Where do you get your information? We Catholics DO read our Bibles.Mass is no longer celebrated ONLY in Latin.

Question

Where do you get your facts? I ask people what they believe and why. I do not assume I know. I don't and am willing to admit it. Where do these misconceptions come from?

The misconception are: Catholics worship saints/idols/Mary/Pope. Catholics do not read Bible, Catholics Mass is only in Latin,Catholics are not Christian, Catholics all molest little boys. I am a Catholic and I can tell you these are not truths. Each person knows what they believe more than another who does not believe the same.

No picard, we do not eat babies.Sorry to tell you we are rather tame.

The books you speak of are mostly books of history and a few Proverbs like books. One important verse reads "Honor the Physician for his skill comes from God." These books you will find are included in the Jewish Holy Book. They are Old Testament not New.

Answer 1

Yes, it can be very frustrating, I know. I think my favorite misconception was when someone told me that Catholics get dual citizenship with the Vatican (the country) upon baptism. Funny, yet upon further reflection, incredibly depressing. You ask where all these misconceptions come from, however. Obviously, there are many sources, but here are what I consider to be a few:

1. Most Protestants don't have the Eucharist; the main way they worship God is through prayer. If we pray to saints then, they see this as worshiping them. We revere Mary, the saints, and usually popes. I think they feel that by giving reverence to other people, we're somehow putting them on the same level as God. We see God's presence with them, and Protestants mistake this for us seeing them as God.

2. Because Protestants don't have a Church structure the way Catholics do, Protestants often end up paying a lot more attention to the Bible, memorizing passages etc. It seems to them that Catholics ignore the Scriptures and so the word of Christ. Of course this isn't true, though. In fact, did you know that if you go to Sunday Mass every week, then by the end of three years, you will have heard the entire Bible read to you? If Catholics don't open the Bible, it's certainly not because the Church tells them not to!

3. Catholics say that the Eucharist is the essence of Christ, present with us. We worship Christ in and through the Eucharist. If you're Protestant, you (generally) think the Eucharist is bread, symbolic of Christ, but not actually Christ. So if they see us worshiping God in the Eucharist, they think we're bowing down to a piece of bread. Obviously, that would seem sacriligious. Not Christian.

4. The Church is not perfect. It's been pretty bad at times; we all know that. It's changed a lot, though, and really reformed itself, especially since Vatican II. The problem is that some people who dislike Catholicism take every mistake or sin the Church has ever commited and spread it as Gospel. Then other people, who perhaps wouldn't have been prejudiced, listen to this and think we're all horrible. I guess the only solution is to tell them the truth about us when they get it wrong and to live the faith as an example to all.

Answer 2

Obviously this question is in response to some answer to some other question.

I wish I knew more catholics like you.

Problem is too many catholics do not read their Bibles, nor live according to it. Protestants too I know to many don't read not even try.

Then there is the problem of interpretation that has lead to abuse on both sides.

As for the misconceptions, for decades parishioners were told NOT TO READ THE BIBLE, it was too complicated, they were instructed to follow their priests blindly. That misconception is still present today to people not aware that Religion is moving and evolving ever changing as we humans are. What was told 50 years ago in Sunday school has been revised.

I am not saying the Message has changed, the Basics are still there, One God, One Savior, Love is the Supreme Power, Deliverance is there, all that remains, but actual worshiping is ever changing (Mass in Latin for instance). Catholic Church is changing has been since the 1960's there are ther initiatives most people are not aware of. So I agree to some extent with you we must get better info.

Answer 3

I was raised Catholic, I guess for the most part I tend to think that. From experience as a Catholic I did read the Bible, but it was on my own. I also did not know any Catholics who read the Bible growing up. Most of the people I knew went to church where a limited amount of info. was given. I still don't really know any Catholics who do read the Bible. I wish I did. I am sure there are plenty I just haven't experienced knowing any that read and studied it. PS Read the Book of Mormon, a second testimony that Jesus is the Christ.

Answer 4

I grew up Catholic and we never once opened the bible. We did have bible verses here and there in mass but we didn't even bring bibles to church. "Sunday school" taught you the stories of the bible and the rules and values but never once did we open a bible. Do I believe you believe in the bible? Yes. Do I think you teach the bible? Kind of. I am no longer a christian however. I have seen the Catholic bible and I would like to know why they have more books than the bible every other christian uses? Do the Catholics know more than other religions that are christian? I mean no disrespect. I am just wondering and genuinly curious.

