So just how misunderstood is the Catholic faith?

Question

I converted to Catholicism in 2000 and through the RCIA process I learned that there are literally thousands of misinterpretations of Catholic beliefs. I was shocked by this. Just curious as to what others think about these false accusations against the Church (e.g. worshipping idols, praying to saints, etc.)

Answer 1

Yes it is mind boggling how much anti-Catholic propanganda is out there but than again once you study the Protestant Reformation and primarily the English Reformation you begin to understand where all this prejudice came from and how it happened to enter into our northern European centric hemisphere.

To rdhead500 you converted to Catholicism back in 1981 for the wrong reason instead of doing it to follow Jesus and gain the fullness of his truth you did it for another human being your husband to be. It seems to me this is the real reason why you have now fallen away. I have faith if you continue to know Jesus you will once again rediscover his Church and this time it will be for the right reason. Now on to me, I am what they call a cradle Catholic and contrary to what rdhead500 explains not all 1.1 billion of us are ignorant of our Catholic worship and practice and traditions. In fact I have discovered that even if the claim was only 10% of all Catholics knew their Christian faith it would still outnumber the largest Protestant denomination following. With regards to hypocricy please take the time to view this site www.reformation.com.
I do not wish to sling dirt but since the secular media wants us to accept it alone represents the voice of social justice and is the voice of the people the rightful voice of the people and advocate for social justice the Catholic Church is its biggest competitor and regular opponent. Those in the media whether they be athetists or non-believers or just plainly ignorant rarely present an accurate or authentic presentation of its greatest adversary, Catholicism. see the Catholic Catechism 2496 for critical use of mass media.


There is book out there at most bookstores written by a gentleman of the name Masse 'The last allowable prejudice in America, Anti-catholicism I suggest reading it.

final points
1. not eating meat on Fridays is a discipline (this is no longer a regular practice as meat is no longer a scarcity). This practice is likened to fasting and reminds us of Jesus in the desert. We are to take ownership of our desires and so like the apostle Paul "I pummel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified' 1Cor 9:27) contrary to your presentation of idolatry redhead idolatry can be simply our addictions, glutoney etc..

2.idolatry , the Catholic Church does not support or encourage idolatry in fact it was the Catholic Church who clearly condemed idolatry as heresy upholding the original biblical teachings to not act like the gentiles do long before fallen away Catholics who started Protestantism some 1500 years after Jesus Christ. During the early centuries there was the great heresy of Iconoclasm also repeated at the time of Luther and the English Puritans who basically accomplished nothing but mass destruction of scared art. Imagine this we would have no Christmas today if the Puritans had had their way.

Answer 2

Personally I have no problem with the use of a symbol or effigy of a person ect., being used, to prayer. Emphasis on the word direct.I have avoided using the word channel, because of its inferance of contact with the supernatural.
I use an effigy of Isis, in the form of Hathor, or the symbol of Horus the hawk, when I feel the need to pray.It depends on what I am praying about as to which effigy I use.But,my prayers are directed not to Hathor or Horus, but what they represent, to me.
My God has no form,no name,my God is neither male,female.
I believe that the Roman Catholic church does put too much emphasise on the use of symbolism and the use and literal worship of effigies in thier dogma and rituals.
I have a problem understanding where monotheisim and polytheism begin and end with most belief systems.The Prodestant Christian church are just as guilty of this.
Christian belief claims to be monotheistic.If this is so ,is there not a contradiction believing in and praying to, God, Jesus and Mary the mother,if we include the Holy Ghost then we are up to four entities being worshiped and prayed to.Add on a few Saints of Catholic and Prodestant belief and we are must certainly be in the realms of polytheism.I wonder too at the symbolisim .The crucifix is a enlogated cross that was an instument of torture and death.I cannot understand why the founders of the churches found it so nessesary to chose this as a symbol over the earlier +. If it was not thier intention to invoke fear and guilt into believers. Why not use the original symbol of the followers of Jesus,the fish?
I know that it is said to represents the pain and suffering of Christ. But must the negative always surplant the possitive? I have a feeling that the last thing Jesus would ever what to see or hear about after his resurrection would be the cross.
Interpretation is only required when you are dealing with information that is not fully understood.
Belief should always be a personal thing, based on your assessment of facts and information you have studied and/or experienced.
Therefore I personally would not commit or convert to something or someone before I had assessed all the information available and was satsified that ,yes, without any doubts,I believe what this person or organisation has said,I understand thier commitment and my belief is the same as thiers. Otherwise you are committing yourself in blind faith.

Answer 3

The only answer is it's of a demonic nature. Why else would there be so many out and out lies? The Catholic Church is truly the one thing that stands firm between the world and the flesh and the devil. It is unwavering in it's stand against women priests, gay marriage and homosexual acts, abortion and Euthanasia.

Jewish Girl: what about the Cherubim on the Ark? Wasn't that a graven image? Didn't Moses intercede for the people? As a matter of fact, after Moses wasn't it Joshua? Hasn't someone interceded all along and now we have someone alive in Heaven to intercede, so what, -- are you jealous?

