Real Anti-Catholicism

[Pater_Familias]

Well ive a bit of a twist on the anti catholic thread posted. Im a south african and in the 80’s all schools were strictly segregated on the basis of race. The state church was the NGK (Dutch Reformed Church) and essentially calvinistic in approach this apartheid(seperation of races) was vigouressly enforced. The catholic church ,the perpetual light in a dark and confused world,refused to submit and all races were educated together in her schools. I attended St Agnes in Cape Town. Obviously this did not sit well with extremist and one would hear mention of “die roomse gevaar”(romish danger) and communism as possible bedfellows. Today the other extreme exists and anything goes including gay unions which have legal recognition

 

[Biblioassistant]

Not very often to my face, but I’ve read some Sunday School stuff that had me angry. Most of the nasty anti-Catholic stuff I’ve heard has been from former Catholics (or as they like to call themselves “recovering Catholics” - I hate that term) who are all upset that the Church won’t bless their particular sin.

 

[JLSacred]

Not very often to my face, but I’ve read some Sunday School stuff that had me angry. Most of the nasty anti-Catholic stuff I’ve heard has been from former Catholics (or as they like to call themselves “recovering Catholics” - I hate that term) who are all upset that the Church won’t bless their particular sin.

I find that term to be a total slap in the face. Someone finds out you are Catholic, so they say that they are a ‘recovering Catholic’. That’s obnoxious.

 

[Cam-masta]

That’s a very thoughtful sentiment; it’s not anti-protestantism at all.

There’s nothing wrong with recognizing Catholicism as the Truth and wanting others to be a part of it so that they have a better chance at salvation; it’s loving your neighbor. To remain complacent in the face of their error is just the opposite.

We should pray for the conversion of protestants as well as jews and all others so all may partake of the full complete Truth of the Church. What better service can we do for another person than to point them to the Truth?

Amen, there is nothing wrong with believing that there is only one true Church, being the Catholic Church. Virulent anti-Catholicism (out right hate filled lies such as Chick’s diabolical conspiracy theory of the Catholic Church starting Islam to wipe out the Jews)compared to asking someone to pray for their parents are two different matters.

 

[xsuasox]

As a South Carolina native, with a Bible Belt that certainly is not designed for my Catholic pants, I have had my share of anti-Catholicism. A girl recoviring from lunkemia in my JROTC squad loved me to death, thought I was hilarious, and considered me to be one of her best friends…until she found out I was Catholic, to which she said “Oh, I don’t kike Catholics” and left me alone the rest of the year.
I also find that a bunch of non-Catholic Southerners around here might be a little superstitious…like, they seem afraid of Catholics a little. Maybe, our ‘voodoo’ will affect them I guess, 'cause they seem less intent on converting us than staying away from us. Just an feeling I get from my neighbors who stare at us funny when we drive by, or the locals who seem to know we’re Catholic without asking.

 

[AngelRose81]

Ever since its become known that I recently came in the the Church, several people I work with won’t speak to me unless they have to. I work in a very small office and we were all good friends until they found that out. Now only a few still carry on a conversation with me. Its like I’m an alien or something!

I just don’t worry about them not liking it and still say I’ll pray for them if something is going bad for them,etc. I’ve also had a couple of people ask questions and stuff about it. The most recent one was about Daily Mass, but the person, once I explained what goes on at Mass, thought that was really cool. You never know!

 

[KathleenElsie]

Yesterday at a meeting at work (yes they had a meeting at AM on Sunday) I had another employee (also baptized Catholic) call me a HOLY ROLLER CATHOLIC. LOL they meant that I follow the full teachings of the Catholic Church.

I also could not explain to my big boss at work, that our First communion and Conformation was not something I could change the day of. The meeting was mandatory and he said he was sorry he could not have given me more time to change our plans.

 

[BlestOne]

I am really sorry for those of you who have hostile work environments. I used to too, but the company I am now with is owned by a very devout Catholic and all the office employees are Catholic but one. We go to mass together on Holy Days with our spouses too, and after mass we go to lunch. This certainly beats the last place where you weren’t even allowed to say God Bless you if a person sneezed!

 

[LSK]

What I have encountered, on a day-to-day basis, has been both funny and sad. I have had people at work say, “So, when Pope Constantine started the Catholic Church, did he also start Opus Dei to keep people in line?”

I had a neighbor say, “Why do you pray to Mary when Jesus gave us the Our Father and never said, ‘Pray to my Mom’?”. When I told him why we pray to and with Our Lady, in accordance with the teachings of Holy Scripture as well as earthly good manners, he looked at me stunned that I had an answer.

I do a blog on AOL and because I challenged a man regarding his information on Pope Pius XII he attacked me with very vitrolic emails. I had to block him. Now his friends are flaming my blog and getting mad that I am blocking and deleting their comments.

Perhaps I shouldn’t do that? Leave them on for all to see?
I don’t know…

 

[FCEGM]

What I have encountered, on a day-to-day basis, has been both funny and sad. I have had people at work say, “So, when Pope Constantine started the Catholic Church, did he also start Opus Dei to keep people in line?”