Answer 5

not everyone is willing to admit they don't know everything ..... as a Catholic, I was taught to be respectfull of other religions, too bad other religions don't feel the same way.

btw misconceptions stem from ignorance, hearsay and rumors...

Answer 6

These misconceptions derive from Catholic authors such as the following:

"Since it is clear from experience that if the Sacred Books are permitted everywhere and without discrimination in the vernacular, there will by reason of the boldness of men arise therefrom more harm than good, the matter is in this respect left to the judgment of the bishop or inquisitor, who may with advice of the pastor or confessor permit the reading of the Sacred Books translated into the vernacular by Catholic Authors to those who they know will derive from such reading no harm but rather an increase of faith and piety, which permission they must have in writing.

"Those, however, who presume to read or possess them without such permission may not receive absolution from their sins till they have handed them over to the Ordinary. Booksellers who sell or in any way supply Bibles written in the vernacular to anyone who has not this permission, shall lose the price of the books, which is to be applied by the bishop to pious purposes, and in keeping with the nature of the crime shall be subject to other penalties which are left to the judgment of the same bishop.

"Regulars who have not the permission of their superiors may not read or purchase them." -- SCHROEDER, H. J., Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis, London, 1950; Disciplinary Decrees of the General Councils, B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis, 1878, p. 278.

"As it has been clearly shown by experience that, if the Holy Bible in the vernacular is generally permitted without any distinction, more harm than utility is thereby caused, owing to human temerity: all versions in the vernacular, even by Catholics, are altogether prohibited unless approved by the Holy See, or published, under the vigilant care of the bishops, with annotations taken from the Fathers of the Church and learned Catholic writers." -- GIHR, Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, The, Benziger Bros., N. Y. , p. 412, 413.

"...parts of the Bible are evidently unsuited to the very young or to the ignorant, and hence Clement XI condemned the proposition that the reading of the Scriptures is for all. These principles are fixed and invariable but the discipline of the Church with regard to the reading of the Bible in the vulgar tongue has varied with varying circumstances.

"In early times the Bible was read freely by the lay people...New dangers came in during the Middle Ages...To meet these evils, the Council of Toulouse (1229) and Terragona (1234) forbade the laity to read the vernacular translations of the Bible. Pius IV required bishops to refuse lay persons leave to read even Catholic versions of Scripture unless their confessors or parish priests judged that such reading was likely to prove beneficial." -- ADDIS & ARNOLD, Catholic Dictionary, The Catholic Publication Society Co., N. Y., 1887, p. 82.

"It is not necessary for all Christians to read the Bible. Many nations without knowledge of letters, without a Bible in their own tongue, received from the Church teaching which was quite sufficient for the salvation of their souls. Indeed, if the study of the Bible had been an indispensable requisite, a great part of the human race would have been left without the means of grace till the invention of printing." -- EUDES, Franciscan Almanac, Franciscan Monastery, St. Anthony Guild, Patterson, N. J., 1937, p. 114.

"There was a far more extensive and continuous use of Scripture in the public service of the early church than there is among us." -- ADDIS & ARNOLD, Catholic Dictionary, The Catholic Publication Society Co., N. Y., 1887, p. 509.

"In other spiritual books the truths of the Bible are presented more fully, and in a more modern and familiar style, so that we can hardly wonder that they are, as a rule preferred; and that though Catholic families generally have a Bible, it is more venerated than read." -- SEARLE, Plain Facts for Fair Minds, Paulist Press, N. Y., 1915, p. 154.

"It is said that we deprive the Faithful of the Word of God, which is the soul's daily bread. We may answer this falsehood by stating that while indeed the Scripture is our soul's daily bread, Mother Church proportions it to our needs. Just as parents do not give the whole loaf to their children, or a knife with which to cut it lest they injure themselves, so it is the duty of the Church, of the priest or the preacher, to distribute the spiritual bread of the Word of God to the people in portions suited to their requirements.

"It is said that the Word of God is the light of the world. Well, indeed do we admit this truth. But we do not place a lighted candle in a child's hands, lest he burn himself." -- EUDES, Priest, His Dignity and Obligations, The, P. J. Kenedy & Sons, N. Y., 1947, p. 99.

Answer 7

What is so important about saints. Aren't they just a bunch of dead guys who committed sins like the rest of us when they were alive?

Oh, and having a statue of anything is considered idolatry (aka worshipping it)

Answer 8

What misconceptions?

Answer 9

Catholics still eat babies though, right?

Answer 10

dont just read your bible we have to aplly it in our daily lives.