what is your impression of catholics?

Question

i personally like catholics, while i am disagree on some minor things (and I am still trying to find out about what mary means to catholics - they insist that they don't pray to her but i am not entirely sure) i believe that they are indeed true believers in christ. I respect them taking the eucharist and their services very serious. i am however dishearted to hear about the corruption in the catholic church and the molestation of young children by catholic priests, but i hope this is in the minority and the pope is taking this very seriously. i know that their are also corruption in the protestant churches as well, and i hope that catholics and protestants address the corruption that is happening in our churches. just to sum it up, i have a very good impression of catholics themselves, although i am a little hesistant to address catholic priests and the church itself.

Answer 1

Do you know how it looks to us non-believers when the 'Christians' belittle the Catholics, Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses and insist that they somehow aren't Christian also?

It's a real silly and pathetic sight.

Answer 2

I was raised a strict Catholic, and though I'm now an atheist (going on 40 yrs!) I still get riled when people misjudge and stereotype Catholics! Most of the ones I knew as a child (except the violent NUNS!) and know today are well-intentioned people who want to help others, believe in Jesus' divinity and are only mildly interested in converting others (unlike many protestants).

Yes, there is the very serious problem of child-molesting priests, but a) I think they're FINALLY trying to deal with it (though it took a LOT more pressure on them -- the leadership-- than it should have!) and b) who says Protestants don't have child molesting ministers and other members among them?

It's simple: A result, usually, of the whole celibacy thing, and freaky Catholic guilt about sex being passed down through generations. That's one aspect of the religion I dislike INTENSELY!

As for Mary, NO, Catholics do not worship her; they "venerate" (honor) her as Jesus' mother. She is seen as an entity who supposedly can "intercede", act as an intermediary between the Catholic and God (esp. Jesus). Yes, they DO pray to her...but not all of them. And it's NOT the same as thinking she's "divine"! My mother prays to her all the time.

I regard most Catholics as MUCH more tolerant of other religions than Protestants (esp. fundamentalists) and Muslims are. Jews are usually SUPER-TOLERANT (unless they're Orthodox and a non-Jew wants to marry their kid!). So are Buddhists. So...Catholics fall on the plus side of tolerance, but not completely (most are totally anti-choice and anti-gay).

All in all, among theists, I'd rather hang out with a Catholic, Jew or Buddhist (thought technically they don't see Buddha as a "god"), than any fundamentalist Protestant (Congregationalists and Unitarians seem okay, though).

Answer 3

I think more Protestants ought to head over to their friendly neighborhood Mass once in a while. Some of the standing and kneeling practices might feel a little awkward, but I believe a Protestant can walk away from Mass feeling blessed and encouraged, as a Catholic could from a Protestant service.

Answer 4

Having been raised Catholic and then denouncing it and becoming an atheist/freethinker I think they are too dogmatic and hypocritical. They never do what they preach. They can't even follow their big list of ten rules. The first rule says that there are no gods besides one yet they pray to an ordinary man and a whole bunch of lesser important men and women as if they each are a demigod. Their masses are pointless, repetitious, mind numbing experiences. Now don't get me wrong I have many Catholic friends but their religion does not seem to enlighten them in any beneficial way. It's just an archaic branch of Christianity that has been injected into each generation over the ages. I'd also like to belittle the whole confession thing. Who gives a person the right to hear the innermost wrongdoings of another. Nothing since the Christian god, or any god for that matter, does not exist. The Catholic church could have most likely avoided all the child molestation problems by allowing their priests to marry rather than have them build up sexual tension and inflict harm on innocent children. This has never happened to me luckily.

Answer 5

I personally like Catholic people. I've had lots of them attending the churches where I have been the Pastor.

Most of them don't know how bad the teaching is from Rome and if they knew and read the Bible many would leave.

In fact, in the roughly 500 years since Martin Luther about 80% of the people have left the church of Rome.

And 90% of the nominal Catholics who remain only go to church twice a year, on Christmas and Easter.

I call them C & E Christians.

The official organization is more corrupt than you are probably aware and those priests who abused children and the Bishops and Cardinals who did nothing to protect the children will, I believe, be in for a big surprize on judgement day.

Pastor Art

Answer 6

Due to the fact that these
Christians use the Protestant Old Testament which is lacking 7 entire books 2 (Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus/Sirach, Baruch, I Maccabees, and II Maccabees), 3 chapters of Daniel and 6 chapters of Esther may be one of the reasons they ask catholics so many questions.

