In an age when most Christians were illiterate, these visual depictions came to be known as biblia pauperum , or poor man's bibles. The Bible itself was predominantly a liturgical book used at Mass, costly to produce and illuminate by hand. The custom of praying the Liturgy of the Hours spread to those who could afford the prayer books required to follow the textual cycle that mirrored the pastoral seasons of Jewish temple worship.
Saint Thomas Aquinas taught that the most obvious Old Testament prefiguring of the sign aspect of the Eucharist was the action of Melchizedek in Genesis Concerning the first of the Old Testament prefigurations that Aquinas mentioned, Melchizedek's action in bringing out bread and wine for Abraham has been seen, from the time of Clement of Alexandria c. The second prefiguration mentioned by Aquinas is that of the Old Testament sacrifices, especially that on the Day of Atonement. Other theologians too see these as foreshadowing the Eucharist. The manna that fed the Israelites in the wilderness is also seen as a symbol of the Eucharist.
The ritual of Passover night described in Exodus contains two main physical elements: In addition to this ritual for Passover night itself, Exodus prescribed a "perpetual institution" associated with the Passover that is celebrated by feasts of unleavened bread Exodus For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Among the many proscription of the Old Testament Law that affirm the covenant, one stands out, being called "most sacred among the various oblations to the Lord ": According to the Catholic Church , when the bread and wine are consecrated by the priest at Mass, they cease to be bread and wine, and become instead the Most Precious Body and Blood of Christ. The empirical appearances and attributes are not changed, but the underlying reality is.
The consecration of the bread known afterwards as the Host and wine represents the separation of Jesus' body from his blood at Calvary; thus, this separation also represents the death of Christ. However, since according to Catholic dogma Christ has risen, the Church teaches that his body and blood are no longer truly separated, even if the appearances of the bread and the wine are.
Where one is, the other must be. This is called the doctrine of concomitance. Therefore, although the priest or minister says, "The body of Christ", when administering the host, and, "The blood of Christ", when presenting the chalice, the communicant who receives either one receives Christ, whole and entire— "Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity". Transubstantiation from Latin transsubstantiatio is the change of the substance of bread and wine into that of the body and blood of Christ , the change that, according to the belief of the Catholic Church, occurs in the Eucharist.
It concerns what is changed the substance of the bread and wine , not how the change is brought about. For more on the philosophical concept, see Substance theory.
10 Common Catholic Myths that Critics Believe
A hat's shape is not the hat itself, nor is its colour the hat, nor is its size, nor its softness to the touch, nor anything else about it perceptible to the senses. The hat itself the "substance" has the shape, the colour, the size, the softness and the other appearances, but is distinct from them. Whereas the appearances, which are referred to by the philosophical term accidents are perceptible to the senses, the substance is not. When at his Last Supper Jesus said: However, the Catholic Church teaches that the underlying reality was changed in accordance with what Jesus said, that the "substance" of the bread was converted to that of his body.
In other words, it actually was his body, while all the appearances open to the senses or to scientific investigation were still those of bread, exactly as before. The Church believes that the same change of the substance of the bread and of the wine occurs at every Catholic Mass throughout the world. The Catholic Church accordingly believes that through transubstantiation Christ is really, truly and substantially present under the remaining appearances of bread and wine, and that the transformation remains as long as the appearances remain. For this reason the consecrated elements are preserved, generally in a church tabernacle , for giving Holy Communion to the sick and dying, and also for the secondary, but still highly lauded, purpose of adoring Christ present in the Eucharist.
In the judgment of the Catholic Church, the concept of transubstantiation, with its accompanying unambiguous distinction between "substance" or underlying reality, and " accidents " or humanly perceptible appearances, safeguards against what it sees as the mutually opposed errors of, on the one hand, a merely figurative understanding of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist the change of the substance is real , and, on the other hand, an interpretation that would amount to cannibalistic a charge which pagans leveled at early Catholic Christians who did not understand the rites of the Catholic Church in that it was considered an "unbloody sacrifice" eating of the flesh and corporal drinking of the blood of Christ the accidents that remain are real, not an illusion and that Christ is "really, truly, and substantially present" in the Eucharist, [38] not physically present, as he was physically present in the Judea of two millennia ago.
But the earliest known use of the term "transubstantiation" to describe the change from bread and wine to body and blood of Christ was by Hildebert de Lavardin , Archbishop of Tours died in about , long before the Latin West, under the influence especially of Saint Thomas Aquinas c. The University of Paris was founded only between and The term "substance" substantia as the reality of something was in use from the earliest centuries of Latin Christianity, as when they spoke of the Son as being of the same "substance" consubstantialis as the Father.
The doctrine of transubstantiation is thus independent of Aristotelian philosophical concepts, and these were not and are not dogmata of the Church. The only minister of the Eucharist someone who can consecrate the Eucharist is a validly ordained priest [41] bishop or presbyter. He acts in the person of Christ , representing Christ, who is the Head of the Church, and also acts before God in the name of the Church.
Others, who are not priests, may act as extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion , distributing the sacrament to others, but not as ministers of the Eucharist, ordinary or extraordinary. In addition to the ordinary ministers there is the formally instituted acolyte , who by virtue of his institution is an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion even outside the celebration of Mass.
If, moreover, reasons of real necessity prompt it, another lay member of Christ's faithful may also be delegated by the diocesan Bishop, in accordance with the norm of law, for one occasion or for a specified time. Finally, in special cases of an unforeseen nature, permission can be given for a single occasion by the Priest who presides at the celebration of the Eucharist. They may also exercise this function at eucharistic celebrations where there are particularly large numbers of the faithful and which would be excessively prolonged because of an insufficient number of ordained ministers to distribute Holy Communion.
