Ralph Lewis wrote: > So, I am asking two things: > > First, is there a priest who might write something for us to send along > with our requests, reflecting a personal experience regarding genealogy > research? Perhaps someone has helped reunite a family, or something like > that. > > Secondly, is there a Catholic perspective, here? I know why the Mormons > want to identify their relatives, but aren't there Catholic interests in > family, roots, heritage, tradition, etc.? What would Rome think about > genealogy research? That it is a frivilous effort that takes priests from > their work, or that this is an important part of that work. (By the way, I > enclose some money along with my requests, which I learned from the > suggestions of others.) > There is no specific Catholic perspective as with the Mormons, but certainly there are Catholic interests in tradition and heritage. (Any church that's 2000 years old certainly has a lot of interest in tradition!) To be quite honest, I don't know why Catholic churches keep records for more than 70 or 80 years. The main time they are used for church purposes is in marriage preparation. A fresh copy of the baptismal certificate is ordinarily requested to ensure that the individual is free to marry (a note ordinarily is made in the baptismal record of a marriage or ordination). After a person dies, there really is no reason, other than historical, for keeping the records. I suppose some priests have a greater sense of maintaining the privacy of their parishioners, living or dead, than others. They might feel that, even though you might be a relative, you don't have any right to the information. That, plus irritation at being asked to dig in musty and dusty old records (which are probably not conveniently located), might be the reason that some priests don't answer requests for information. Since I work in a school and not a parish, I can't give you a definitive answer. Personally, I have never requested any records from any parish. I have used the Mormon microfilms of Polish church records to trace my father's family back to about 1830 in Poland. But a cousin, while in Poland, did go to the local parish and obtain a copy of his grandparents' marriage certificate. So I don't know if that helps you or not. Feel free to pursue this further if you think it will help. Father Jack Pejza