I’ve done the same thing, so I probably should have worded my original statement a little better.

“As a practical matter, I already don’t go broadcasting my church affiliation when seeking genealogical information.”

Nor do I. BUT, the employees of the Family History Library kind of have to say who they work for in order to be able to microfilm/scan large quantities of records, so I assume the Catholic news was directed at them more than at individual Mormons researching personal genealogy.

Perhaps we will need to go to these facilities one person at a time, copying a single page each person, so that we don’t have to explain what we are doing. [just kidding]

I think so. Any news that influences a group to stage protests involving thousands at various places around the country probably qualifies as big news.

“stories from outside the United States — stories that demonstrate that Mormons aren’t just in Utah and the Intermountain West;”

To imply that the only Mormons who count in the US are in Utah and surrounding states. However, I evaluate most Bloggernacle posts from the Ohio Has Mormons Too perspective, and am probably too defensive.

I forgot about the Catholic records announcement. As a practical matter, I already don’t go broadcasting my church affiliation when seeking genealogical information – Lithuanians and Jewish groups and the folks in charge of most of the places my family members once lived are not known for their pro-Mormon/baptism-for-the-dead views. It’s usually easier to just say which neighborhood and (likely) synagogue/parish I’m looking for, and leave it at that. So, I’m not sure that one counts.

There were several other events in a similar vein, like the filling of chairs of Mormon Studies at Utah State and Claremont this fall, and Brian Birch’s course on Mormonism at Claremont also last spring, but they didn’t make the same splash in the news as far as I know.

For me, the big thing about Prop8 was the role that the Church actively took in it. In all my years I can’t recall the Church deciding to take such an active (and somewhat controversial) role in a political decision. In our ward, Church members were individually contacted and asked to help in cold-calling California voters to try and persuade them to vote yes. I’ve never seen this done before.

I wasn’t an opponent to Prop8, but I also didn’t agree with the role the Church took in it.

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I would have to consider the biggest news would have to be Mitt Romney and the JFK’esque speach he did about the non-impact his religion would have on his role in the White House.

I absolutely agree. The Russia story was underreported.

Weren’t missionaries also pulled out of Bolivia during the year?

IMO, the construction on the Manaus Brazil Temple should be news too, because it eliminates one of the more difficult trips for members to visit a Temple (IIRC, its 3 or 4 days by boat from Manaus to the nearest Temple in Brazil — in Recife. Members also traveled by bus to Venezuela or Colombia, but there was an accident in which many members were killed.

So, yes, there is a lot of news that doesn’t seem to make it here.

As for my statement implying “US=Intermountain West,” please re-evaluate your assumptions with the understanding that I live in Zion (aka New York City) and I generally dislike the culture in the Intermountain West.

Big news not already mentioned… how about the removal of missionaries from Russia, or the shirtless missionary calendar fiasco?

I know that a lot of this was not just from this year but it seems that 2008 has been a year where this online community has really been entrenched in the consciousness of many members.