St. Paul famously describes the Catholic Church this way:
A man’s body is all one, though it has a number of different organs; and all this multitude of organs goes to make up one body; so it is with Christ. We too, all of us, have been baptized into a single body by the power of a single Spirit, Jews and Greeks, slaves and free men alike; we have all been given drink at a single source, the one Spirit. (1 Corinthians:12-13)
When I started to explore the Catholic Church well into middle age, I knew next to nothing about it. My entire impression of it had been formed by casual conversation with believers and non-believers, and what I had garnered from mainstream media.
After digging deeply into the subject for myself, I discovered virtually all of my impressions were wrong — not only a little wrong, but completely wrong. Here are my seven major errors:
- Catholicism is superstition. Completely wrong. Catholicism is rooted in reason and has an unshakably solid theology and philosophy.
- Catholicism is anti-science. Completely wrong. Catholicism teaches that its theology and science can never be in conflict. Catholicism was the driving force behind scientific inquiry for centuries, and continues to be at the leading, not trailing, edge of it. Furthermore, Catholicism elevates scientific inquiry by stressing the importance of moral scientific inquiry.
- The pope is all-powerful. Incorrect. It is true that Catholics must be obedient to the pope, but there are limitations. The pope can speak infallibly, but only under very restrictive conditions.
- Catholicism is a refuge for those who are afraid to think for themselves. Completely wrong. Catholic teachings are hard — so hard that those who live by those teachings most fully can expect to be despised, persecuted, and killed. It could be said that the more Catholic you are, the more courageous you are.
- Catholics hate Jews. Not true. The Bible blames all people, not just Jews, for the necessity of Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross. It is true that at times in history Catholics have persecuted Jews, but any such acts were and are in complete opposition to Church teaching. In our day, Catholics are called to embrace and respect Jews as fellow worshipers of the God of Abraham, and as the Chosen People of God, remembering that Christ Himself was a Jew, as well as (of course) Mary, Joseph, and all of the Apostles.
- Catholics hate sinners. Completely wrong. Catholics hate sin and love sinners, and are called emphatically and without compromise to do both. All people are welcome to the faith with open arms because all people are sinners, and consequently, all of us, as Chesterton put it, need to get rid of our sins. This is a HIGHLY problematic point of view in today’s culture, because many people are unwilling to acknowledge either their own sins or the very existence of sin; thus, they cannot separate the attitude of hating sin from that of hating the sinner. This makes it very difficult indeed to have any rational discussion of the morality of a given thought or action — a frustrating problem not only for Catholics!
- The Catholic Church is a corrupt organization. Not true. The Church, like Christ Himself, has a Divine nature and a human nature. It is obviously true that humans in the Church have committed terrible sins; this has always been true and probably always will be true. Nevertheless, the Church has sustained itself for more than 2,000 years in spite of the presence of these terrible sins, something no fully human organization could possibly do. The Church’s survival is due to its incorruptible Divine nature, which is infinitely stronger than human sin.
Prayer (UCCB Prayer of Solidarity)
Almighty and ever-living God,
empower your one human family to join hands
on our journey of faith.
Send us your spirit of hope,
so that we may work
to alleviate human suffering
and foster charity and justice
in our world.
Amen.
