proxy the ancestors of church members."

According to Wikipedia:

"Baptism for the dead, vicarious baptism or proxy baptism is a religious practice of baptizing a living person on behalf of an individual who is dead; the living person is acting as the deceased person's proxy. So it is with this practice, an individual is baptized to give those beyond the grave the opportunity of baptism by proxy. It has been practiced since 1840 in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where it is also called temple baptism because it is performed only in dedicated temples. Advocates of this practice believe it is referred to in The New Testament (1 Cor. 15:29); it was forbidden by the Orthodox Church in the 4th century as an aberrant practice of heretical groups, and is not practiced in modern mainstream Christianity. Baptism for the dead is also practiced by several other groups in the Latter Day Saint movement."

For those of us who are not Mormons (such as myself - I am a non-practicing Catholic) and have a passionate interest in genealogy and the study of our family history, we have benefited greatly by the LDS belief in baptism by proxy. It is this practice that forms the basis for the Mormon's interest in genealogy. Members of the LDS Church are encouraged to seek out their genealogy. This genealogy research is then used as the foundation for their research in the Church's efforts to perform temple ordinances for as many deceased persons as possible. If the LDS had not shown such generous openness in sharing the records that they have collected and cataloged and made available through their Family History Library (FHL), modern genealogy would not be what it is today - it would still be a pastime pursuit of the privileged.

Yet it appears that this practice does bother some people and it is not only Catholics. It seems that in 1995 the LDS promised to remove Jewish Holocaust victims from its International Genealogical Index, but a few years later independent researchers had discovered that many well known Jews had been vicariously baptized, including Maimonides, Albert Einstein, and Irving Berlin, without a system in place to ensure permissions were obtained.

Independent researcher Helen Radkey, who prepared a report for [Ernest] Michel [chairman of the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors], is certain the agreement has been broken. In her research of the church's extensive genealogical database, she found at least 20,000 Jews -- some of whom died in Nazi concentration camps -- were baptized after they died. (see CNN article from December, 2002)

This then begs the question: if "modern mainstream" religious groups (including the Roman Church and members of the Jewish faith) do not "believe in" nor accept the efficacy of baptism by proxy then really what harm is being done by the practices of the LDS?

The way I look at it the real losers here are the genealogical community at large. If the LDS is ready, willing and able to take on the task of collecting, cataloging, and making available to the world-at-large the parish records of our ancestors, then I am all for it and really do not care what goes on inside a Mormon temple. To me the collection of the records are far more important than chancing the perceived insult of having the name of one of my devoutly Catholic ancestors being mentioned  in a Temple Ordinance ceremony.

To understand better the importance of the parish records of the Roman Catholic, one needs to understand the history of modern record keeping which began in the later part of the 16th century at the tail-end of the Reformation. Prior to the 1500's their were virtually no records kept for most of our European ancestors. Unless a person owned property or held a title, there was no considered need to keep records regarding that person.

The practice of maintaining "Parochial Registers" came about from a decree of the Roman Catholic church following the Council of Trent held between 1545 and 1563 which effectively began what is known as the Counter-Reformation - the Church's response to the Protestant Reformation. As you can imagine a lot of ground was covered in the near twenty years of the council and one decree from the council, described in the New Advent Encyclopedia, ordered that parish priests maintain a set of records regarding their parishioners (Parochial Registers - http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12721b.htm):

One having the cure of souls is commanded by Divine precept to know his subjects (Conc. Trid., sess. XXIII, c. i, "De Ref."). The better to fulfill this obligation, and because, moreover, of the historical importance and probatory force of public records, a pastor must have five distinct parish registers: one each of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and deaths; and a fifth containing a census or general account of the state of souls in the parish. Definite forms for entries in these books are prescribed by the Ritual. Every public document should bear the place, date, and nature of the act inscribed, the name of the one officiating, the names of the parties concerned and the witnesses present, and the signature of the proper official. The Church prescribes that in her parochial registers all persons be designated not only by name, but likewise by parentage and parish; that the office, e.g. rector, curate, of the one officiating be mentioned; that the record be complete, i.e. giving every necessary detail to remove all doubt and uncertainty regarding the validity of the act in question, or the observance of prescribed formalities.