For the Sola Scriptura this is too bad .
In the 16th c., Luther removed those books from the canon that lent support to orthodox doctrine, relegating them to an appendix. Removed in this way were books that supported such things as:

prayers for the dead (Tobit 12:12; 2 Maccabees 12:39-45),

Purgatory (Wisdom 3:1-7),

intercession of dead saints (2 Maccabees 15:14),

and intercession of angels as intermediaries (Tobit 12:12-15).

The lesson, though, is this: relying on the "Bible alone" is a bad idea; we are not to rely solely on Sacred Scripture to understand Christ's message. While Scripture is "given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16-17), it is not sufficient for reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness. It is the Church that is the "pillar and ground of Truth" (1 Timothy 3:15)! Jesus did not come to write a book; He came to redeem us, and He founded a Sacramental Church through His apostles to show us the way. It is to them, to the Church Fathers, to the Sacred Deposit of Faith, to the living Church that is guided by the Holy Spirit, and to Scripture that we must prayerfully look.

I think from now on every question regarding Catholic traditions, I am going to be lazy and just copy and paste the above answer......

any further questions, try this website:

http://www.fisheaters.com/beingcatholic.html

Answer 7

The historical fact that Catholics were the only Christians for more than 1,000 years after Christ, and that every Christian truth you know came to you from the Catholic Church should tell you something about the Catholic faith. It should tell you that the Catholic Church is the only Church Christ ever intended to exist. He said there was to be just ONE. The Catholic Church must be doing something right because it is still united in belief, united in teaching, united in worship and united in administration after 2,000 years, just as Christ said it should be. It has not disintegrated into thousands of conflicting manmade denominations whose beliefs conflict with one another on virtually every point.

Yes, Catholics do indeed "pray" to Mary. Prayer simply means communication, more specifically it means "to ask". In older Bibles like the King James Version the term "I pray thee" is used many times to describe a request from one person to another. Christians have requested prayers of intercession from other Christians from the very beginning. And so yes, we do pray to Mary and the other heavenly saints, to ask them to pray for us, just as we ask our fellow Christians here on earth to pray on our behalf. Jesus said that those who follow Him "will never die", so we know the saints in heaven are alive and well. If I pray for my family and friends here and now, as an earthly sinner, is it likely I will STOP praying for them once I stand before the throne of God? What Catholics never do of course is to WORSHIP Mary. That would be idolatry, which is absolutely forbidden by the Catholic Church, in all its forms. The Bible, a book compiled by the Catholic Church for its own use, clearly states, "you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve". Catholics have been worshipping and serving Him for 2,000 years, and will continue to do so until the end of time.

Answer 8

Very mislead group.
Vicious, I find it hard to respect a group that kills others because they owned a bible or creates things like hell fire just to scare and control their followers.
Very materialistic. It's all about the pomp and circumstance. Show off all their wealth with their golden cathedrals and fancy robes. Other than that, let's see...
Wanting their followers to call them "father" , God said not to do this.
When did God say they could not marry (nuns & priest)
Repetative boring prayers on beads. That's a no no too.
Praying to Mary. If she were suppose to be venerated don't you think Peter, who Jesus so closely knew, would have personally mentioned her name at least once. Bible is very clear, prayers go through Jesus to God, his father.
Immortality of the soul. Ecc 9:5 dead are dead, conscious of nothing...
Purgatory, what is that!
Payment books from the church, unless your payment is current they won't pray you into heaven??? humm, let's see...
Priest molesting children then being hidden in another area, sent to another congregation.
Pictures of the Pope with Hitler, that's just wonderful. Catholics seem like big supporters of war and killing.
Celebrating false hoplidays, even halloween (fall festivals) at the churches. Pumpkins I can understand but ghost.
Yard sales and fund raisers at their church. Didn't Jesus dump the tables over??
Oh yes, BINGO, we all need to gamble at church.
I don't know how they look at themselves in the mirror and profess to love God and Christ.

Answer 9

As an atheist I can't help you on the religious aspects here, but the Catholics I know are just normal, decent people, not preachy in any way. One thing you should know is that they are not blindly devoted to the Pope although he is the head of their faith. I have heard them grumbling among themselves about the previous pope as well as the current one.

Answer 10

To love Mary takes nothing at all from Christ, but honors our Blessed Lord by Whose grace she is who she is: His greatest creation, the greatest of Saints, the Queen of Heaven, the Immaculate Conception, the spotless Virgin, the Ark of the Covenant, the New Eve, the mother of God, and the mother of Israel -- our mother who wants nothing more for us than to pray for us and show us her Son.

She is our spiritual Mother and she wants to pray for us.


The Hail Mary Prayer
Hail, Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.