Mormons see Romney as ambassador of faith
Some say presidential nominee has helped bring religion out of obscurity, into spotlight
WOLFEBORO, N.H. — Republican Mitt Romney, the first Mormon presidential nominee of a major political party, sat in the Wolfeboro Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday as, one by one, members of his congregation credited him for bringing the faith more into the public eye.
“Today we see the church coming out of obscurity, and we see that 90 percent of what has been written and said ... has been favorable,” said J.W. “Bill” Marriott, the chairman of Marriott International. “And that’s a great tribute to Mitt and Ann.”
In the eyes of Mormons gathered here Sunday, Romney’s winning the nomination has been overwhelmingly positive for their church.
“He’s a marvelous ambassador of who we are,” said a member of the Archibald family, another large Mormon clan that, like the Marriotts and the Romneys, vacations in Wolfeboro.
Romney has long shied away from talking about a faith that has shaped his life. He occasionally has recounted his time counseling families who were struggling members of his Boston congregation. He usually doesn’t touch on his two years serving as a missionary in France. And he typically doesn’t mention that he at one point rose to a rank equivalent to a bishop.
But Romney has started to open up about his faith, directly mentioning it during his acceptance speech after members of his congregation took the convention stage to praise his work in the church.
Mormonism began in the mid-1800s when, according to believers, an angel presented a book of scripture to Joseph Smith, the church’s founder, called the Book of Mormon. With 14.4 million members, the church is among the fastest growing in the world.
At church Sunday, Marriott recounted serving on a committee based in Salt Lake City with Romney’s father, George Romney, and later being featured in a “60 Minutes” piece on the Mormon Church. During the interview, Marriott said he was asked about the specific undergarments, which he described as a T-shirt and boxer shorts, that Mormons are encouraged to wear. He said he told interviewer Mike Wallace that he wore the garments, and about a time when he caught fire in a boating accident. His polyester pants burned, but his undershorts were untouched.
Marriott said he told Wallace, “These holy undergarments saved my life.”
Later, another church member recalled a time when she visited a sick congregant in the hospital and a nonMormon nurse asked why she was visiting a woman who wasn’t a relative.
The woman said she told the nurse she was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
And the nurse, clearly recognizing the faith, responded: “Oh, Mitt! Oh, Mormon!”
Sitting in the pews, Ann Romney laughed.