The Wikipedia article Parish Register states that in 1497 Cardinal Ximenes introduced a register of baptisms, first in Toledo, then throughout western Europe. In 1563 the Roman Catholic Church ordered the general keeping of baptismal and marriage registers. It then goes on to describe the history of this practice as it relates to the Anglican church:

On 5 September 1538, following the split with Rome, Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's Vicar General, ordered that each parish priest must keep a book, and that the Parson, in the presence of the wardens, must enter all the baptisms, marriages and burials of the previous week. The book was to be kept in a "sure coffer" with two locks (one key for the vicar, the other for the wardens). A fine of 3s 4d was to be levied for failure to comply. Many parishes ignored this order, believing it to be the forerunner of some new tax. The order was repeated in 1547 with the stipulation that the fine was to go to the relief of the poor.

The irony of all this is that many of these records have already been microfilmed and cataloged by the LDS - years ago! One needs only to go to the search engine for the Family History Library and search on records types to find that hundreds, if not thousands, of parish records are already been available by the LDS in through prior agreements with the Roman Catholic Church.

For example here is the listing for the "Parochieregisters, 1587-1796" for city of Ronse, Belgium where my DeBacker ancestors hail from.

Title: Parochieregisters, 1587-1796
Authors: Rooms Katholieke Kerk. Ronse (Oost Vlaanderen) (Main Author)
Notes: Microfilm genomen van de originele in het Rijksarchief te Mons.
Roman Catholic parish registers of Ronse, East Flanders, Belgium. Includes indexes, baptisms, marriages and burials.
Subjects: Belgium, Oost Vlaanderen, Ronse - Church records
Format: Manuscript (On Film)
Language: Dutch
Publication: Salt Lake City, Utah : Gefilmd door de Genealogical Society of Utah, 1959
Physical: 13 microfilmspoelen ; 35 mm.
Film Notes: Note - Location [Film]

• (Sint Hermes Parochie) Klappers op dopen 1669-1796 -  FHL INTL Film [ 617411 ]
• (Sint Hermes Parochie) Klapper op trouwen 1669-1796 Klapper op begraven A-K 1669-1796 -  FHL INTL Film [ 617412 ]
• (Sint Hermes Parochie) Klapper op begraven L-Z 1669-1796 Dopen, trouwen, begraven 1670-1796 -  FHL INTL Film [ 617413 ]
• (Sint-Maarten Parochie) Klapper op dopen 1654-1793 -  FHL INTL Film [ 281410 ]
• (Sint-Maarten Parochie) Dopen, trouwen, begraven 1797 -  FHL INTL Film [ 281411 ]
• (Sint-Maarten Parochie) Dopen 1618-1757 -  FHL INTL Film [ 281412 ]
• (Sint Maarten Parochie) Dopen 1741-1755, 1757-1796 -  FHL INTL Film [ 281413 ]
• (Sint Maarten Parochie) Trouwen 1587-1796 Begraven 1618-1779 -  FHL INTL Film [ 281414 ]
• (Sint Maarten Parochie) Dopen, trouwen, begraven 1755-1769 -  FHL INTL Film [ 281415 ]
• (Sint Pieter parochie) Klapper op trouwen 1741-1790 Klapper op dopen 1647-1672 Dopen 1595-1618, 1624-1672 -  FHL INTL Film [ 281416 ]
• (Sint Pieter Parochie) Dopen 1673-1763 -  FHL INTL Film [ 281417 ]
• (Sint Pieter Parochie) Dopen 1754-1796 Trouwen 1791-1796 -  FHL INTL Film [ 281418 ]
• (Sint Pieter Parochie) Dopen 1755 Trouwen 1624-1790 Begraven 1652-1796 -  FHL INTL Film [ 281419 ]

© 2002 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

Given that all of the information previously collected by the LDS and made available by them to anyone regardless of their faith is already "out there", what purpose does the ban by the Vatican Congregation for Clergy on providing more parish registers to the LDS serve other than to create controversy in this day and age when it would seem to most people are attempting to mend fences and create an atmosphere of religious tolerance and acceptance?