A rule for Catholics who are members of the Latin Church is: Catholics must make an outward sign of reverence before receiving. The consecrated host may be received either on the tongue or in the hand, at the discretion of each communicant. When Holy Communion is received under both kinds, the sign of reverence is also made before receiving the Precious Blood.
Catholics may receive Communion during Mass or outside Mass, but "a person who has already received the Most Holy Eucharist can receive it a second time on the same day only within the eucharistic celebration in which the person participates", except as Viaticum Code of Canon Law, canon In the Western Church, "the administration of the Most Holy Eucharist to children requires that they have sufficient knowledge and careful preparation so that they understand the mystery of Christ according to their capacity and are able to receive the body of Christ with faith and devotion.
The Most Holy Eucharist, however, can be administered to children in danger of death if they can distinguish the body of Christ from ordinary food and receive communion reverently" Code of Canon Law, canon For in this form the sign of the eucharistic banquet is more clearly evident and clear expression is given to the divine will by which the new and eternal Covenant is ratified in the Blood of the Lord, as also the relationship between the Eucharistic banquet and the eschatological banquet in the Father's Kingdom However, Christ, whole and entire, and the true Sacrament, is received even under only one species, and consequently that as far as the effects are concerned, those who receive under only one species are not deprived of any of the grace that is necessary for salvation" General Instruction of the Roman Missal.
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal mentions a "Communion-plate for the Communion of the faithful", distinct from the paten , [58] and speaks of its use in relation to the administration of Communion by intinction , in which receiving Communion directly in the mouth is obligatory. Whenever necessity requires it or true spiritual advantage suggests it, and provided that danger of error or of indifferentism is avoided, the Christian faithful for whom it is physically or morally impossible to approach a Catholic minister are permitted to receive the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick from non-Catholic ministers in whose Churches these sacraments are valid.
Catholic ministers administer the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick licitly to members of Eastern Churches which do not have full communion with the Catholic Church if they seek such on their own accord and are properly disposed. This is also valid for members of other Churches which in the judgment of the Apostolic See are in the same condition in regard to the sacraments as these Eastern Churches. If the danger of death is present or if, in the judgment of the diocesan bishop or conference of bishops, some other grave necessity urges it, Catholic ministers administer these same sacraments licitly also to other Christians not having full communion with the Catholic Church, who cannot approach a minister of their own community and who seek such on their own accord, provided that they manifest Catholic faith in respect to these sacraments and are properly disposed.
Some dioceses have allowed pastors to make this determination as regards those in hospitals, nursing homes, and correctional centers. The bread used for the Eucharist must be wheaten only, and recently made, and the wine must be natural, made from grapes, and not corrupt. A small quantity of water is added to the wine. The Congregation for Divine Worship provided guidance on the character of bread and wine to be used by Roman Catholics in a letter to bishops dated 15 June It included instructions concerning gluten-free or low-gluten bread and non-alcoholic substitutes for wine.
Whether the agape feast , a full meal held by Christians in the first centuries, was in all cases associated with a celebration of the Eucharist is uncertain. The form of this celebration in the middle of the second century is described by Justin Martyr as very similar to today's Eucharistic rites known in the West as the Mass and in much of the East as the Divine Liturgy.
The regular celebration was held each week on the day called Sunday, [69] which Christians were also calling the Lord's Day. Catholics typically restrict the term 'communion' to the reception of the Body and Blood of Christ by the communicants during the celebration of the Mass and to the communion of saints. Earlier still, in about , Saint Ignatius of Antioch criticized those who "abstain from the Eucharist and the public prayer, because they will not admit that the Eucharist is the self-same Body of our Savior Jesus Christ, which [flesh] suffered for our sins, and which the Father in His goodness raised up again" Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 6, 7.
Ambrose of Milan countered objections to the doctrine, writing "You may perhaps say: The earliest known use, in about , of the term "transubstantiation" to describe the change from bread and wine to body and blood of Christ was by Hildebert de Savardin , Archbishop of Tours died He did this in response to Berengar of Tours declaring that the Eucharist was only symbolic.
In , the Fourth Lateran Council used the word transubstantiated in its profession of faith, when speaking of the change that takes place in the Eucharist. In the Council of Trent officially defined that "by the consecration of the bread and of the wine, a conversion is made of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood; which conversion is, by the holy Catholic Church, suitably and properly called Transubstantiation.
The attempt by some twentieth-century Catholic theologians to present the Eucharistic change as an alteration of significance transignification rather than transubstantiation was rejected by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical letter Mysterium fidei In his Credo of the People of God , he reiterated that any theological explanation of the doctrine must hold to the twofold claim that, after the consecration, 1 Christ's body and blood are really present; and 2 bread and wine are really absent; and this presence and absence is real and not merely something in the mind of the believer.
In his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia of 17 April , Pope John Paul II taught that all authority of bishops and priests is primarily a function of their vocation to celebrate the Eucharist. Their governing authority flows from their priestly function, not the other way around. In the visions of Christ reported by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century, several promises were made to those people that practice the First Fridays Devotions, one of which included final perseverance.
The devotion consists of several practices that are performed on the first Fridays of nine consecutive months. On these days, a person is to attend Holy Mass and receive communion. A Nuptial Mass [76] is simply a Mass within which the sacrament of Marriage is celebrated. Other sacraments too are celebrated within Mass. This is necessarily so for the sacrament of Orders, and is normal, though not obligatory, for the Sacrament of Confirmation , as well as that of Marriage.
Unless the date chosen is that of a major liturgical feast, the prayers are taken from the section of the Roman Missal headed "Ritual Masses". This section has special texts for the celebration, within Mass, of Baptism, Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick, Orders, and Marriage, leaving Confession Penance or Reconciliation as the only sacrament not celebrated within a celebration of the Eucharist.
