Poipu04 wrote:

This is the explanation of the Mormon belief from www.familysearch.org www.familysearch.org/E...tory_a.asp I will leave it at that. Anyhow, isn't ancestry.com in the process of filming records or are they scanning records from the Mormons? I know that there are maybe two or three Italian towns available on ancestry.

Yes they have done an amazing job with Falerna, the images are in full color and stretch 1810-1930something. The quality is just phenominal. I haven't seen them do another town, have you?

I am doubtful that Ancestry will really accomplish much, it's been a very long time since Falerna, and no more towns have been added. Possibly just a lucky acquisition on their part, perhaps they purchased the images from someone.

Alrighty now..here's MY two cents worth and since everyone knows that I hate any kind of political or religious discussions..

I have to agree and disagree with some or several of the points made here. True, religious discussions shouldn't be allowed here BUT having said that, I think if we stick to the actual issue of the banning it does relate to what Gente is about.

The Catholic Church is banning the Mormons from filming the records and sharing them..it sucks but since they own them then I guess they can. Interpreting why they are doing it is better left somewhere else because I can see everyone is getting pretty emotional about it. Lets try and be logical..

What can we do as a group to figure out HOW we CAN get the records out and available for researching? James brought up a good point...there are researchers that can be hired. Not cost effective, but an option, none the less, right? How about writing to the Churches themselves? Some don't allow the records to be accessed. Maybe Mauro's point about asking the Catholic Church to release the records in some way through them may not be such a bad idea. Just think..all those that have had no luck with obtaining records from the Churches may finally be able to get them.

I think writing to the Church and expressing the idea, in large volumes, in logical and well thought out letters and through our forums and websites and in any other manner we can think of could help. Instead of giving up, lets see if we can help suggest some solutions.

I just want to add that I re-read the directive and it only affects CHURCH records. So, birth acts, death acts, civil marriage acts are not involved. That leaves plenty of documents.

I just want to jump in and add my views on this. I agree that we should look to solutions to this rather than dwell on the religious issues. Having said that, I can not see the issue the Vatican has with allowing the LDS filming the records. The issue of rebaptising someone postmortem seems to me to be a non issue as the person is not doing so of their own will so would it make any difference to their beliefs while living?

I have a difficult time researching my ancestors from Northern Italy as it is. Any barrier to records from any source causes me great concern. I am sure I am not the only person in this position. From what I have heard, church records can be difficult to obtain even in person. Obtaining state records leaves you at the mercy of the people who work in the various comunes and their willingness to help research your ancestors.

For the life of me I cannot understand why the should be so many barriers to obtaining the information we seek.

Debbie

Poipu04 wrote:

I just want to add that I re-read the directive and it only affects CHURCH records. So, birth acts, death acts, civil marriage acts are not involved. That leaves plenty of documents.

Unfortunately the civil records overlap the ecclesiastical records only sporadically. There are many generations of records covered only by parish registries.