If you’ve been Catholic for more than a
minute, you now that there is a lot of confusion around what we believe and do. Many people have a sense of the truth, either
from personal experience or because their pastor taught them something about us, but
often there is something missing. They ask us questions. Sometimes, they accuse. Now, ideally, we would have ten minutes to answer,
able to give a Catholicism in Focus type answer with context and history and quotes from the
official magisterial teaching of the Church. That would be great. Unfortunately, we don’t always have that
sort of time, and remembering all of that is easier said that done. If we want to be effective, we have to be
prepared with quick, easily remembered, right-to-the-point answers. So let’s give it a shot. Here are some of the most common myths about
the Catholic Church that I get asked on a regular basis… each answered in just a few
sentences. So let’s dive right in with a big one—Catholics
aren’t Christians. Whenever you hear something as ridiculous
as this, you have to learn to speak the language of the other. I remind them that our faith is entirely about
Christ, that Jesus is our Lord and savior, the only object of our worship. For the past 2000 years we have come together
every Sunday to remember his life and give him glory, all in the hope of becoming more
like him. We celebrate his last supper, have images
of him in every one of our buildings, read his Gospels; you can find his name written
in every document the Church has ever written. We are absolutely Christians because everything
we do is about Christ. But Catholics also worship Mary and the saints. Like famous athletes and war heroes, there
are people of our faith that are worth remembering with statues and paintings. We do this because we admire their lives and
want to be like them, not because we think they are God. Just as we go to our friends and family to
pray for us in times of struggle, we go to the saints to intercede for us to God, as
we are in communion with them through baptism, and they are in communion with God in heaven,
as the book of Revelation tells us. The Catholic Church has loads of money. Why doesn’t it sell all of its stuff and
give to the poor. Many look at our grand Cathedrals and world-renowned
art and suggest that we’re rich. The fact of the matter is that these things
were built and acquired over many centuries, and are far from liquid. We can’t just sell St. Peter’s Basilica. Priceless works of art are just that: priceless. The Church maintains these artifacts for the
enjoyment of all, but doesn’t get rich off of them. Most of our churches are actually quite poor,
receiving far too little in alms, and yet despite this, we continue to be the largest
private charitable organization in the world. Catholics believe that only Catholics will
go to heaven Let’s be honest: we don’t know who will
be saved. We don’t, and anyone who suggests that they
know for sure if kidding themselves. We believe in a loving and merciful God that
wants nothing more than for all of creation to return to the creator. Does this mean that God will save people simply
because they’re good people? Do all religions lead to salvation? No. Salvation is through Christ alone, but that
doesn’t mean that someone can’t be saved despite having no formal affiliation with
the Church—God saves whom God wants. The Church is the only way we know leads to
salvation, but that doesn’t mean God can’t use other ways. If you die of suicide, you are immediately
condemned to hell This, unfortunately, was the pastoral response
to suicide for many years, but it is not anymore. The original idea was that, in forfeiting
one’s life in this way, one was actively defying God with no chance of forgiveness. The more we’ve learned about mental illness,
however, the more we recognize that people are often far from free when they act in this
way. They are in pain, and often act with extremely
clouded judgment. We believe in a loving and merciful God who
knows who we are and what we’re dealing with, and seeks to save us not only from sin,
but also our physical and psychological ailments. We express great hope in God in these situations. The Catholic Church forbids divorce There is no question that Catholics take marriage
seriously, as we are, I think, the only denomination that treats it as an indissoluble bond. Once you’re married, there’s no undoing
it, and most attempts will cause damage to the family. That said, the Church recognizes that it is
sometimes necessary—in the case of abuse, for instance—and does not outright forbid
it. Divorced Catholics can remain in full communion
and incur no penalty. The only canonical problem comes when people
get divorced and remarried. Since that first bond is never truly broken
in God’s eyes, this makes the second potentially problematic. Catholics believe that being gay is a sin As clearly stated in the Catechism, this is
simply not true. What we always need to remember is that there
is a distinction in Catholic moral theology between thoughts, feelings, and dispositions
on the one hand, and actions on the other. Having a disposition, naturally existing since
birth, may not desire what is best, but it cannot be sinful. Only actions are sinful, not feelings or attractions. Catholic teachings aren’t found in the Bible There is this idea among many Protestants
that unless something is explicitly explained in the Bible, it’s not true. But if this is true, then where did the Bible
come from, and who’s to say it’s true? Catholics and Orthodox Christians, those who
compiled the Bible, know that the community of faith existed before the Bible was written,
and it was in God working through them that the Bible came to be. Thus, there are forms of truth and authority
that exists outside of and prior to Scripture. They are Tradition and the magisterial body
of the Church. Just because something isn’t in scripture
doesn’t mean God hasn’t revealed it to be true. Catholics believe that justification comes
through faith and works Like Protestants, Catholics believe that justification
is a free gift from God that cannot be earned or bought. No amount of good deeds can obtain our own
justification. That said, justification is only half of the
