What are your views on Catholics? -- LiveWire Teen Forums

Okay, here we go:

Catholics and the Bible: It is the stance of the Catholic Church that it predates the Bible and was instrumental in the canon, which in some ways is true and in other ways is entirely specious (if you want me to expand on that, I can). Because the Church created the Bible, the Church is not subject to it as a sole authority (as is the belief of many Protestant churches). Thus, the Bible is entirely true but not the entirety of truth. The tradition of the Church is also normative for Christian living. So, for example, the doctrine of purgatory is not outlined in Scripture, but belief in it became normative for Catholics during the Middle Ages. The immaculate conception is not in Scripture, but it is part of a Mary cult that finds its roots in the fifth century. And so on and so on. If you believe that the Bible is the sole normative authority in ethics and doctrine, you'd make a bad Catholic.

The perpetual virginity of Mary: The aforementioned Mary cult began formally in the fifth century with the Nestorian controversy and the Council of Ephesus. Since then, the Catholic church has elaborated its doctrine of Mary a great deal. Mary was a perpetual virgin, thus making the "brothers and sisters" of Jesus cousins or half-brothers (something for which there is no textual evidence). Mary was immaculately conceived, and therefore did not carry original sin in her when she conceived and bore Christ. Mary was assumed bodily into heaven. And so on and so on. You're going to have to swallow a lot of Mary to be a thoroughgoing Catholic. She plays a larger role in their doctrine and liturgy than most other Christians are used to or comfortable with.

The Apocrypha: When discussing the Hebrew versus early Christian Old Testament canons, one must realize that the concept of a Jewish canon was by no means set during the earliest period of Christianity. The Septuagint included different books depending on what region of the empire it was translated in. The Apocryphal books are given a sort of secondary status in Catholicism, part of a broader group of "deuterocanonical books" which includes both Old and New Testament writings. It's most easily understood as part of the greater Catholic scheme of graded authority. There are the two broad categories of tradition and sacred scripture and under the latter category you have canonical literature and deutero-canonical literature. Protestants rejected the books because their movement was reactionary. They wanted to strip away everything from Catholicism that was extra-biblical. Since the Apocrypha and other deutero-canonical literature was considered sub-canonical, so to speak, it was rejected. In my opinion, the Catholic and Orthodox understanding of deutero-canonical literature as profitable but not independently normative is far superior to the Protestant view.

Questions for your priest [or] issues that many people have going into Catholicism who only have exposure to Protestantism: Some doctrines you may want to ask about are apostolic succession, the papacy, transubstantiation, original sin, the sacraments, penance and absolution, and most importantly ask what the Catholic Church believes about social issues you consider to be important. What do they believe about abortion, birth control, gay marriage, war, divorce, etc.? If it is important to you, you need to know what the Catholic Church believes about it.

Hope that helped.

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"It is the wrong question to ask, and therefore, as one might expect, has
no right answer." - Hans von Campenhausen

This is the philosophy of my life.

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