There are also texts for celebrating, within Mass, Religious Profession, the Dedication of a Church and several other rites. If, of a couple being married in the Catholic Church, one is not a Catholic, the rite of Marriage outside Mass is to be followed. However, if the non-Catholic has been baptized in the name of all three persons of the Trinity and not only in the name of, say, Jesus, as is the baptismal practice in some branches of Christianity , then, in exceptional cases and provided the bishop of the diocese gives permission, it may be considered suitable to celebrate the Marriage within Mass, except that, according to the general law, Communion is not given to the non-Catholic Rite of Marriage , 8.
Exposition of the Eucharist is the display of the consecrated host on an altar in a Monstrance. Once I sat down for myself and started reading through the Bible, I suddenly started finding alllll sorts of new verses I never realized were in there before! We worship because He is God, and because He died on the cross to take away our sins. Neither of those apply to Mary. For more on this subject, I strongly encourage you to read another post in this same series of mine: They are simply asking the Saints to pray for them.
The same way you might ask me to pray for you, or I might as you to pray for me. Neither of us has much power. We would pray to Jesus. And again, more on the subject in the same article linked above. We are commanded by God to honor our father and mother. Hi, I am Catholic and this post is the best way to explain our love for Mary and all of the saints, including Saint Michael! We simply ask them to pray for us. And while we are on the topic, when we pray the rosery, we are asking for her help.
And at the same time we are going through five stages of the prayer and at each stage we are meditating on a certain part of scripture. Jesus also came from Mary! If that were so, then Jesus would be born with original sin. That she was without sin to be an appropriate mother for our Lord incarnate to come to earth. Just a comment to add to the dialog and for reflection. Mary is a model of discipleship. As a matter of fact, we are all called to be saints in this world and will be in the next unless the afterlife is one that is absent of God for you. Thanks for the dialog!
It does, but not nearly as much as one would think. That means that it is possible for there to be other exceptions because this is already one. The use of the word all would seem to mean all, however the bible commonly uses that same word just to describe a very large group of people. This is usually when there were some obvious exceptions. To the early Christians, however, May was an obvious exception because the early Church doctrine taught that she was free of sin. He didnt lie and neither did the Rcc. Adam and Eve were without original sin,had free will and sinned.
God is Holy and his word is forever true,Only he could save us and he needed a Human being free from original sin but having free will to say yes or no to his plan of salvation for us. Think about it if God Made Adam and Eve with original sin then there would have been no fall and no need to save them and us.
God being holy can only be in a holy environment,Unless we do not take Jesus as God ,of who he truly is, The word that became flesh ,That Ark of the new covenant Mary had to be free from original sin because God is Holy. Yes it does matter, as Paul tells us in Romans 3: Mary was Not immuned to sin. I actually went on to discuss this topic further in my post: Hi Britanny thank you for your article. The heavens and earth will pass away but the word of the Lord is forever.
We need to seek his way not mans traditions. Hi Brittany-love what you are doing. Mary is the ark of the new covenant so it makes sense. The story that helps me is-there are two ways to be saved from a ditch.
The war against Pope Francis
And two, before you fall in. The second is Mary. I would hope all the Catholics you know believe Mary never sinned. You think the person God chose for His mother would be unable to remain sinless? No Catholics worship Mary. Kissing her statue is not worship. Some Catholics really have an exaggerated way of expressing their love and affection for Mary. The real question is: Are they loving her more the Jesus loves His own mother? We are called to imitate Him in everything. Let me explain, and I think this will help a lot. The words in Hebrew of this commandment encompass a much greater and deeper meaning than what is perceived from the English.
It has been a baffling thing. When I meditate and contemplate on His love for us, I always end up in awe. Yes, Jesus did and does love his mother, but is he sitting around saying hail Marys all day? Seems unlikely… Not saying that it is sinful or wrong. Yes, I agree with you. On the outside, it sure does look wrong. But that is only until you dig in.
A few years ago, after a concert I had a long conversation with a Covenant Church minister; something like 4 hours. At the end, he was completely ok with the rosary, with the exception of the last two mysteries; Assumption and Queenship of Mary. That was a whole other topic we had not covered. He was very thorough and inquisitive with his questions and listened attentively.
He was not only a minister but also had Masters in Mathematics and Philosophy. We met a couple other times, shorter spans of time. Nowadays, every time we cross paths he says: If he was able to rationalize his way through the rosary, I am certain that you will also be able to, but you will do it slower than one sitting and it will come from the heart as much as from the head. I will leave this thought. Think of the rosary as a movie on the life of Christ that you are meditating and contemplating on, while your lips are singing a song to His mother. So you are singing a lullaby to Mary while in awe at what God has done for us, and internalizing it.
It is like reading Scripture in your heart. Sometimes scripture comes alive in ways I could never imagine possible. And the closer their relationship with God, the more powerful we feel their prayers are for us. Well, who has a closer relationship with God than Mary? Just something to think about. Since the Resurrection, are our loved ones in Heaven really dead? There are four things every Catholic needs to believe about Mary to be Catholic, 1.
She is the Mother of God theotokos, or Godbearer , proclaimed at the council of Ephesus in , and re-proclaimed in any Church council dealing with the Heresy of Arianism which denied the divinity of Christ.
10 Common Catholic Myths That Critics Believe
She is a perpetual virgin. She is conceived without original sin, like Eve before the Fall. This means her intellect was not darkened, her will was not weakened, and she was not subject to pain in childbirth, or to corruption or death see 4. She may have been perfect, but she also knew exactly what was going to happen to her Son the whole time. She was assumed into Heaven at the end of her life. Since she was without sin, she was not subject to death, so when the course of her life was ended, she was assumed into heaven by the power of God unlike the Ascension of Jesus, who ascended under His own power.
Certainly though, Marian theology is the hardest part for any non-catholic to accept, but it is so important for us that it can scarcely be imagined. She is perfect, we are not, and Jesus gave her to us through the Apostle John to intercede with Him. We are supposed to pray to them for intercession. This is basically the equivalent of asking the person next to you in Church to pray for you.
