They will meet with Prime Minister John Key and a number of Members of Parliament on 25 June.

The visit is being jointly organised by Catholics and Mormons to expose some of the churches' young adults to the leaders of the nation, and also to introduce Mr Key and MPs to the group.

On the day before the visit to parliament, Tuesday 24 June, the group will assemble personal care kits for men at the Wellington Night Shelter, visit the Wellington Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, learn about Caritas, and attend a devotional service in Porirua with leaders from both churches.

Elder Kevin W. Pearson, a member of the Latter-day Saints' Pacific Area Presidency, will speak to the young adults on Tuesday evening, and also participate in the visit to Parliament.

Sister Catherine Jones smsm, Chair of the NZ Catholic Bishops Committee for Interfaith Relations, will also attend the two-day activity and speak to the young people on Tuesday evening.

Source

• The Human Rights Commission
• Mormonnewsroom.org.nz
• Image: Mormonnewsroom.org

This is "a strange convergence of developments offering Mormons hope that the Christian nation that persecuted, banished or killed them in the 19th century will finally love them as fellow Christians, " says David V Mason.

"I want to be on record about this. I'm about as genuine a Mormon as you'll find," he says, "a templegoer with a Utah pedigree and an administrative position in a congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am also emphatically not a Christian."

Mason says believing in the divinity of Jesus does not make Mormons Christian by default.

While Mormons and Christians do share this belief in the divinity of Jesus, there is not much in common in what they believe about the nature of that Divinity.

Read David L Mason's op-ed in the New York Times

Dr. David V. Mason is an associate professor of theater at Rhodes College, Memphis.

Image: TGC