Catholic myths

[itsjustdave1988]

Wow, Dave, what a great site! Wonderful wallpaper, too.

I just read your Letters to a teenage skeptic. I hope they will continue. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to have this peek into a reasoned and level-headed response to a young person who is taken seriously by his dad. Lots of great links, too.

One of my sons (soon to be 21) is persuing a degree in elec. engineering and still living at home. He believes and attends Mass but I can’t say he takes it real seriously; evidence: not always careful to observe the fast before communion or sometimes missing Mass when mom hasn’t reminded him to go. I may direct him to your site and see what happens.

Another son (31) has been out of the CHurch for some time, and vascillates on whether there is discernable objective Truth or not; last time we talked, he said he only believed what he could see, hear, touch or feel. I wish, or rather, pray, that we could get deeper into that sometime, but I am still learning the language and logic. Your skeptic letters help a lot there.

God bless,
Mimi

Thanks Mimi. My son chose not to be confirmed, but has returned to practicing Catholicism, thanks be to God. However, like most teenagers, the frontal lobes of his brain are not yet fully formed (still “brain damaged” as I like to put it), so whether he has fully embraced his father’s creed as his own is still a journey he is struggling with. Please keep him in your prayers.

Feel free to have either of your sons send me an email if they have any questions. I don’t think I can change anyone’s beliefs…that’s up to God. My goal is less lofty than that. I simply want to teach what I’ve come to finally embrace, after many “prodigal son” years of my own.

 

[itsjustdave1988]

“Protestants do not hate Catholicism, they hate what they believe Catholicism is. If Catholicism were what Protestants believe it is, then Catholics would hate it to.”

—Paraphrase of Archbishop Fulton Sheen

This is so true. Here’s the full quote (but forgot to write down the source)…

Archbishop Fulton Sheen:

"There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church—which is, of course, quite a different thing.

These millions can hardly be blamed for hating Catholics because Catholics “adore statues;” because they “put the Blessed Mother on the same level with God;” because they “say indulgence is a permission to commit sin;” because the Pope “is a Fascist;” because the Church “is the defender of Capitalism.”

If the Church taught or believed any one of these things, it should be hated, but the fact is that the Church does not believe nor teach any one of them. It follows then that the hatred of the millions is directed against error and not against truth. As a matter of fact, if we Catholics believed all of the untruths and lies which were said against the Church, we probably would hate the Church a thousand times more than they do.

If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which the world hates. My reason for doing this would be, that if Christ is in any one of the churches of the world today, He must still be hated as He was when He was on earth in the flesh. If you would find Christ today, then find the Church that does not get along with the world. Look for the Church that is hated by the world, as Christ was hated by the world. Look for the Church which is accused of being behind the times, as Our Lord was accused of being ignorant and never having learned. Look for the Church which men sneer at as socially inferior, as they sneered at Our Lord because He came from Nazareth. Look for the Church which is accused of having a devil, as Our Lord was accused of being possessed by Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils. Look for the Church which the world rejects because it claims it is infallible, as Pilate rejected Christ because he called Himself the Truth. Look for the Church which amid the confusion of conflicting opinions, its members love as they love Christ, and respect its voice as the very voice of its Founder, and the suspicion will grow, that if the Church is unpopular with the spirit of the world, then it is unworldly, and if it is unworldly, it is other-worldly. Since it is other-worldly, it is infinitely loved and infinitely hated as was Christ Himself. … the Catholic Church is the only Church existing today which goes back to the time of Christ. History is so very clear on this point, it is curious how many miss its obviousness…"

 

[Petergee]

Not really trying to hijack, but I for one would like a definition of the “Protestant faith”. Is there such a thing? So many differing views among the denominations. Your thread dealing with Baptism is one: many Protestant groups would disagree with you.

True, the only belief which ALL protestants have in common is that they think that the Catholic Church is wrong about at least one doctrine. Apart from that, the only thing which distinguishes ALL protestants from other non-Catholic Christians is that their organisations are organically or culturally descended from the organisations set up by the 16th century demagogues who split from the Catholic Church (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Cranmer etc.)
Having said that there are some things which MOST protestants believe, at least in theory, eg sola Scriptura, sola fidei, denial of existence of purgatory and of the Communion of Saints etc.