The basis for this belief is that prayer is good, and more prayer is better and that we can all help bring grace into the world. This is a tradition that goes as far back as Genesis Moses begged and pleaded, Gideon was a downright skeptic, and even Jesus asked for mercy in Gethsemane. Its not that Catholics do not believe in an individual relationship with God; rather, we believe in using as many tools as you can get to try to improve your relationship with God.
The Sacraments, frequent Mass, prayer, the Rosary, and asking for intercession from Mary and the Saints—these are aids without which living a Holy life just becomes more difficult not impossible. On a similar note: The Church has a long history of trying to encourage its people to partake in the sacraments, even though there was a tendency to blow off Mass because people felt unworthy and too sinful. These tools are meant to be used and so the emphasis on the Body of Christ in the Church has led to a more community oriented view on the relationship with God. Sometimes in a human psychology sense I think God gives us the gift of each other; we pray for each other even though we can also boldly approach the throne of grace.
Yes God is right there ready to forgive, but if we feel his absence sometimes we might feel better going to him through his mom. The Rosary is a meditative prayer in which Mary helps us to know her son Jesus, true God and true man. I am on that page. Inventing the necessity for God to have a previously sterilized womb to inhabit is adding superstition to an already awesome, mystic situation.
According to the neighbours, the little boy Jesus grew up with their kids, no doubt playing in the dirt with pebbles and that did NOT diminish His Godhood. So his death saved her the same way it saved Abraham, Moses and all the other Old Testament people—after the fact, working retroactively.
Also, we will discuss Mary more and get into all of the specifics on March 4th. My question here is that if Mary is sinless and blameless, why would she need a savior at all? He saved her or kept her from it in the first place. Mary is the perfect disciple of Jesus, and in perfect Communion with Him at all times, having been sinless, and also having born Him in her womb.
Catholics ask Mary to love Jesus with the same love and faith she has. Loving Mary and asking her for help never gets in the way of loving Jesus, since she was created FOR the purpose of Jesus— God becoming Man— and to assume as such is to labor under a false dichotomy.
To ask Mary for help is to love Jesus in a way that He becomes the very center of our lives. Hopefully people remember that. I like the way you worded this. Actually, the more I read about Catholicism, the more I get the feeling that I have to shake my head to clear the thoughts.
Its like a bunch of rabbit trails leading us away from seeing the clear big picture. When I listen to someone repeating the rosary thing over and over it reminds me of the vain repetitions passage and the commandment to go directly to the Father. Those are really good questions. And there are other verses that support this too.
- Eucharist in the Catholic Church.
- Glossary of Catholic Terms.
- .
I have been attending a Roman Catholic service weekly since last November, because I feel that is where God has led me. NOT because I think I have some big calling, but because I have discovered that the way He gets me to be where He can use me is by giving me sheer joy and peace in certain situations where I know I would usually feel very uncomfortable and these folk are loving on me big time. I have explored many denominations down through the years and everyone of them has something new and precious for me to learn. Sometimes it just is so sad to me that all this time gets used when they could be in communal prayer asking the FATHER for His intervention.
I love the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much passage, and in fact James is my favorite book — I always wonder how marvelous it would be to grow up with a big brother who never taunted you! However, I do think that in this passage the Bible is teaching us to be sure we are righteous and also that it suggests our prayers are going to be more effective when we are more fervent. Hopefully, I, myself, may fall into that place to be there for them, as well, until they are able to recover themselves from the snare of the Devil.
That is not the same as saying we pray to her, which we do. The Catholic Church makes an important distinction between types of prayer. This is a prayer of worship. It is nothing more than asking the saints in heaven to focus their own prayers to God on our behalf. We ask them to unceasingly petition God to give us the graces that they received during their own earthly lives. Thanks for clarifying some important things here. I appreciate the Catholic church for holding steadfast to their beliefs and not wavering in the midst of changes in our world. Although Catholic from birth, I sympathize with your comment: After all, it only made sense much later on my journey since the Church is the Bulwark and Foundation of Truth 1 Timothy 3: Those were the painful pieces, but also the liberating ones I experienced then.
Who knows where it will lead! I have a good idea of where this will lead…. Same place it led me in Can I be the first to say welcome home? I agree with you. I am so glad of the steadfast tenacity in this organization. The one caveat I must hold is that they have added on to what the original church taught, and these extra diversions can lead to one becoming so entranced by the rituals of mysticism that much of the solid foundation is lost in the oblivion of the overgrowth, and just as an ancient building may need occasional excavation, along came the reformation, which they will refuse to embrace as it was intended..
I had stated before I am really happy about this series. I am really interested in this because my parents have recently gone back to Catholicism after being Protestant for almost 30 years. I do believe that if they had remained Catholic, they would not have gotten the education to understand all of what you are saying. I know the Protestant church teaches you more the biblical teachings and goes more in depth and that is why I think more protestants will really understand more of what you are learning from the Bible. This series is an educational eye opener for Protestants as well as Catholics.
And very well written. I hope that makes sense. And on a related note, I know just from going through RCIA and from me asking 10, questions about things, my husband who was born and raised Catholic has learned some things he had no idea about too. I think there is some merit to both though. So Catholics have learned to listen to the Word of God in the Mass. It takes 3 years to read basically the whole bible with those extra 7 books in the Mass.
What a blessing in disguise! Think it is so inspiring, makes me want to learn even more! Also, our honor to Mary was always told to me in this way. She was on of the first fully human figures we saw give up her life and body to obey the Lord. We are grateful she said yes and find an amazing example in her devotion to our Lord.
