igio The Salt Lake Tribune SATURDAY/July 12, 1997 ENTERTAINMENT Pages B-4,5 Section B BUSINESS Page B-8 tah Diocese oing Through ownsizing Witnesses Give Lives To Jehovah Worldly Ways Wash Off in Baptism BY PETER SCARLET THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE BY PETER SCARLET THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE In its own OGDEN — Shirley Platt the Episcopal Diocese of Utah in a state of flux and transition as great as that found her truth and her salvation last Saturday when she emerged from a baptismal pool facingthe national chureh It has been morethan a year since hop Carolyn Tanner as a Jehovah's Witness. “All my worldly ways are no more,” said Platt, 54, of St. Irish was George, who was brought up a Mormon but never baptized into gimefrom that of her predeces: conseerated, but the ramifications of the changeofre- that faith. “Now I'm dedicated to Jehovah,” she said. ‘He'll befirst in BY ED BRIGGS RELIGION NEWS SERVICE scopalians, those sor, Bishop GeorgeE. Bates, still are being played out. stians who have his- san spokesman Malin Foster was structural and theological Just several weeks ago, dioce- mylife,” Episcopalians Approaching A Crossroads ally tried to span the laid off and another staffer was reduced to half-timestatus. Late last summer,twootherdiovesanstaffers hadtheir full-time gulf between Roman Ca: gregations throughout Utah and thoughneitherlost bene someharddecisions about portions of Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada attended the three-day event, which for the most part the diocese’ Platt, along with 61 other people, took the plunge during the faith’s District Convention in Ogden’'s Dee Events Center. About 6,000 people from con- jobs reduced to part-time, al- “Tt isn't much fun, but it was expected,” said Kathryn Miller, be centralizedin congregations? Will they return the church to a more limited, The changes cameas no sur- “Theoverriding factor is that Bishop Irish has committed herself to reducing thesize of the diocesanstaff,” Foster said. “It’s Pa,, by Charles Taze Russell. It was a millennialist movement, much interested in the “end times” when Jesus returns. Russell taught that Jesus invisibly returned to Earth in 1874 and that the millennial age would begin in 1914. Witnesses believe that when Jesus returns, 144,000 elect will achieve full sainthood, become to heaven to rule with Christ. the wicked will be destroyed. The church perhaps is best making to local parishes. their way, will somebish anddecision- fusions, neutrality toward earthdoor service three or four dioceses “Wehaveastaff big enoughto proselytizing with their hesaid, “She has moved toward a trademark tracts, The Watchtower and Awake magazines. See JEHOVAH'S, Page B-3 Tim Kelly/TheSalt Lake Tribune A Jehovah’s Witnessis pulled out of water after being baptized at Dee Events Center. day operations of the de“same-sex marriages” as throughout the diocese to reduce thediocesanstaff. ly governments, and door-to- and hire an executive director to run the day-to: nomination? mandate from Episcopalians knownfor refusing blood trans- pre-1940s model for the office of presiding bishop that.” Irish was out of town and not available for comment this week, but diocesan officials said the overall idea behind the retrenchment is to reduce central bureaueratization and control and shift The Venerable Francis L Winder, archdeacon of the Utah dioe ‘aid Irish felt she had a Righteous otherswill live forev- er on a revitalized Earth, while of bishops, or will power absolutely her prerogative to do more respo! spiritual children of God and go Can they continue as a her previous responsibilities and reduced to three-quarter time. “The first downsizing affected prise. Bible Students’ Association founded in 1872 in Pittsburgh, their future. church under the control six. It is up to eight now.” their origins to the International church where they face Last Au- gust, she was relieved of someof consisted oftalks liberally reinforced with Bible scriptures that all focused on the theme, “Faith in God's Word,” Jehovah's Witnesses trace tholicism and Protestantism, have come to a mo- ment in their life as a vertical team structure, as opposed to a hierarchical one, and Will they approve oneproposalfrom theleft wing suggests?Or will they embrace proposals from theright wing to reaffirm conventional beliefs about marriageandsexuality And, if things don’t go opsseek torallytheir dioceses to pull out of the church? The church's policy- making General Convention gathering July 1 in Philadelphiawill weigh these and other questions as it also elects a newpre- See EPISCOPAL, B-3 See UTAH DIOCESE, Page B-3 Plays and Poems, Pioneers’ Ist S.L. Books and Art Recall Pioneers With a New Park Camp Remembered BY PEGGY FLETCHER STACK THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Whenthe Mormon Trail Wagon Train reaches the Salt Lake Valley on July 22, thousands will welcome it at Pioneer State Park on the east side of Salt Lake The Mormon exodus of 1847is the stuff of legend and literature, poetry and pageantry, song and celebration. It has been filmed and photographed and chanted and taught and massaged and interpreted. City But thatis