Growing up in New York, my family and best friend, John, visited the Mormon Pavilion at the World's Fair in 1965. My mother and John filled out a card to learn more, and before long, missionaries - classically attired in white shirt and tie - arrived at our door steps. My mother and I did not have much interest, but John soon began a journey completed by becoming a Mormon at the age of 17.
Impressed by his sincere faith, I made it my business, while attending a secular college, to learn about Mormonism - not from a missionary looking to score a convert - but through courses about religion in society and research papers.
Mormonism is not something I could accept as a faith - you will never get the Catholic out of me, even if I attend an Episcopal Church in Georgetown.