question 1 : do Catholics bow to statues?
Question 2 : is it wrong to bow to a statue as an act of veneration?
There’s a lot going on here so first let us be clear about what God was speaking of when he said not to make idols. There is a big difference between idols and statues and even after God commanded that we not make idols, he went on to instruct us in the making of all kinds of statues and images…
He was specifically riling against the Hebrews who had made the golden calf to explicitly worship instead of God.
Consider these:
Exodus 25:18-19
18 Make two cherubim of beaten gold for the two ends of the cover; 19 make one cherub at one end, and the other at the other end, of one piece with the cover, at each end.
Numbers 21:8-9
8 and the LORD said to Moses: Make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and everyone who has been bitten will look at it and recover. 9 Accordingly Moses made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever the serpent bit someone, the person looked at the bronze serpent and recovered.
1 Kings 6:23-29
23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, made of pine. 24 Each wing of a cherub was five cubits so that the span from wing tip to wing tip was ten cubits. 25 The second cherub was also ten cubits: the two cherubim were identical in size and shape; 26 the first cherub was ten cubits high, and so was the second. 27 He placed the cherubim in the inmost part of the house; the wings of the cherubim were spread wide, so that one wing of the first touched the side wall and the wing of the second touched the other wall; the wings pointing to the middle of the room touched each other. 28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold. 29 The walls of the house on all sides of both the inner and the outer rooms had carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
1 Kings 7:25-45
25 This rested on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east, with their haunches all toward the center; upon them was set the sea. 26 It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim resembled that of a cup, being lily-shaped. Its capacity was two thousand baths.
27 He also made ten stands of bronze, each four cubits long, four wide, and three high. 28 When these stands were constructed, panels were set within the framework. 29 On the panels within the frames there were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the frames likewise, above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths in hammered relief. 30 Each stand had four bronze wheels and bronze axles. The four legs of each stand had cast braces, which were under the basin; they had wreaths on each side. 31 The mouth of the basin was inside, and a cubit above, the crown, whose opening was round, made like a receptacle, a cubit and a half in depth. There was carved work at the opening, on panels that were square, not circular. 32 The four wheels were below the paneling, and the axletrees of the wheels and the stand were of one piece. Each wheel was a cubit and a half high. 33 The wheels were constructed like chariot wheels; their axletrees, rims, spokes, and hubs were all cast. 34 The four braces reached the four corners of each stand, and formed part of the stand.
35 At the top of the stand there was a raised collar half a cubit high, and the handles and panels on top of the stand formed part of it. 36 On the flat ends of the handles and on the panels, wherever there was a bare space, cherubim, lions, and palm trees were carved, as well as wreaths all around. 37 This was how he made the ten stands, all of the same casting, the same size, the same shape. 38 He made ten bronze basins, each four cubits in diameter with a capacity of forty baths, one basin atop each of the ten stands. 39 He placed the stands, five on the south side of the house and five on the north. The sea he placed off to the southeast from the south side of the house.
40 When Hiram had made the pots, shovels, and bowls, he finished all his work for King Solomon in the house of the LORD: 41 two columns; two nodes for the capitals on top of the columns; two pieces of netting covering the two nodes for the capitals on top of the columns; 42 four hundred pomegranates in double rows on both pieces of netting that covered the two nodes of the capitals on top of the columns; 43 ten stands; ten basins on the stands; 44 one sea; twelve oxen supporting the sea; 45 pots, shovels, and bowls. All these articles which Hiram made for King Solomon in the house of the LORD were of burnished bronze.
And read this:
Do Catholics Worship Statues? A tract from the Catholic Answers web site.
When we kneel before a statue of Mary, we kneel before a representation of the Queen of Heaven, not in supplication or worship of her, but to put us into a prayerful state in order to bring our petitions to her with respect and dignity. The same goes for representations of the saints. It is not to them that we kneel, but for ourselves to become in a prayerful state.
Many of us kneel by the bedside to say our evening prayers. This certainly does not mean we are worshiping the bed.
The problem with the literalistic interpretation of the Bible is that it is generally hypocritical. If you take this verse about idols and statues literally, then why not the one about selling your daughter into slavery, or killing your brother because he refuses to believe?
We are not interpreting the Bible on an individual basis, but are abiding by the interpretations of the Church, “the pillar and foundation of the truth”. Interpreting individually can be dangerous road to follow.