not wherethe original pioneers stopped in 1847. They followed Emigration Creek five miles south to the confiuence of Emigration and Parley This being the trek’s 150th anniversary, a bevy of artists, authors, composers, and playwrights have tried their handsat yet anotherretelling, '90sstyle. creeks and campedfor the night Tha first pioneer camp, near 1700 South and 500 East in Salt Lake City, has never been marked or recognized in any way That will change next Saturday, the day the LDS Church has designated as Worldwide Pioneer Her Two plays on the pioneer story — one commisre playing in Utah theaters. Several compact dises of oldtime tunes and modern interpretationsare on sale. Books are coming out by the dozens, from straight history sioned bythe LDS Church — currently tage Service Day. Membersof the Wells and Em to photographicessaysto pioneer journals and cook- Tim Ketly The Salt Lake Tribune books, ‘The trek is the subject of a PBS documentary, with accompanying book And then there’s the merchandise. The church's sesquicentennial logo, “Faith in Every Footstep,” is stamped on everything from ornaments and pewter wagons to quilt squares and stationery. But it is not easy to improve upon those 1940s AmyBarrus helps pretend brother Daniel Cahoonin the popular musical Barefoot to Zion classics like the movie. Brigham Young. Wallace Stegner's book The Gathering of Zion or the centen: nial production Promised Valley needing little embellishment, They wanted the world to see Mormonism as a genuinefaith, not a cult Today's productions are more likely to be written Those earlier works, written by Mormons and non. Mormons, viewed the story as starkly heroic and tion LDS Stakes will work together to First Encampment Park” on that spot create According to William Smart, project coor¢ Amoco Oil donatedthe property and many v« ntec hours have been spent readying come a community park and historical area. The name of each pioneer who camped at the site wil See PARK, Page B-2 See PLAYS, Page B-2 Church Snobs Beware: Everyone’s Good Enoughtto Worship in Same Place You Do First impressions can be deceiving Within the context of religion, however. they also can be devastating. Rely too heavily on a first impression and you could end up going to hell This was driven home to me most recently Sunday whenI spoke at the Church of Religious Science in Murray. Driving up from Utah County, I began to have ervations about the appointmentI had accepted sight unseen of my fellow Utah County residents, this doesn't mean a place where people shop in thenude. It's just a line of stores, hence the name strip. Relax A strip mall isn't a normal location for a church, unless, of course, it’s a weird The location, \ staring, either. The baglady hadthe req. uisite trash-filled RELIGION TASS mediately felt sorry for the em! ment she was causing the congregation woretinfoil helmets and received revela tion by peeking insidebarely dead chick Five secondsla er 1 was feeling sorrier for me ‘The bag la y strolled up to the lectern and told me to shut up so she ens Mercifully, | was wrong, al least about the church. It was full of really nice people, noneof whom wanted meto dress could talk. along with the dered in off the street and stopped the After haranguing the audi enceregarding assorted evils committed by Robert Kirby, she put hi arm around me and made mesing Jesus Wants Me ina loincloth and scoot my head along the rvices with CRS were similar in y respects to LDS services, if a bit morelaid back and upbeat. At least they were until this homeless wretch wan is, rat's nest hair toothless mouth and lunatic stare. | im carpet in reverence. Just regular folks. Youcan't blame me. First ofall, the Churchof ReligiousScienceis located in the corner of a stripmall, For thebenefit church. name, is what fooled me at first. I started thinking that it would be the kind of church where people prayed to crystals, neighborhoods far away from freeway For A Sunbeam” with her Along about the time she wrestled a overpasses and culverts. So it was a bit ‘iss onto me, I started to realize that it out of the ordinary for me when 4s all a prank it hap. services cold pened at CRS during LDS services and demand to talk the door, it was obvious from the way she thank you) by Cheery Love. turned heads that she didn't belong. You can't really blame the congregation for after the services and we bad # good laugh. Homeless people don't usually show up to the speaker, probably because most LDSchapels are located in comfortable When the woman gimped in through Theintruder was professional bag lady “Mona,” a character played (all too wel | met Love Driving back to Utah County, I mental ly slapped myself around over how much of areligious snob I've become. You, to for that matter. It happens t anyone who thinks that people like bag la belongin the same house of worship with “good people inthe Bible, Christ sparedthe yor, the even some big-time s nners fron sick ple his wrath, but he really ripped who held themselves as more imp a to God than the less fortunate t that Weneedto think at more tha: Things might get a litte warm if We 40don't we Robe t Kirbyis n Sp ngville w hi mon The if dex comes me Sp inguille, UT 84663