Have you by any chance had the opportunity to attend a Catholic Mass? So, I invited her to Mass. I am a practicing Catholic, and I cannot tell you how many times after confession the priest recommended that I read specific chapters from the Bible to meditate upon such as the Prodigal Son, or Psalm Many Catholics from the s and s had poor catechesis education and may not be able to fully explain why they believe the things they believe. Hope this helps, I really enjoyed your article. Thank you for doing such a good job clearing up the myths about my religion.
I hope this helps people better understand us! What happened is that after the Second Vatican Council, catechisis in the Church took a nosedive for a few decades. My kids were in Catholic school in the 70s and 80s. I was shocked at how little they learned beyond: No church history, no bible stories beyond the bare bones. Among other things I see no discussion of the Catholic concept of the Communion of Saints that is too complicated to explain here, but would clear up a lot.
The Protestant maternal side of my family were all horrified when my mom married my father. I read their blog and see that they are horrified at the Day of the Dead, but they pretend they like Our Lady of Guadalupe to get the Mexicans to come to their mission churches.
I asked them if they also have missionaries in Canada and their jaws almost hit the floor.
- Irish Poetry of the 1930s.
- Can Pope Francis clean up God’s bank?.
- Boasts of the Roman Church about Sunday.
I find the people on this page refreshingly honest. I, too, am a Protestant who loves Catholics. I have been attending Catholic Mass every week for 6 months.
Glossary of Catholic Terms
I believe God has a direction for me in helping to break the division called denomination, which actually means a fracturing of the body. I am loved ON by the Catholics and have developed a new found camaraderie there. I honestly do not believe I could ever agree with a lot of their stuff, but it is an eye-opener to learn where they come from.
I see all groups believing in some misleading doctrines, and none are exempt. It is only when we rise above all that strife of pride that we reach the heart of our Father. It is wonderful to pray together with those who are willing to lay down their personal catechisms and other holy cows to grow closer to Him, in Whom we ALL LIVE, and breathe, and have our being. My husband was raised Roman Catholic and converted to the Protestant faith in his late teen years. That said, probably many of these things differ depending on where you live, but many of these things are true for this country — and when a Catholic asks a converted Protestant what the difference between our faith and their faith is, the common ones they list are: These are people who have been raised Roman Catholic all their lives and have lived and experienced these parts of the faith from birth.
His differing faith is the ever-present elephant in the room that no one wishes to accept or talk about. I do believe that in America Catholicism looks remarkably different than it does in European and Latin nations. Would the Catholics there also agree that they worship Mary, Saints and Statues? Or is that just the impression that Protestants get? Just speaking of official church teaching, not actual practice. But that sounds really rough for your husband.
I know you are missionaries. In our church, my sister and I are the only 2nd generation Christian adults. I will say that where I live Mary is elevated above Jesus. There are many statues of Mary to pray to in various places throughout the city, but not one statue of Jesus, and in the main Cathedral there is a painting of Mary ascending into heaven.
So the worship of Mary here is very prominent. I would say that we are reaching out to save unsaved people who call themselves Catholics — very much like how in the south people claim to be Christian by virtue of being born into a Christian culture. That word is pretty much acceptable in conversation…and from there it gets much, much worse. Alcoholism is off the charts and pretty much present in most every family…there is not one functional family that I have met outside of those homes where there are truly followers of Jesus Christ.
I wish I could say that I am exaggerating — but the war has left a deep wound — PTSD has literally touched every life — directly or indirectly — and they deal with it in very unhealthy ways. In this part of the world, religion and heritage are one and the same: And you can accurately use either description…because to them, to be Croatian is to be Catholic and some — if not most — have never considered that it could be any other way.
Sounds like a very different world than what we have here, and sounds like you are needed there badly. Still, I would encourage you to make sure you recognize the difference between official church teaching and what the people are doing. Hello, Rosilind I can see how all those images and statues in honor of Mary would make it appear not only as worshiping Mary, but worse, being idol worshipers. It is a very common perception. Like I said it is perception. I was born and raised in Europe and things were pretty backwards in those days. The people were simple with strong but simple devotions.
The Rosary was critical for them, especially since all the prayers in Mass were done in Latin. These were people with simple faiths. The type that Jesus asks of us. Regarding the worship, like I said, I was born in an environment that was similar, without the rampant profanity that you describe, and the lack of Muslims. I can assure you that their devotion to the Virgin Mary is not in error.
If you go to ANY of them, and without trying to tripping or manipulating them you ask any of those people this simple question: Their answer will be Jesus, or the Trinity, or God, but they will not say Mary. Their Divine Mysteries Mass are beautiful and lifts the spirit to Heaven. Dulia is like having a tremendous respect for an elder in the village. I remember when I was a kid, the kids used to gather around the some of the older men on the village and they would tell stories. We had a tremendous respect and were at awe with them.
Let me explain what is happening with them, because I was there 50 years ago. Per example, when they are kneeling in front of an image of Mary or a saint, they are not kneeling, as your eyes tell you, because of the image in and of itself. They go before Mary to pray for her intercession. Then they kneel because it is a pious practice that they have always done. And when they are praying the rosary they say: And the vast majority of the Mass is almost exclusively a continuous prayer to the Father. I hope that this will bring a bit of understanding. I have been in dialogue with Protestants for almost 29 years.
The longest marathon was a 12 hour stretch in one day with an Assemblies of God minister some 14 years ago, so I understand the differences in the language, thought, and gestures. Although both sides profess the Jesus Christ is the ONE Mediator before the Father for us, after that there are differences in language saying the same or almost the same thing but differently , and the integration of the body and thought-process also is quite different. In fact, the Mass is centered around the Eucharist in which Catholics believe Christ becomes physically present in our midst and we are united to Him.
So perhaps one way to approach this is that the Catholics in your community have so many statues and paintings of Mary because we can only commemorate her, while we can actually become physically united to Christ in the Eucharist. You can rest assured that Catholic worship is centered around God and the saving mission of Christ and that Mary is venerated because of her role in fulfilling that saving mission, not as some separate entity. As long as the official church teachings are correct and everyone is doing their best to follow them!