Answer 4

All you need to do is read the questions on this board if you want to see ignorance. Many people who are raised Roman Catholic are just as bad about knowing things about their religion. Converts like yourself ,are the most knowledgeable because you had to go to classes first and you were probably interested in what you were learning.

I am a High Church Episcopalian.

Answer 5

I converted to Catholicism myself back in 1981 (very young and getting married to a Catholic man) and I left the church about 10 years ago. I did that because I could no longer stand the hipocrosy from fellow Catholics and the church itself. (Not to mention the sexual abuse by the clergy that would reveal itself so clearly years later). When I first converted, I was in awe of the beautiful rites and all the meaning behind them. However, as I got more involved and matured, I found myself questioning many, many things that didn't make sense to me. Why couldn't I pray directly to God himself and confess my sins, why did I have to do that with a priest to intervene on my behalf? Other faiths, didn't require this intermediary. The praying and WORSHIPING of the saints felt wrong to me from DAY ONE butI because I was so young, I followed along with the rest and took the path of least resistance. The fact of the matter is, that YES Catholic's do indeed worship saints and do so on a regular basis. They pray to them and ASK them to intercede on their behalf. Whilst I recognize the awe factor of the virgin Mary and what occured, I could not bring myself EVER to pray to her. She was chosen, yes indeed she was, but she was a woman and a sinner as well. And what about the nonsense of people burying upside down St. Joseph statues on their property to sell their homes? As time went on, as I questioned fellow Catholics about their own beliefs and MANY could not even articulate WHY they don't eat meat on Friday's during lent. They did it, but had no clue as to why. In fact there were many things about their own faith that lifetime Catholics had no idea why they were doing them only that they were taught to do so. I could no longer continue on with the masses and blindly follow along. I've left the church, attend a Christian church on a regular basis. I have a personal relationship with Christ as though he were a personal friend of mine and I've never looked back other than to to be thankful that the only saint in my life is Christ himself.

Answer 6

you do have idols. i've seen all kinds of catholics wearing crucifixes displaying jesus nailed to a cross around their necks. i've seen them nailed over hospital beds. you do worship saints. i've seen all kinds of references to prayers to certain saints. how about the ave maria prayer, in which you pray to mary?

"oh yeah and jewish girl-having a crusifix or a statue of a person isnt worship"

it doesn't matter if you worship them. didn't you ever read the 10 commandments? it clearly says that making a graven image of a heavenly body is idolatry, and it doesn't even mention worshipping them. i'll even show you the verse:

exodus 20:4
You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any likeness which is in the heavens above, which is on the earth below, or which is in the water beneath the earth.

so whose opinion of idolatry are you going to follow? the pope's... or G-d's?

"they would kneel infront of the torah, im not saying its idol worship, but how is it different that what you just said?"

you need to review what idolatry is. idolatry is the creation of images or the worship of either false or real gods. the torah is book. you can do whatever you want with it, except pray to it.

"Jewish Girl: what about the Cherubim on the Ark? Wasn't that a graven image? Didn't Moses intercede for the people? As a matter of fact, after Moses wasn't it Joshua? Hasn't someone interceded all along and now we have someone alive in Heaven to intercede, so what, -- are you jealous?"

the cherubim on the ark were commanded from G-d himself. obviously he didn't consider them idolatry. which is correct, since the heavenly bodies include G-d, the seraphim, the ofanim, and the chayot, but not the cherubim. last time i checked, not even the christian bible has either G-d or jesus commanding anybody to create graven images of either G-d or jesus. as for the second part about moses and joshua interceding, i'm not sure what the relevance of that is to the discussion, you'll have to explain that. and as for the third part, no jews are jealous of christianity. we don't need a human saviour. we have G-d himself.

Answer 7

I'm in RCIA right now. I get a lot of heat about my converting from ignorant people. I can't even count how many people who ask if I worship Mary and worship a crucifix. o_0 We just have to "keep the faith." =D

God bless,
=)

Answer 8

its actually kinda funny in a disturbing ignorant way.

its like someone pracing around saying 2+2=5, and actually believing it.


oh yeah and jewish girl-having a crusifix or a statue of a person isnt worship, its there to help in prayer, a visual aid.
the bible also says saints can intervene with prayer.

and speaking of idol worship, last time i went to a synagouge, they would kneel infront of the torah, im not saying its idol worship, but how is it different that what you just said?

Answer 9

There are a lot of misconceptions, even amongst "brethren" in the faith. I mean amongst Catholics, as well as among other Christian denominations. I had dear friends who were very active in their parish, and very patient with all of my questions. I was pleasantly surprised. Vatican II coming up on 40 years and people, even Catholics, still don't understand the simple, clear, (and beautiful, in my opinion) clarifications regarding the faith.

Answer 10

It's amazing how many people are misinformed or just plain ignorant when it comes to knowing the truth about the Catholic faith. Maybe it's because ignorance comes from fear.