Nunsense!

This month’s article deals with a subject that’s been on my mind and been bugging me for quite some time. I hear many in Protestant circles speak very ill of the Roman Catholic Church, and have even heard some speak of them in such a hostile and slanderous manner that one would think they were talking of Satanists or terrorists! What is worse is that the vast majority of claims made against Catholicism are not even true! Therefore, this month I’m addressing a number of misconceptions and flat-out lies people believe about Catholicism. I myself am not at all Catholic, and I do disagree with much of their theology and doctrine as at the least extra-biblical. Nevertheless, this does not justify such hostility.

1: Mary Is To Be Worshipped and Is Equal to Christ in Redemptive Authority

One of the biggest issues Evangelicals have with Catholicism is the worship of Mary and equating her with God, praying to her (along with other saints). The truth is Catholics do not deify or adore her in a worshipful manner, but simply honour her. Without Mary, there is no Incarnation, and therefore no Redeemer! It was Mary in whom God entrusted the care of His only Son, to bear Him, care for Him, suffer watching His crucifixion, and receive the deepest joy after His resurrection—arguably the greatest honour a created being could be granted; if God saw fit to so honour her, is it so horrible that we might honour her as well?

Catholics actually do not believe Mary has the same redemptive power as Christ when they use the title ‘Co-redeemer’ in reference to her. In Latin the prefix ‘co-ʼ means ‘with’; this means we are simply with Christ in His free gift of redemption, not that Christ’s suffering was not enough nor that our own actions improve His. Mary’s role in the process of redemption is not made out to be at all more important than that of any of us; she is given the title because she experienced the Passion of Christ in all its agony in such a deep way through the pain of His birth into this world up to the anguish of His death—a unique marriage of free will and divine will similar that of Christ ("Father, if it is Your Will, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless, not My Will but Yours be done.” [Luke 22:42, NKJV]). This marriage of wills also explains what Paul is speaking of in Colossians 1:24 where he says, “I complete in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His Body, which is the Church.”
Catholics also do not pray to Mary (or any others among the saints)—certainly not in the same sense one would pray to God. They don’t say, “Mary Mother of God, we pray to you, now and at the hour of our death...,” but rather say, “Mary Mother of God, PRAY FOR US SINNERS, now and at the hour of our death...” It is simply a request for intercession not unlike when we ask a friend or pastor to pray for us; the only difference is now we are asking for prayer from those who are already in God’s heavenly kingdom, so much closer to Christ Himself, thus their prayer has a deeper intimacy. (I wrote a brief article on this particular subject previously, 'Saints Alive!', if you want to check it out)

2: Historically, Catholicism Is Violent and Protestantism Is Peaceful

The Roman Catholic Church gets a lot of condemnation because of some of the more violent periods of its history, particularly regarding the crusades. It is indeed and most unfortunately true that bloodshed is interwoven with its history, but anyone who thinks Roman Catholicism is unique in this regard is only fooling themselves. The few hundred years following the Protestant Reformation were some of the bloodiest the world has seen, filled with religious upheaval and fervour turned political...and deadly. Whole wars were fought between Protestants and Catholics simply because of differences in theology, many of which were instigated by Protestants. In fact, the famous “witch-hunts” were the work of Protestants in the Americas, and was never really a practice of Catholics in Europe. No one's past is perfect, and it is ridiculous to blame one another over such things, especially when there is plenty of blood on the hands of both sides. In all actuality, modern Catholicism is known for care and compassion; many of the most successful hospitals, charities, and missions are the result of the Catholic Church.

3: The Pope Is God

Those who say that Catholics worship the Pope as God simply haven't done their research. To say that Catholics worship him would be just as ridiculous as someone saying people in the Assemblies of God worship their superintendent. The Pope is a fallible man who happens to hold the highest position in the Roman Catholic Church. When Catholics talk of infallibility on his part, it simply means that they believe the Holy Spirit to be inspiring him in much the same way the words of someone like St. Paul or any of the 'authors' of the Bible are infallible as they are ultimately the inspired Word of God merely spoken through men.

4: Catholics Hate the Bible (At Least In English)

Another popular idea is that the Catholic Church claimed the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible to be sacred and any other Bible as evil in order to secretly control the Christian world. It is true there were some circles in the Church at times who may have used the foreign language to twist scripture for their own purposes, but there was no grand scheme passed on from pope to pope to withhold the Word of God from the people. In fact, the Latin word 'vulgate' means 'vulgar' or 'common' in regards to language, so the Vulgate translation literally means the common language translation; this is because at the time when St. Jerome translated it, Latin was the common language of the world.

During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church did suppress or at least heavily critique new translations of the Bible, but this was a good thing. Without editing and suppressing many of these new translations, horrible errors would have been allowed to spread, which would result in the twisting and misinterpretation of scripture. I've seen some such Bibles that managed to survive this time-period such as the “Wicked Bible” in which 'not' was omitted from one of the Ten Commandments which then became “Thou shalt commit adultery.” The modern Catholic Mass is full of scripture (in English) as the liturgy consists of readings and lessons from both Old and New Testaments, and Catholics are strongly urged to study the Bible on their own at home as well. As I said before, even if there are serious problems in the past, it is not fair to continually condemn them when such problems have long since been fixed.