The candle racks or whatever they are called are rarely used in front of the Jesus statue whereas the candle rack in front of the Mary statue is always filled with many burning candles. I know exactly what you mean. Because people will always misunderstand and mess things up — Catholic or not. Yes, we should be careful to avoid giving the wrong impression always, but at the end of the day, we cannot control what other people think or do.
As long as we do our best, sometimes I think we have to just leave it at that. This is definitely a good way for people to sift through the common misconceptions around Catholicism, swiftly and concisely. Although I am not Catholic, I did go to Catholic school for more than 10 years growing up. I learned a lot of good things about the faith, but I also realized that practices differ somewhat depending on what part of the world you are in.. This is really true for all faiths however. Of course, the goal is to unify people under a common belief, but this is very difficult nearly impossible when human error, emotions, and culture are involved.
Too often are minds shut down when trigger words or names are mentioned e. We are given wonderful minds by God, so we must use it to communicate with others but also discern what is beneficial for us. Hopefully I can do that. It looks like you are doing a lot of research on these issues. However, the books of the Bible were really chosen and accepted gradually over time. And yes, agreed that they were formed over time. I can help a bit here. This means that the early Christians were using the Septuagint 5 times, for every one the Hebrew originals.
Furthermore, it seems that the Jews who were persecuting Christianity and rejected Jesus the Way had issues with some of the books that Christians were using to defend Jesus as the Messiah. One very important fact to keep in mind is that there was NOT Bible in those days. The Samaritans had one, and the Pharisees another, the Sadducees another, the Essenes, etc.
The Church was the new authority. By this time, the high priest was no longer the ecclesiastical authority, but the Church. As the Christians were using the Septuagint, the practice continued with minor exceptions. In the later half of the 4th century, the Church Catholic bishops and the pope were trying to sort out what could or could not be read in the Mass Liturgy.
The problem was the New Testament. There were a ton of letters being read in the Liturgy that were claimed to come from the apostles or those near the apostles.
After a lot of debate and some politics, it became what we have today and was sealed by the pope around AD. The irony of this is that when Luther adopted the cannon of the OT from the European Jews got rid of Maccabees because of Purgatory in essence, he accepted the authority of those that rejected Jesus and were no longer no longer in authority, but were also persecuting the early Christians. A great link is to see the Gutenberg Bible the Catholic Vulgate, Latin University of Texas and see the list of books that were contained in the Bible 70 years before Luther both translated and removed the seven he had issues with.
Here is a good link. The books of the Bible were chosen by councils long before Trent which only confirmed the Canon in response to what Luther was claiming. Very interesting post, and I can tell that it is written in sincerity. I suggest reading Pagan Christianity. It is good to seek the truth and how to live as God wants us to. It seems to be a very biased book. Seems to be a new reinvention of the same wheel.
Here is a link to it: Angel, you are so right. However, in scripture Paul makes it clear that we are parts of one body. Although a personal relationship with Jesus is absolutely necessary, so is one with a faith community and one of charity to the world. Just as Jesus came to save me, he came to save you and the whole world; this has consequences for the way in which we practice our faith and worship. For the way in which we support one another, challenge one another and lift each other up.
I wish I could hug you! Growing Catholic in the Baptist belt, I have heard all of these myths and many, many more! I love this post. I did NOT know that! As a Catholic www. Your article gives me hope and I look forward to your upcoming articles in the series! I know your Facebook page—it comes up every time I try to tag my own page in a comment! And thanks so much for sharing on your Facebook page.
I really appreciate it! Things are going to get crazy—I can already tell! The host is a former Protestant minister and he has converts on the show to tell their story. He is another convert and in this book he covers just what you are writing about: May God bless you along your journey and thank you for having the courage to seek truth!
Will have to check it out. Great second post in the series Brittany! Now I really need to get off of your page so I can tackle my list for the day, lol! Hey I have a couple questions in regards to Mary. Are these things true? Especially as scripture mentions that Christ had siblings. No, Catholics do not believe that Mary was a born of a virgin. We believe she was immaculately conceived-born without original sin.
Yes, Mary was sinless and remained a virgin. She made this offering out of obedience to her faith. This is another reason why Catholics regard her so highly because she is a great example of obedience to God. Hi Joy…as a lifelong Catholic, here is what I have always been taught about your question.
No, Mary was conceived in the usual way. This was because she was to be the mother of our Lord, and that vessel womb was to be immaculate, as it was to be the home of the Son of God for 9 months. She remained a Virgin so as to not defile the dwelling place of Jesus. She was the original tabernacle, as her body contained the living God.
She is not, nor was she ever worshiped by Catholics, as we believe only God is worshiped. You can never love her more than Jesus did. Catholics do not believe that Mary was born of a virgin. The interpretation and understanding that the Virgin Mary had other children and was involved sexually with Joseph is very modern last 2 or 3 centuries.
We must realize the limitations of Aramaic as a language, there was no word for cousin. Even in English the word brother is used to describe relations that are non-blood founded. Mary had been consecrated at birth to the Lord, and spent her youth in the temple. She had to leave the temple when she began menstruating because of the laws of the time. There was the need for someone to be her guardian; a righteous man.
So she was entrusted to Joseph, who could have been a widow with children. IT would be unthinkable for Joseph, as a righteous Jew to even touch Mary in any way that would desecrate her. One way to see this today, would be a woman that consecrates herself to God in a convent and remains a virgin her whole life.
Additionally, from some of the very early liturgical prayers. I am a cradle catholic and quite traditional. I love your site and am happy to sign on. I know I can learn a few things from you. God bless you and keep up the open mindedness. It is a beautiful thing. I have a huge issue with indulgences! And so did Martin Luther if I remember correctly Particularly the earning of indulgences.
