Two stories published in The Salt Lake Tribune this week, as a British friend of mine would say, put the cat among the pigeons.

The first story reported that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints baptized a recently canonized Roman Catholic saint by proxy and sealed him to a wife for eternity.

"Father Damien, the Roman Catholic priest who cared for lepers in Hawaii in the 19th century, apparently is a saint twice over," Kristen Moulton wrote. " ... There is no evidence Damien ever married, which would have been a violation of his vow of celibacy."

In addition to phone calls and e-mails that story drew almost 900 comments in our online edition. Many did not believe it was a legitimate news story.

Managing Editor for News and Business Terry Orme explained:

"Our decisions on whether or not to report on LDS Church proxy baptisms are handled the same way we handle all news decisions. We ask: Is this news? And: Is this something our readers should know?

"It is safe to say a proxy baptism and sealing of a Catholic saint to a wife is a story Salt Lake Tribune readers would want to read."

The second story -- which drew more than 1,800 comments -- was about a talk that LDS apostle Dallin H. Oaks gave in Rexburg, Idaho, where he compared the backlash against Mormons after the passage of California's Proposition 8 (limiting marriage to heterosexual couples only) to how blacks were treated during the civil rights battle in the United States.

The clamor on this story was even greater. Why would we cover that? Because it is news in a state where local, county and state governments have so many LDS members. Those governmental bodies are influenced by what LDS general authorities say and do.

Even Oaks understood this:

"I am conscious that I am also speaking to many in other places. In this time of the Internet, what we say in one place is instantly put before a wider audience, including many to whom we do not intend to speak. That complicates my task, so I ask your understanding as I speak to a very diverse audience," he told his college-age listeners.

Many of my college friends fought for civil rights in the South; one was permanently disabled from being thrown from the top of an underpass. I understand what happened to blacks and whites during that struggle.

University of Utah historian Colleen McDannell was quoted in the Tribune story:

"Were four little Mormon girls blown up in the church at Sunday school? Were there burning crosses planted on local bishops' lawns? Were people lynched and their genitals stuffed in their mouths? By comparing these two things, it diminishes the real violence that African-Americans experienced in the ' 60s when they were struggling for equal rights. There is no equivalence between the two."

One reader commented:

"What was Elder Oaks saying? He was saying that people were trying their best to deny African Americans the right to vote and they're doing the same thing to the LDS people today. It's socially and politically acceptable to look down on LDS people today."

It is not acceptable at this newspaper to look down on Mormons, but reporters and editors are expected to do their best to provide readers with the news that affects them, and to do that in a timely manner.

Reader Advocate's number is 801-257-8782. Write to Reader Advocate, The Salt Lake Tribune, Suite 700, 90 South 400 West, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101. E-mail: reader.advocate@sltrib.com.