Roman Catholics?

Question

Just in general, what do think of people that are Roman Catholic?

Answer 1

I'm a lifelong Catholic, so obviously, I'm all for them. They're my family, friends, colleagues and fellow believers.

Answer 2

There are many ignorant fundamentalists and evangelicals who actively hate Roman Catholics, other Protestants simply believe they are wrong (some come from historical roots that suffered Catholic persecution), there are atheists and secularists who believe that Roman Catholics blindly follow the dictates of the Pope. There are others throughout the world who admire Catholics, the beauty of their liturgy and other effects of Catholic culture and philosophy, without necessarily agreeing with them. Coptic Christians look at them as new boys on the block. Other Orthodox Christians look at them as just a bit confused if not hopelessly wrong.

Answer 3

They may not be the world's favorite people right now, but I'm with someone who's Catholic, and he is the best man I have ever known. His family is wonderful, and the church is friendly and welcoming. My family is Catholic, although my brother and I are not, because my mother is Methodist. I couldn't ask for a better family, or better people to be around :o) The bad apples you hear about are just a few of a large number. Besides that, don't you think that those situations are exclusive to Catholic priests?

Answer 4

Being Roman Catholic I think of them as I do all people. Some good, some bad. We are talking about over 1/6th of the world's population here, you can;t really lump them together with one opinion.

Answer 5

Well I have realized to not base opinion on my dysfunctional abusive Roman Catholic family. I think it is the person and not their religion that is the real truth underneath.

Answer 6

I like us Mackerel-snapping bead counters.

But in reading Wavyfingers's umm..concerns...thought I would help out a little, not that he'll read this again:

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"I'm not found that they install a sense of fear of God in their children, God (no pun intended) knows that they are already scared enogh of the boogey man w/o the fear of a all powerful being."
We do? I was raised pretty traditionally, and can safely say no one ever said 'eat your broccoli or God's gonna get you!'

"I dont get why they worship and pray to saints and mary when one of the commandments is "Dont worship anyone but me". I just dont get it, especially when they are so litteral in their interretation of the bible."
I field this one A LOT. Usualy from protestants who have never heard one of the prayers in question. All prayers to anyone other than God are not worship, they are respect. We do not ask Mary to forgive us.. we ask Mary to "pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death." The invocation of any saint is a request for intercession. Something protestants do all the time. Something most people do al the time. We ask our friends and family to pray for us when we're going through a hard tme. Catholics ask the saints as well.

"Also, why do they have to confess their sins through a third party and then pay for it w/ hail marys. I thought the point was that you will be forgiven regarless if you ask for forgivenss, that kind of defeats the purpose if you need a preist to do it and then have to do hail marys to make up for it."

Understanding the nature of confession, I suppose requires actually understanding the weight of guilt. Everyone screws up, does bad things. We're human, we don't mean to hurt people, but sometimes we do. Now if I have screwed up big time, am losing sleep over it.. sure I can hit the kneelers and offer tearful begging for forgiveness...but it doesn't fix the problem. Have a I really admitted anything? Have I really accepted responsibility for my actions? Am I ready to rectify them? This is where a priest comes in. Confessing your sins..the ones that keep you up at night, that make you feel like an awful person...isn't going through someone to get to God. It's going through a spiritual adviser to get to yourself. Essentially it's like having a free shrink. Confession is not some empty recitation of words. It's a discussion about the things that you've done, your motiviations, the problems you've caused, and most importantly, talking to someone to help you find a solution. Solving the problems you create is extremely theraputic. Penances are simply suggestions from a Priest at ways you might find peace with yourself. If you don't feel guilty about something, you don't confess it, since the first step in repentence is admitting your wrong doing. Since you use the example of recitations, I'll point out that recitations are typically handed out to force you to stop for a minute and really reflect on you and how what you do affects others, and how what you do affects God.

Answer 7

Love them.

Why single out the romans? What about the Byzantines, Copts, Greeks, Syriacs, Syro-Malabar - yadda yadda yadda.

All Catholics.

Answer 8

There are a wide range of people in the Catholic Church. Some of them I like, some I don't particularly like. But we are all broithers and sisters in Christ on the road to salvation. In that we are unified, just as Christ intended. "That they all may be ONE".

Answer 9

They are a people like you and me.

Some are holy some are not, but when you put in a good portion of Catholics that is a lot.

And Christ smiles upon all for all of us are God's children.

Answer 10

I love them all because they are Christians and have the hope of spending eternity with Jesus our lord and Savior ! Oh did I mention im Catholic?