Catholic Stereotypes

[Norseman82]

Here’s a funny one that actually happened to me.

I used to go bowling weekly with a friend who, although baptized Catholic, was raided in Worldwide Church of God or something like that. One night, for whatever reason, I had cheese pizza. My friend then told me “You know, N., Passover is over. You can eat meat now.”

 

[CountrySinger]

The Catholic Church doesn’t allow birth control because they want to out-breed the Protestants

And that scares my Protestant relatives everytime one of my brothers wives has a baby. I know when I get married, they will be terrified.

I’m mean and will say, “The Duggars are my role model for a family”. And watch them turn green.

 

[EvelynEVF]

Catholics think they can earn their salvation. That and the whole Mary-worship thing was the biggie I was taught as a child.​

My former father in law is rabidly, angrily anti-Catholic. Turns out he had a bunkmate in WWII who was Catholic, and on every weekend leave would go fornicate with his girlfriend. He would live in mortal terror until he could go to confession on the base, and then he would start it all over again. When I explained that the guy was not a good Catholic, fil insisted that he was!

 

[whatevergirl]

*I forgot about some that I have heard from my BIL who left the Church 20+ years ago and converted to being Lutheran.

(which is part of why he left the Church)

1. The Church is a ‘‘man made’’ institution (I hear that time and time again from more people than just my BIL)
2. People used to pay for indulgences…and he thinks they still do.
3. Confession was created by priests during the early Church days, as a means to get money from parishioners. (Priests would only absolve sins if they were paid)

I marvel that he believes these things. This is one of my husband’s brothers, who went to Catholic school, and was raised in a very devout Catholic family… :hypno:*

 

[DihydrogenOxide]

Wow, how could I have forgotten that classic?? Thanks for reminding me.

A lot of people are going to read that and think you’re joking, but I’ve actually had someone say this to me IRL at least once.

The Catholic Church doesn’t give to charity.
The Catholic Church is an offshoot of paganism/church of satan (people who don’t know history…)
Catholics worship wafers.
Catholics can only pray to God through the pope. They have to pray to the pope first.(lol)
The Catholic Church did not do anything to save victims of the Holocaust.
Catholics “added” books to the Bible OR changed the Bible.
Catholics are like puppets, they only do what the Church says. They can’t decide on their own.
Catholics are snobs.
etc. etc. etc…misinformation. It pays to do research.

I’ve personally heard all of the ones I posted.

I remember being asked the one about the pope by my science teacher when I was in the 8th grade. She asked me that in front of the whole class…She really thought that was a true statement and felt sorry for us “poor catholics”.

 

[Petergee]

Thank you, Petergee. I didn’t stop to think about this. But, in my defense, I have to say two things. .

Your Christian humility is an example to us all.

 

[Petergee]

I’ve learned a lot about how the Church wants us to use sex in our marriages. It’s my understanding that the only hard-and-fast rule about sex is that the man must finish inside the woman’s vagina. Beyond that, sex is left up to the couple’s prudence.

Actually that “rule” is just one of many consequential rules stemming from the one hard-and-fast rule: sex must always be truly an act of love. Among other consequences this means no rape, no contraception, no “trading” sex for favours/chores/gifts, no fantasising that you have a different partner etc. The couple have no prudence in these matters.

Stereotype that bothers me: Catholics haven’t read the Bible. (Maybe you Cradle Catholics haven’t, but some of us are converted Protestants, and read the Bible before we converted! )

Any cradle Catholic alive today who does not read the Bible daily is disobeying the direct command of every Pope in his lifetime. And ignoring the incentive which the Church has offered since at least the 1800s, of an indulgence for remission of punishment in Purgatory for any Catholic every time he prayerfully reads the Bible.

 

[DrPiano]

I heard a great one today. Someone told someone I know (not Catholic) a long while back that Catholics (at least at one point) couldn’t pray without a priest present. My friend asked if this was still true - and my husband and I reassured him that it was never true. We got a good laugh out of it.

 

[exoflare]

I heard a great one today. Someone told someone I know (not Catholic) a long while back that Catholics (at least at one point) couldn’t pray without a priest present. My friend asked if this was still true - and my husband and I reassured him that it was never true. We got a good laugh out of it.

Actually I’d heard somebody tell me before that he heard that Catholics “are only allowed to pray TO their priest”. (Southern Baptist, if you hadn’t guessed )

 

[DL82]

Ash Wednesday, aka spot-the-Tim-day, perfect day for Catholic stereotypes:

1. That Catholics don’t know the Bible because Jesus says don’t put ashes on your head when you fast (which is actually the Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday!)

I once heard someone say that they’d heard the ashes on Ash Wednesday were the ashes of dead priests!

I also remember meeting an American Freemason while travelling who was trying to tell me that the chrism oil the Church uses in Baptism is a more potent than LSD, and that once it’s come in contact with your brain you’ll never escape the Church’s grasp! It’s ridiculous the things people will believe.

I was really disappointed when I was confirmed, no giddying high, no pink elephants, there was no truth to the rumour at all!