I had a neighbor say, “Why do you pray to Mary when Jesus gave us the Our Father and never said, ‘Pray to my Mom’?”. When I told him why we pray to and with Our Lady, in accordance with the teachings of Holy Scripture as well as earthly good manners, he looked at me stunned that I had an answer.

I do a blog on AOL and because I challenged a man regarding his information on Pope Pius XII he attacked me with very vitrolic emails. I had to block him. Now his friends are flaming my blog and getting mad that I am blocking and deleting their comments.

Perhaps I shouldn’t do that? Leave them on for all to see?
I don’t know…

Leslie, how about responding to the particular issues they raise without giving them the pleasure of seeing their diatribes in print.

 

[Sub-Zero]

Not as much as I used to, all the non-Catholic Christians I grew up with weren’t anti-Catholic. They saw us as Christians and that’s how I saw them. That’s how we should view each other and view others regardless of religion, I have also friends who were Jewish.

I didn’t get any anti-Catholicism until I left college to go to a community college, I got into some verbal altercations there. I tried not to let those expieriences build prejuidice aganist non-Catholic Christians.

I spoke with a classmate of mine who is Pentecostal and didn’t condemn me, she admitted she doesn’t know what the Catholic Church is all about she said too we are Christians too.

The Catholic College I was at I met someone who at that college had some bad expieriences with the Catholics there and thinks sometimes all Catholics are like that. I keep my calm on it and tell her not all Catholics are like that.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I grew up in the Bible Belt and there was all the Anti-Catholicism you ever wanted to see then. All the “best” people in town were in the KKK at one time. There was plenty of religion in the public schools then-100% mainline protestant. Fundamentalists, however, tended to leave you alone. They were “dumped on” by the mainliners too.

Now, it’s pretty tame. The mainlines have shrunk in numbers and power. Fundamentalist will argue with you, but mainly just don’t understand the Catholic Church and are not too virulent when you just tell them about what we believe and do. I agree with the posters who said the most virulent anti-Catholics in their present experience are “former” Catholics. Usually their leaving the Church related to leaving their spouses more or less simultaneously, but they come up with lots of less self-accusatory reasons to explain their leaving. Some priest was mean, or some nun in their childhood was mean, or people in the CC don’t “fellowship”, and they don’t think they have to confess to a priest, and so on and so forth.

 

[Sub-Zero]

I grew up in the Bible Belt and there was all the Anti-Catholicism you ever wanted to see then. All the “best” people in town were in the KKK at one time. There was plenty of religion in the public schools then-100% mainline protestant. Fundamentalists, however, tended to leave you alone. They were “dumped on” by the mainliners too.

Now, it’s pretty tame. The mainlines have shrunk in numbers and power. Fundamentalist will argue with you, but mainly just don’t understand the Catholic Church and are not too virulent when you just tell them about what we believe and do. I agree with the posters who said the most virulent anti-Catholics in their present experience are “former” Catholics. Usually their leaving the Church related to leaving their spouses more or less simultaneously, but they come up with lots of less self-accusatory reasons to explain their leaving. Some priest was mean, or some nun in their childhood was mean, or people in the CC don’t “fellowship”, and they don’t think they have to confess to a priest, and so on and so forth.

My friend didn’t have good expieriences with Catholics when in reform school. She mentioned a priest who seemed a little strict for her and the Catholics at the college I went to weren’t very open-minded to other non-Catholic Christians and were hypocritical with relationships and she also said that the Church doesn’t follow the Bible… She became Catholic a semester and then had issues with it since she is used to Baptist churches. I was going to say if you don’t want to be Catholic, just say it you aren’t going to hurt my feelings.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

I wonder how many of you run into real anti-Catholicism in your day to day lives. It’s easy to see in chat rooms and on message boards such as CARM. I’m not talking about internet fundamentalists here, I mean people you know or meet in the real world.

I run into lots of people who are completely ignorant of what the Church teaches and why, but only once or twice have I gotten the “silent treatment” after I told someone I was Catholic.

So what about it? Do you encounter real anti-Catholicism in your day to day life? If so, what do you do about it?

I’ve come across it very seldom - and being anti-Catholic doesn’t mean someone is not a good Christian & an attractive human being.​

I think the label of “anti-Catholicism” is often used by Catholics to describe perfectly allowable views held by Catholics which the describers do not themselves care for; & IMO this is as truly anti-Catholic as anything published by an ill-informed Southern Baptist Catholic-baiter. The Church is larger than certain conservatives or certain anti-liberals allow - which is why all Catholics are not groupies of EWTN or the pre-1969 Mass. The CC is not a Fundamentalist sect, and it mustn’t be allowed to fall into the hands of the Catholic Fundamentalists - Catholicism is far larger & more generous than that.

“Anti-Catholicism” is often used as a description for unfavourable criticisms of Catholicism by other Christians, even when these are responsible and informed; & for criticisms of Catholicism by Catholics. It’s a meaningless term, except for very obvious examples such as persecution in (say) China or the Sudan. But merely to find Catholicism morally revolting, unBiblical, anti-rational or a danger to the common good is not anti-Catholic. Catholics do share this planet with others, & those others do not have no moral obligation to think that Catholicism is good, or even moral. If they think it is evil, they are free to say so; and Catholics are free to disagree with those who express that opinion. But to complain about every cartoon or book or school event which pokes fun at Catholicism or is less than deferential to it, as being anti-Catholic, seems just a bit silly.