Or even the selling of them as what was going in the time of Martin Luther. I was horrified to see the Pope putting out something about granting indulgences for tweets or something like that awhile ago. I would love a Catholic view on indulgences. My understanding of them is that they are basically a buy off from time in purgatory. Another excellent website is Catholic Answers: Thanks for the resources! I need some more clarification on this too! We actually just talked about it in RCIA this week, but it was more an explanation of what it is rather than the why behind it.
I will definitely be meeting with the Priest again for more clarification on this, and that post is scheduled for March 18th. Did NOT know about Tweets. That has to be a joke from the pope. He does have a very playful side at times, while extremely deep. Indulgences are simple and complicated. Abuses on this area existed in the past, but all that is gone. Scott Hahn a few years ago did a fairly long presentation on indulgences, and he was uncertain if he had done justice to the subject.
Purgatory is a subject which I do a long presentation. It was one of the sad outcomes of the Reformation. The disbelief in Purgatory has had many sad ramifications. Sound like Urban Legend. Joy, today indulgences are a gift received by an individual due to an act of faith; when one turns more fully toward God and away from the world.
So, what does it accomplish in regards to purgatory? I think it is safe to think of it this way: If you or I were to go to heaven right now heaven would no longer be perfect as you and I still have sin and imperfection in our lives. Purgatory can be thought of as the purging of imperfection or more positively as the bringing to fulfillment of the person.
By the way, it really is unknown if this happens within time or is outside of time or instantaneous, we will get those answers some day. They are not purchased at a price, that was an error in the Church. We must remember that although it is believed that the Church holds the fullness of Truth and is guided by the Holy Spirit it is staffed by human beings and trapped in time and the Truth is not fully appropriated at any given time, by anyone.
We all make mistakes and this has since been condemned and corrected. Indulgences were never sold by the Church. The way the system was setup it made it easy for certain corrupt prelates bishops and priests to manipulated the ignorance of the people. That was one of the areas that underwent reformation to prevent future abuses. Also, there is much controversy about what Luther claimed and what was truly happening in that area. Anyway, the indulgence abuse, in a way, resembles the sexual abuses and scandal that we witnessed recently.
This amounts to a double sinful act. Just like in the 16 century with indulgences, the Church has implemented reforms, unlike ANY OTHER institution in the world based on secular observations to address and prevent this from reoccurring. It is within time, Rod. Purgatory is a continuation of the purification of those not worthy of Hell repented of their sins, or have minor , venial, sins, etc but not ready for Heaven.
Additionally, St Padre Pio, the most charismatic man of the 20th century endowed with charismatic gifts that resembled the apostle days said: In order to be canonized he had to be in Heaven already. Our Lady of Fatima answered a request from Sister Lucia, one of the three visionaries, about two girls she knew that had passed away.
The Virgin replied that one was already in Heaven and the other I think she went to Communion in mortal sin would be in Purgatory until the end of time. This means that the stay of one was very short or none because she lived a very holy life, and the other is still in Purgatory until the Second Coming and the Resurrection of the Dead. That could be many centuries still. When we repent of our sin God in his mercy frees us from the eternal punishments hell that we deserve because of them.
Because of his justice we still have to live with the temporal consequences I kill someone and then repent they are still dead. Part of repentance is a desire to make restitution. An indulgence is a way we unite our prayers and works to those of Christ so that our desire to make restitution can be fulfilled. Think of your relationship with God right now. Is there room for improvement? Are you yet perfected in Christ or is there still room to grow in grace and virtue? If the answer is yes then what happens if you die right now? Brittany, may God bless you richly for your generosity in sharing these points!
Let us continue to pray for its reversal! I am a former Protestant United Methodist who married a Catholic, and have had my own journey of discovery. Now over 20 years after coming into full Communion with the Catholic Church, the joy of discovery is greater than ever before. The life of daily grace from living a fully Catholic life is beyond description — well, its a little bit of heaven on earth!
I pray that your journey will be filled with joy and the support and encouragement of others. Hi Brittany — thank you so much for writing this article!! I am currently in a similar situation. Raised Protestant, grew up extremely active in church. Two years ago, I married into a Catholic family. For the last two years we have been doing double duty — Mass on Saturday night and a Presbyterian church on Sunday morning. However, I know this is not sustainable. My root issues on conversion are derived out of concern for our kids… will they be able to be engaged?
The mission trips, bible study groups, and engaging youth groups were so fundamental for me and my relationship with God growing up — am I depriving my kids of the same opportunities? I have seen so many people become disengaged with the Catholic faith due to the emphasis on rituals and history and not how it could apply to your life, say as a 13 year old. My other large concern is, from what I have seen, is the lack of emphasis on the relational element with God the father.
I want my kids to have a relationship with God and am nervous on how that will transpire in the Catholic faith. I am really looking forward to going on this journey with you and what you discover! Thanks for taking the time to write this blog! Thank you so much for sharing your story! But honestly, I feel like our beliefs are very similar. And I figured by the time the boys got to that—they could chose for themselves. I completely understand your worry about kids and people! I think that is really something that starts at home though. With service in your community I have a TON of articles on that and living out your faith in daily life.
Also, if your kids go to Catholic school, they should find some good community there. And apparently Catholics do have Bible studies too! IF I may add to what Brittany said. The highest form of prayer a Catholic has is the Mass. Additionally, there is no higher form of intimate relation with Jesus than through the Eucharist, or Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. It was always my concern to teach my son to be attentive and actively involved in the prayers of the Mass. As a father, during his Baptism, I made a vow to God to raise him Catholic.
It became MY responsibility to teach him the faith, so every thing else that can complement my teaching is a bonus. I remember my double-duty when I lost temporarily my wife to the Assemblies of God; late 90s. Since I have held various ministries in the Church, but mostly music, I see a lot of families and their behavior. My recommendation, Jone, is for you to give the Catholic Church a real and honest shot.