story. Jesus may set us free, but it is up to us
to grow in that holiness in a process called sanctification. Think of it this way: Jesus buys us the train
ticket to get to heaven. We cannot earn it; nothing we do will buy
us a ticket. But we still have to pack our own bags; we’ve
got to get on the train. Jesus justifies us by faith, but we must grow
in sanctification through living with virtue. The Catholic Church is predatory and an unsafe
place for children There is no doubt that the Catholic Church
has caused serious harm through sexual abuse and the subsequent coverup. That sin is on our hands, and to honest, we
haven’t fully atoned for it. That said, the vast majority of cases occurred
more than 30 years ago, and since then, the Church has enacted reforms that have made
a Catholic Church the one of the safest places for a child in the world. The pedophilia problem is a distinctly Catholic
problem, the result of either celibacy or gay clergy There is no doubt that there are structures
in the Catholic Church that allowed this horrible sin to spread. These have been and still need to be addressed. But we are by no means the only ones with
this problem, or even the leaders in it. More children are abused in elementary schools
than by the Church; other organizations have just as high rate as we do. It is a sickness that can find itself in any
place at any time. To suggest that it is the result of celibacy
or being gay suggests that all single people are potential predators, that gay neighborhoods
of cities are dens of abuse. Neither of these things have any evidence
of support. The Church is against science. Just look at Galileo The Church certainly held a trial against
Galileo and stripped him of his teaching faculties. That happened. But not because it didn’t like science—it
was because Galileo didn’t. The issue with Galileo was that he was teaching
in schools what he could not yet prove, the very antithesis of scientific inquiry. The ridiculous idea that the Church doesn’t
like science ignores the fact that Galileo was teaching in a Catholic University in the
first place, that the Church invented the scientific method, that the father of genetics
and theorist of the big bang theory were both Catholic priests. This has never been true, and is the result
of 19th century propaganda against the Church. Catholics are prudes and don’t like sex Historically, this is just laughable. In the United States, one of the main attacks
against Catholics in the early days was that we were too loose with our sexuality, that
we talked too freely about pleasure, encouraged married couples too much, and were having
way too much sex. The Catholic Church certainly has parameters
for how to act in this regard, but it is never prudish or repressive. Quite the opposite: it matters too much to
not take seriously. The Pope is infallible While many Catholics even believe this to
be true, it simply isn’t. The Pope is a human just like the rest of
us, capable of erring and most definitely capable of sinning. The doctrine of infallibility states that,
under certain circumstances, when teaching about faith or morals, in line with the body
of magisterial teaching, the pope can be free of error. Since it was promulgated, it has only ever
been used once. And finally, maybe the most important of all,
the Church is a fading institution Look to the northeast of the United States,
to Western Europe, and you will see empty churches and an aging crowd. Attendance and vocations are both down. But that’s not the case everywhere. In the southwest and southeast of the United
States, the Church is growing. Overall, vocations are actually rising in
the United States, and more significantly, the Church globally is the largest it’s
ever been. When talking about the Church, it’s so important
not to extrapolate one’s experience to the whole world. We are a big Church, and we are absolutely
thriving in Africa, South and Central America, and Asia, growing by leaps and bounds. The Church may not be what it used to be in
your area, but the mission of Christ isn’t going anywhere. Hey everyone, thanks for watching. I hope this was helpful for you. I obviously couldn’t answer everything and
did my best to keep it short, so there’s a lot more that I could have said. if you have a question you’d like me to
answer or would like to see one of these as a full-length Catholicism in Focus, let me
know in the comments.
I like most of it. It's really good.
Just still have some issues with modern Catholic issues on LGBT. Especially since until the mid 1800s homosexuality wasn't even a big deal. The Vulgate translates the words for homosexuality as male prostitute and for the 350 years before the Vulgate, that was the same thought process. Either male prostitutes or pedastry with older, richer, more power men and women raping and coercing sex with others, not mutual love and consent.
It iust ticks me off that in a few decades almost every Christian denomination/tradition fell for the same trick. It would be that way for a hundred years until some larger groups of Christians began rethinking it.
Nuns and Monks were not seen as male or female because the act of child rearing was so tied into what it meant to be a man or a woman. They were a third or abstract gender.
Marriage wasn't even a sacrament till the 13th century and even then it wasn't nearly as enforced as it is now. Waiting till marriage, which isn't bad necessarily just not for everyone, shouldn't be enforced. Augustine and early church parents could not define marriage and therefore any two people who were committed for life, with or without ceremony were married. It's just interesting to go back and see these issues in true light.
I'm not Roman Catholic, I am an Anglo-Catholic Episcopalian, with deep love for the RCC. And I iust wish people would study history and tradition more.
It's ironic that we call conservative Catholics trads when really, this anti LGBT stances are rather new and non traditional.
Edit: I understand that you agree, as this subreddit is more progressive. I'm not saying these things as if you disagree, just maybe something new or remindful for anyone.
The Holy Trinity keep you always
... people don't consider Catholics Christians?