 

[sanctamaria17]

Catholicism/Christianity is only for white people…

Except Egypt, Ethiopia, and a few other places have had the Church for a LOOOOOOOOOONGGGGGGGG time (Maybe not so many in Egypt but the Coptics have been there forever).

And the Kenyans, Angolans, and a few other places have the U.S. and other places beat in the amount of Catholics, not to mention Africa is where Catholicism is growing the fastest!

There are also still some pockets in Asia where the Church has been around since the Apostles…even before the European missionaries.

 

[Art321]

Catholicism/Christianity is only for white people…

Except Egypt, Ethiopia, and a few other places have had the Church for a LOOOOOOOOOONGGGGGGGG time (Maybe not so many in Egypt but the Coptics have been there forever).

And the Kenyans, Angolans, and a few other places have the U.S. and other places beat in the amount of Catholics, not to mention Africa is where Catholicism is growing the fastest!

There are also still some pockets in Asia where the Church has been around since the Apostles…even before the European missionaries.

Its too bad that there are few Catholics in Asia. Hopfully with time, everyone will come home.

 

[TheWatcher]

Lol!! I have never heard that. So now we’re too rich and too poor. What will they think of next, are we too guilty but too proud? Hmm, that seems sorta like another contradiction.

Unless you’re proud of your guilt

 

[Marlow]

What Catholic stereotypes do Catholics find the most annoying, insulting?

Catholics don’t think for themselves.

 

[Midwest88]

I know this is an old thread so I apologize for resurrecting it.

Stereotypes as of late:

Catholics have hindered and rejected science for thousands of years
Catholics believe the earth is flat
Catholics are brainwashed (this one applies to all Christians)
Catholics hate and persecute gay people
Catholic school girls are slutty or “bad girls” underneath their quiet, calm exterior
Catholic school boys are secretly gay

 

[Bran_Stark]

I think a lot of points mentioned in this thread, while certainly valid, are “misconceptions” and not “stereotypes”. 'Cause to me the word stereotype implies something that is true for a large number of people in the group, and then mistakenly applied to all.

 

[fgh_123]

My list includes:

-Catholics keep crucifying Jesus over and over and over…
-We think Jesus is still on the cross.
-We can’t pray to Jesus directly.
-We added books to the Bible.
-Not only did we add books to the Bible, but we don’t read our Bibles.
and FINALLY…We think the pope is infallible about everything. If he says the Houston Astros will win the World Series and the Houston Texans will win the Super Bowl, then by golly, we as Catholics believe they’ll win the World Series and/or the Super Bowl. (Wish this were true, actually. )

In fairness, the last point does have a basis in reality, what with papal infallibility (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_infallibility), even though this is oft misinterpreted.

I grew up Lutheran, and I can guarantee you I heard many of these growing up and “learning” about the Catholic Church.

What tops my list? Many been mentioned before, but I can’t stand them…

That Catholics worship Mary
That Catholics believe people will be in Purgatory forever or that once you’re in Purgatory you can go to Hell
That celibacy in priests is unnatural
Catholics don’t respect women

In fairness, celibacy is a strange issue, and I’m not sure that the correlation of celibacy and all men who feel the vocation of priesthood is right…

 

[28562]

I guess my top one would involve our ban on birth control. I’m sick of hearing comments about how many kids I have and ‘oh, it’s because you’re catholic’. No, it’s actually because my wife and I love each other and our kids.

 

[mandajane]

Recently, with the challenges to the HHS mandate, I’ve found a lot of people assuming because I’m Catholic I’m anti-woman. People who I was able to get along with peaceably before are now going out of their way to yell at me, as if I personally am responsible for the actions of the Catholics recently in the media. What they don’t seem to grasp is that I am not ‘anti-woman’ or ‘anti-gay’. I’m actually ‘anti-government involvement in my personal life’.

 

[tafan]

I am not really insulted or annoyed by Catholic stereotypes, I am more distressed and saddened by many of them. They represent such a mistaken notion of the Church, and they are a big hindrance from many people coming to the faith.

1. The Church is all about rules. In reality, the Church is all about sinners, and helping us along a path (slow for some of us) to holiness.
2. The Church hates or is at least demeaning to women. In reality, the Church is maybe the only institution in the world today that truly exalts women. Women have never been treated worse by any society, IMO. They are objectified and treated as objects.
3. The Church hates sex. The Church loves and exhalts sex, and hates lust.
4. The mass is boring and repetitious. Non-catholics who want that “feel-good” high emotional experience, never seem very satisisfied for long at any church. They find one that they think is wonderful, last a couple of years, and then go searching again.
5. Catholics don’t know how to pray and only pray by mote. In reality, devout Catholics have a deeper prayer life than any protestant.
6. Catholics are consumed with guilt. In reality, devout Catholics have a very easy time letting go of guilt after confession and penance.
7. Catholics don’t know the Bible. In reality, protestants may have a lot of verses memorized, but Catholics (especially those who go to daily mass) have a much deeper understanding of the bible than many protestants who read it cover-to-cover.

I could go on and on. The misconceptions are so often 100% opposed to reality, but people cannot see the reality.