5: Catholics Can Sin All They Like As Long As They Go To Confession

A lot of people seem to think that Catholics need only go to confession, say a gazillion Hail Marys, and they're good to go, whether they're really penitent or not; this claim is often used to lead up to an accusation that Catholicism is “works-based,” meaning salvation is gained not from Christ's sacrifice, but by our own actions. Nothing could be further from the truth. Scripture tells us it is good to confess our sins to each other as this provides accountability and brings sin out of the darkness where it thrives, and into the light. A priest can council and prescribe various forms of penance (such as a Hail Mary) as a form of spiritual 'exercise'; the act itself does not provide grace or make you any more holy, otherwise even the most unrepentant sinner could simply follow a sort of magic formula and have a clean slate without ever touching grace. The sacraments (in confession and in general) in and of themselves are not meant to make people holy, but the true spirit and intent behind them are seen by God, and any Catholic will tell you it is He who ultimately knows the hearts and intents of men and who makes them pure.

6: All Non-Catholics Are Lost

Once again, any basis for this claim about Catholicism has to come from hundreds of years ago. Perhaps there are a few individual groups out there who may say only Roman Catholics are saved, but the official Vatican position is that salvation does indeed exist outside Roman Catholicism, though not outside Christ.

7: Catholicism Is Really Satanism In Disguise

That's right: they read the Bible, promote the sanctity of life, encourage and demonstrate selfless acts of compassion because the seek to serve Satan. There a number of downright erroneous (and rather laughable) cases that Roman Catholicism is linked with ancient sun-worship, goddess-worship, Satan-worship, etc. and that all Roman symbology has hidden occult references. There has never been a substantial case of this sort, as they all rely on very poor (if any) research , twisting of Catholic doctrine from its actual meaning, and some pretty heavy leaps in logic (leaps that could be used to try to make essentially any organisation seem occultic).

8: Catholic Priests Have More Sex Offenders Among Their Ranks Than Any Other Group

Not true at all, though such scandals at times might get more publicity. Just about any organisation working with a lot people will have sex-offenders, even esteemed organisations such as the Boy Scouts. One reason why there are so many numbers available on offenders within the Catholic Church could be because the organisation of the Catholic Church as a whole has some of the best documentation and record keeping of itself—even its more embarrassing history. They know that no matter what other groups or organisations may do, they would only be hurting themselves to try to sweep things under the rug. And they're not alone in this problem either. Evangelicals should not need to be reminded of the many scandals they themselves have had to deal with.

True enough, there are a number of things I don't agree with them on.  I don't believe it is right to deny members of the clergy the right to marriage (a rule which finds much of its origins in medieval economics and feudalism rather than the early church).  The idea of transubstantiation (the wine and wafers of the Eucharist (communion) physically becoming the blood and body of Christ), while perhaps not necessarily unbiblical as opposed to simply extrabiblical, does not seem to have a whole lot of solid biblical support.  These, along with some other aspects of Catholicism, are why I personally am not Catholic.  Nevertheless, they are no cause at all to discount their legitimacy as a Christian church, and certainly no excuse for such malicious hostility.

The Roman Catholic Church certainly has some differences in theology and teaching, but essentially all denominations and churches have differences, disagreements, and even contradictions. The Catholic Church shouldn't be written off as degenerate or evil so quickly. Today, the Catholic Church is spending billions on charities, relief projects, hospitals, outreaches, and the betterment of the world around them. Recently, the Pope himself had the humility to give a speech to the world giving a confession on behalf of the Church, apologising for two-thousand years' worth of violence, hypocrisy, and in general failing to be the Christ-like men and women we ought to be. Anymore, it seems the main aim of the Catholic Church is to shine the light of God's hope and compassion to a dark and dying world.

Not to mention they seem to do a pretty good job of connecting with the people to whom it reaches out. Hollywood gets a lot of criticism from the Church, but it's often a good way of determining how our culture sees things, including the Church. It's interesting to note that in films showing a member of the Church making a positive influence on the world, the community, and the people around them, such films very often will feature a Catholic; films such as Going My Way, The Sound of Music, The Patriot, Boys Town, The Assisi Underground, and even grim and gritty Clint Eastwood films like Gran Torino all feature Catholics sincere in their devotion to God and His creation. How do evangelicals fare in Hollywood? With films like The Apostle, Jesus Camp, Saved!, and even the monotone Rev. Lovejoy of The Simpsons, evangelicals seem to be seen at best as often struggling personally. Which church group does modern cultures seem to regard as the most effective?  For a church so often criticised about its ancient past and accused of being too traditional or old-fashioned, they seem to be doing very nicely with the world around them.  With many of its critics drudging up ancient history to make them look bad, I have to wonder who's really still living in the middle-ages.
 

Catholic churches also have the highest percentages of 'liberal Democrats' and homosexuals; in a lot of evangelical churches, I really have to wonder what draw there might possibly be for anyone of a different political party or sexual orientation. Yet the Catholic Church, often criticised for being too old-fashioned and clinging to outdated tradition, has very little trouble getting people off the street and into its buildings, while many evangelical churches, constantly trying new things to change and adapt to modern people, often have trouble filling half their seats.

Needless to say, the Catholic Church is certainly capable of being a valuable ally to other churches in the cause of Christianity, despite some theological differences. We all have much to learn from each other, and we all must learn to communicate Christ and His Love. It would seem the best language for any church is that of love and grace, a language we can speak no matter what church we find ourselves in on Sunday morning.