I have recieved emails from an ex-Catholic asking me, a non-Catholic (a non-Christian), to explain to Him why Catholics do the things they do. He repeated to me the same old lies and biases against the Catholic Church, like worshiping Mary and the Saints and asked me to explain to him why Catholics do that.
what I am just trying to figure out is, how come a former-Catholic doesn't know what the Catholic Church has been REALLY teaching all through these years that he fell prey to the lies against the Catholic Church?
what has he been doing all through the years he was Catholic that he clearly has no idea what the Catholic Church REALLY teaches, that he has to rely on a non-Catholic, like me, to explain his former religion's teachings?
I mean, I don't have to be a Catholic to see the lies being spread against the Catholic Church, so why are there Catholics who can't see through the lies that other sects spread against his/her own religion?
I just can't understand.
2007-10-06 09:23:31 · 6 answers · asked by The Asker 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
wonderfull question velvet and thank you for it.
sadly not every catholic is informed about their own faith and there is a huge amount of anti catholicism going around, even to the extent of an anti catholic bible being published(a bible presented as being catholic but with anti catholic teaching).
it makes no sense however for someone who was once catholic asking someone who is not catholic what the church teaches. if you are able to please give them this website
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/
would someone who was once jewish go to a mormon church to ask what is wrong with his old faith? the person was obviously confused and really it is sad and confusing, i really can't understand it either, it defies logic but again thank you and i appreciate that you are not blinded by the anti catholic lies all to often spread. peace
2007-10-06 09:46:43 · answer #1 · answered by fenian1916 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Unfortunately, some Catholics are raised knowing "what" but never understanding "why". They are then very vulnerable to the aggressive fundamentalist who might come their way.
When a Bible-Christian comes along who has about 30 Bible versus memorized to show a Catholic why they are wrong, those who are not well-schooled in their faith cannot answer. Sometimes, they are persuaded that Catholicism is wrong and they leave.
Scott Hahn, a former evangelical Presbyterian minister, said he would target Catholics and was able to get many of them simply because they did not understand their own faith. Scott Hahn is now a Catholic and a strong one, having come to realize the truth about the Church.
Yes, if this ex-Catholic wants to talk about the faith, he should email a practicing Catholic.
2007-10-06 16:34:46 · answer #2 · answered by Misty 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There are a shocking number of Catholics and ex-Catholics in the U.S. who have no idea what Catholicism is really all about. Joy Behar on the View just revealed that she's one of them this week -- spouting all kinds of misinformation about Catholic teaching and then saying, "I was raised Catholic so I know..."
There are various people to blame. In Catholicism, parents hold the primary responsibility for raising their children to know and love the Catholic faith. So most of these people had parents who did not do what they were supposed to do. Typically, these were early Baby Boomers who tend to reject authority in all circles, not just religion, so that was pretty much to be expected.
The next responsibility falls to the priests and other religious educators who are supposed to augment what the parents do not teach. In many cases, parents did not give these priests/teachers access to the kids because they didn't take them to Catholic school or even to Mass on Sunday. However, there were plenty of priests who didn't educate the way they were supposed to during Sunday homilies. Various reasons for this -- maybe they were afraid tough teaching would scare people out of the pews or maybe they weren't well educated themselves or maybe they were rejecting authority themselves at the time.
The third group of people to blame is each individual Catholic him/herself. Upon Confirmation, each one of these people pledged their commitment to Christ and His Church, and if you make a pledge to something like that, you are obligated to make sure you are educated. Would you marry somebody you didn't know? Or somebody you only knew casually, without bothering to find out more? In every relationship, in every job, one is expected to keep learning and growing, and faith is no different. If nobody provides information to you, you go look for it.
It's a real pity that this is the situation, and I pray it will change.
2007-10-06 17:29:44 · answer #3 · answered by sparki777 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not all of us paid attention during religion class.
Day after day it could get hella boring.
There are too many Catholics who don't know that much about Catholicism. I can understand when a non-Catholic gets it wrong, but it kills me when someone, ostensibly speaking "as a Catholic", says something that's just not true.
Maybe they're just posing as Catholics for R&S purposes. Maybe they just forgot.
2007-10-06 16:28:16 · answer #4 · answered by pufferoo 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Well, it's basically like an American expatriot asking the opinion of a radical Iraqi about America.
The guy is dumb.
2007-10-06 21:51:47 · answer #5 · answered by Mommy_to_seven 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
well, I think it is like misery loves company
2007-10-06 16:28:59 · answer #6 · answered by Midge 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