If what she claims pans out, then follow the truth where it leads you, and take upon yourself to learn and LIVE the faith. Then pass it on as a parent whose most important goal in life is to raise God-loving children, who will be with Him for all eternity. Adding to the first part, about a relation with the Father. So my heart and thought are lifted up to my heavenly Father at these moments as I pray and meditate on the words. When I pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, my heart is continuously in prayer to the Father, since it is in a sense an extension of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Jone, since your roots are Presbyterian, I am going to recommend some people that are more specific. All were Presbyterian ministers before finding their way into the Catholic Church. Of this list only two are cradle Catholics. Here are some links that may facilitate part of your search: As a cradle Catholic I have to admit I completely understand where your concern for being engaged comes from.
I think that for years we as Catholics have been too comfortable with believing what we believe but not searching for why we believe it. In our comfort we have lost some of our youth. Shame on US for now doing a better job at staying connected with our youth! I have to say youth is a huge passion of mine and not just in the go to class on Wednesday night and memorize what we believe. But rather, come to class on Wednesday night and question what we believe! It is our God given responsibility to reach out to others in any way that we can. Please know that there are some parishes that do a much better job at reaching out to youth than others.
Prayers for you on your journey! Protestants are more defensive, more evangelical and more likely to read the Bible for themselves whether or not they get the meaning correct…. You must not have met my group of friends! He has some great things on being joyful and spreading the Gospel as a joyful people. First of all, can I hug you through the computer for not speaking Catholic-ese?? There is always something going on for everyone in the family. There are a lot of councils, and regular milestones with catechism that will be taking place for all of the children. I went the same process a few years ago when I was in the hospital, watched EWTN, and actually liked it.
This got my curiosity going and I spent a couple of years trying to understand and evaluate Catholicism. I will summarize some of my thoughts here. For example, while I do not.. Similar for other Catholic stuff like Mary, purgatory, etc. My big issue with Catholicism are the implicit and explicit claims of superiority. This stems in my opinion from the Catholic claim to be exclusively the Church of Jesus Christ, which means that everybody else is of some lesser status. If you read their literature the claim is that Protestantism is heresy while Orthodoxy is schism.
Their claim to be exclusively the church of Jesus Christ appears to be based on lineage, the unbroken chain of popes from St. Peter to the present. If these claims are in fact true, then everything else I may or may not have issues with can logically follow. However as I thought about them I was troubled. And if he did so, how would we know which one. Note that this question is not the same as 1 Did God found one church yes. I also noted that the claim of exclusivity did not pass the smell test. Instead I get the sense we are all about equally messed up.. Finally I read that to be a Catholic you have to believe all that the Catholic Church teaches.
I could not honestly answer question 1 in the positive. And even if I could I would then be stuck on 2. Really enjoyed reading this. I also have trouble with the Catholic church claim of superiority. In practical terms, it boils down to this for me: He is married to a catholic woman who also is a devoted Christian , yet her catholic church judges my son to be unworthy of receiving communion.
That judgmental practice really, really bothers me! I can see how that would bother you, Julie! I hope you will check back! I can see this is troublesome to you. In 1st Corinthians starts at If you had, in your possession, the most treasured and valuable jewel in the world, the only people you would let hold it would be those who understood the value and cared for it as you did. That is how the Church views the Eucharist. We believe that we are literally consuming Christ, and that is the most holy thing we can possibly do. The other facet is that by receiving Christ in the Eucharist, we Catholics are affirming the fact that we are in unity in communion with the Catholic Church.
I hope this helps clarify it a little bit. Many prayers for you and your son, and his family! Thanks for the post! Just wanted to let you know that, as promised, my post on the Eucharist is finished. I hope it sheds some light on the issue. I purposely put a section on this issue in it, along with a few additional resources that will hopefully help. You can find it here: If, at the end of this series, Catholic teaching seems to be most correct, I may end up there.
And the purpose of this Catholic myths post in particular is to remove a few myths so that people can open their minds enough to be able to even address the issues without an unfair bias towards the Catholic church if that makes sense. You may liken praying through the Saints like me asking you to pray for me to help me quit smoking. We must always remember one thing about prayer, it is not a Christmas list. My husband and I converted to Catholicism in I also grew up in the Bible Belt. I had heard all and believed some of these.
I am rarely offended when someone accuses the Church of some of these things except 9 because I have been on the other side. I just wanted to share something that had a huge impact on me when I was on a similar path of inquiry. I started asking what a church designed to be centered on Christ and fully unified would look like, and I began testing the various Christian doctrines against this idea. It was very fruitful and shed a lot of light on what the Catholic Church teaches. I would encourage you to keep this prayer of Jesus in mind as you seek what is true.
Different rites actually are not divisions in the Church, but merely different liturgical forms within Her. All the rites that are Catholic are in full union with each other and profess all the same dogma and doctrines. It is no more or less Catholic than any of the other rites. I was just surprised to see that there are a ton of differences still.
I thought they were more unified than they are. Now that you mention it, Brittany, I can see how different it may seem. Just imagine another diversification, when the Catholic Church added recently allowed the Anglican Rite to be used, after some reforms to meet the requirements of the Catholic faith and teaching, because whole Anglican congregations joined the Catholic Church. I truly can see through your eyes how this could seem less unified than what it actually is. Maybe one way of thinking of the various Rites in the Church would be like having slight variations in the prayers and gestures, but every one believes in the same doctrines faith and morals, and are all in union with the Bishop of Rome.
If we compare this with Protestantism just in the Sacrament of Baptism, we see a great variety of belief in what it does and does not. Infant or adult, etc. Some churches do it every week, while others once a month, others once a year and some never. Yet to another segment it is nothing but more than a reenactment of the Supper.