 

[Petergee]

I learned form a Muslim scholar friend of mine that Mary is revered in Islam. Her Virginity is not questioned nor her status as the Divine Mother of God.

I assume that was a typo! Neither Moslems nor Catholics regard Mary as divine. Mother of God, yes. A Goddess, no!

What I think is that the Evangelicals have such a weak argument for thier doctrines, that they have to appeal to emotion when engaged in debate.

Spot on. When two Christians are discussing their respective beliefs, the first to call the other a “pagan” is admitting that he’s lost the argument and has to resort to lies and name-calling.

 

[Petergee]

I don’t know why some people think that, upon finding out that I am Catholic, that I immediately wish to engage in a theological debate… Why can’t they just smile and be polite, like they would if they found out I was gay…

Hey, I’d be happy if they seriously wanted to engage in a theological debate. But what I usually get when people find out that I’m a practising Catholic, is the attitude that I must have some sort of mental illness. Oh they’re happy to spout their set-piece speech on “religion causes all the evil in the world, especially Christianity and worst of all the Catholic Church which is nothing but a bunch of evil madmen and their dupes”, but if I dare to begin to reply to one of their wild accusations they’ll just hold up their hand and say they don’t want to hear it, that they know I have these crazy beliefs in my head and that they didn’t mean to offend me.

These people are happy to quote Richard Dawkins etc as nauseam but the very last thing they want is an actual two-way debate about where the truth lies. They’re quite happy in their conceited prejudices thank you and don’t want them disturbed. They don’t want to be confronted with the fact that they’re not as rational, scientific and tolerant as they pretend to be.

 

[Petergee]

I certainly don’t want to minimize the horrific persecution which Catholics and other Christians face on a daily basis in Moslem- and Marxist-ruled countries, but I am always amazed/amused/offended how in so many people, instutions and countries which pride themselves in being liberal and tolerant of everyone, that anti-Catholicism is the one big log in their eye which they just can’t see.

A tiny example which sticks in my mind: A while ago our daily paper had a puffy article in which various celebrities where asked to state “5 things I would do if I were Prime Minister for a day”. Among all the motherhood statements and platitudes was one **“I’d send all Catholics to re-education camps.” **
Imagine the furious reaction if that was said about ANY other group! Not to mention the disgusting insult to the millions of Catholics who have been tortured or murdered for their faith in “re-education camps”. But of course people say such things because they know Catholics will “turn the other cheek” and the Catholic-baiter will not face boycotts, marches, bombs, fatwas, jihads, etc.

 

[Mamastrocity]

Well, I’ve been dealing with a guy who claims that he was catholic, then became baptist, and believes that God did nothing for him, that he did everything for himself.

It started innocently enough, just a discussion about Christianity and scripture, and the next thing I know, I’m being asked why God doesn’t tell other priests about bad priests who molest children; why 50% of marriages fail; and a whole host of questions that really have nothing to do with the actual subject which was being discussed–he questioned Christ’s divinity and I gave him a host of scriptural quotes…he gave me John 20:17-18 and said that because Christ says “my Father and your Father, my God and your God,” he is saying we are all children of God, and that he is A child of God, not THE child of God.

…I asked him what his authority was in interpreting scripture in this manner was…and he said that he spent 16 years in something called “Royal Ambassadors” (Deacon In Training) at a particular local church…and said sarcastically that he guessed that didn’t count for anything.

What he didn’t count on was that my father-in-law happens to be 3rd in charge of that very large local ministry he named, that the “Royal Ambassadors” program of which he spoke was a 1st through 6th grade program that ended at that particular church in the mid-80s (and this guy would have been about 10-15 years old), and there is no such thing as a Deacon Training program–you have to be nominated by the congregation and therefore VERY well known, not just by the congregation but the ministry staff…and my father in law had NO idea who he was.

People aren’t just anti-Catholic…they are increasingly anti-Christian and will use any means necessary, lying included, to prove their point or anchor their supposed authority.

And yes, I called him out on his lie, as did others. He didn’t count on people actually checking out his story. And yet, he continues, unswayed, by saying that there is no talking to people of faith because we are so willing to believe anything.

 

[JLSacred]

Petergee,
Another lovely topic that people love to suddenly bring up upon hearing my religious affiliation is the priest abuse scandal! I mean, these folks ought to get their own talk shows. OF COURSE, I want to talk about A) the validity of the papacy B) Pedophilia scandal C)How you don’t need to confess to a priest D) Why abortion should be legal E) Why do we worship Mary F) Why homosexual marriage is great, and why does the church persecute gays when most priests are in the closet?

People are so tactful and skillful in small talk!

 

[wmscott]

I was reading this thread yesterday, and noticed a lot of what I had experienced since converting. Later that day I had a doctor’s appointment and when I made a pit stop at the office what did I find to my surprise? Chick Tracks placed on the counter. Amazing that these things are still around, I had not seen one for some time.