Good question – personally it is to further my education concerning the varied Catholic attitude when it comes to the physical practice of the religion of Rome. You see, I have been to Italy on a tour guided by Catholic priest on a visit to 5 of the 7 Basilicas all topped off with a front row seat to meeting the Pope. Hey, I was invited, how could I refuse. I was not allowed to participate in the religious rituals, being a non-catholic, and did respect this as an observer. I was very educational and I saw first hand how tied the European Catholic is tied to the history of the Church which is connected to the architecture and statuary (some call “idols”) of ancient Roman Church. I was also very impressed with the obsessive worship of Mary. I was not totally prepared for that, Mary seemed to enjoy a higher position in the scheme of things than does our Savior.
The American Catholic is not quite the same as the European Catholic in not being so connected to the “Architecture”, you know, the buildings of the past. The Catholic religion of Italy is explained in the buildings, those ancient stone edifices are everything to the Roman Church. Here in the States this is not so much the case as there is no Catholic History like that in Europe. An interesting thing, concerning this obsession with the grand old buildings filled with dead men’s bones is nearly all of the Churches, the Basilicas, were once temples of the Roman Gods. Once Christianity was declared the government approved religion of the Empire the temples were rededicated, renamed, and reassigned to the Saints. So, the Basilicas are built on top of the bones of pagans from the past along with the bones of the saints to come later. This kind of history is not found among the United States Catholics and, I believe, is not fully understood by those converting to the Catholic religion, or those born into the religion.
I visit this site, on occasion, to listen to the various views, some really good and though provoking and other just plain silly. My position is simple, if you don’t like the Catholic religion or the Catholics then get out. If you are confessing the religion as your salvation then who am I to say you are wrong. It should be remembered, the Protestant is a Catholic that does not believe in the supremacy of the Pope. It would not and does not surprise me to read of Protestant believers returning to the Catholic Church, after all, the Protestant Churches are her daughters.
Peace to you and yours, your servant in YaHshua, Dan
Why would you have zero interest? As a Catholic I desire to learn about my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and fellowship with them.
Anyway Jesus walked those same roads. 