Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 42 replies, 43 voices, and was last updated 18 years ago by
.
- Posts
What Catholics have you been speaking to? And what have you been speaking to them about? I am Catholic and have been all of my life. I have never been taught to worship Mary– that is for God and Jesus alone. But I have been taught to honor her because of the very special part she played in bringing about our salvation. If God could choose her out of all of the women on earth to bear Jesus, the Word made flesh, that is worth acknowledging. It makes just as much sense for me to ask for her prayers as it does for you to ask Deacon Jones to pray for you. If you have any Catholic friends, you should attend a Mass with them. Or call your local diocese– they can help you find a predominately African-American congregation to visit. I suggest an AfAm congregation because it could also help you see that Catholic worship is not the quiet, sterile experience that many people assume it is. If you’re Methodist or Baptist, you’ll recognize the Apostle’s Creed that is recited during Mass.
User Detail :
Name : AM, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, City : Baltimore, State : MD, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,Catholics pray to Mary for the same reason that Evangelicals ask others to pray for them. I ask for your prayers because God expects Christians to share each other’s burdens. Catholics hold to the ancient Christian belief in the ‘communion of the saints’ — which means that living and dead are one body in Christ Jesus. Practicing Catholics pray the following prayer at least once a week during Mass: ‘I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do; and I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.’ Come and see for yourself. Most parishes offer Mass daily as well as on Sunday.
User Detail :
Name : F. K., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 37, City : Kansas City, State : MO, Country : United States, Occupation : Education, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,It’s not that we feel we CAN’T talk to Jesus; it’s just that we want other people in our faith community to pray for us. Many Christians will ask members of their church to pray for them when they are having a hard time. The only difference in asking Mary and the saints to intercede for us is that they are no longer here on Earth. But since we believe them to be in Heaven and with God we still consider them to be part of the Church and so we ask them to pray for us when we are having a hard time and feel we need all the help we can get. Incidentally, I do pray to Jesus (or rather God; I prefer not to differentiate between the persons of the Trinity) more than I do to Mary.
User Detail :
Name : Mary-D, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Religion : Catholic, Age : 24, City : Aberdeen, State : SD, Country : United States, Occupation : teacher/grad student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,The bible states in 1StTimothy 2:5, ‘For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.’ Also, the first church was penticostal because Mary was in the upper room on the day of Penticost and spoke in tongues, Acts I 13-14 and Acts 2:1-4.
User Detail :
Name : Dominic Daddato, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 63, City : Post Falls, State : ID, Country : United States, Occupation : retired, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,The most common misconception is that Mary is worshipped by Catholics. The truth is, when Catholics ‘pray’ to Saints, including Mary, they are actually asking those Saints to pray for them. It is true that Jesus said he was the only mediator between us and God, but he also said, ‘I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father’ (Matthew 18:19). It is true that God is God, and Catholics recognize that saying Mary is anything more than a creature is committing idolatry. Catholics know they should pray directly to God, but nowhere does it say that they cannot talk to Mary and ask her for her prayers as well.
User Detail :
Name : Megan21940, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 17, City : Champaign, State : IL, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class,Catholics began praying to Mary at the end of the 4th century. St. Augustine declared that she was without sin, so Catholics believe it, however the Bible states that Jesus was and is the one person without sin. Catholics pray to statues of Mary and have even removed the 2nd commandment that says ‘Thou shall not have any graven images’ (idols). Catholics then split the 10th commandment and make it 9 and 10. Catholics, get a Bible and read what’s really in there!
User Detail :
Name : Tia24228, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 40, City : Baltimore, State : MA, Country : United States, Occupation : educator, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class,The main point of your question highlights the contradiction between the Bible and the Catholic church. Many of the responses sound more like preaching than giving a proper perspective on Catholic beliefs. Some answers are very good though. Basically, the Roman Catholic religion places Church Dogma above the Bible as Scripture. That is to say that the Church Officials, History, Traditions and Doctrines generally carry greater Authority than various Bible Translations. That is the primary reason for the Protestant Reformation occurring, particularly in the context of Luther and Gutenburg in Germany. The general publication of the Bible led to the realization of contradictions between established Church doctrine and the Bible. As to why the Catholics venerated Mary in the first place, I imagine there is a specific date in early Church history when a Pope issued a Papal Bull with this decree. I am unsure of the Pope or the date. There has been speculation (which has some merit) that this was a political move to persuade people of different religious faiths to join the Catholic church as many other religions did worship Mother-Goddesses, such as: Ashtoreth, Ishtar, Astarte and Eastre; from whence we have derived Easter as a fertility rite holiday celebrating the death and rebirth of the sun marked by the Spring Solstice. The name of the Catholic church is significant. It is properly known as the Holy Roman Catholic Church: Holy (consecrated by God), Roman (with its seat of authority in Rome), Catholic (Universal), Church (people of God). Catholic means universal and that is why this church adopts and incorporates the faiths of other religions where it encounters them – this is longstanding Catholic policy throughout the world.
User Detail :
Name : Glenn, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 41, City : Abbotsford, State : NA, Country : Canada, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower class,Mary is merely venerated, honored as close to God, just as the saints are. We do NOT pray TO her. Rather, we pray THROUGH her. We ask her to pray for us. We pray to God directly, but it is comforting to have an advocate who has gone before you. Just as you might have a lawyer appeal to the courts for you, Catholics ask that the saints appeal to God for us. If you are not familiar with Church teaching, it is difficult to understand, but please note that we hold no one above God or equal to Him. The Triune God is the only one we prescribe to.
User Detail :
Name : J24266, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 14, City : Jacksonville, State : FL, Country : United States,Mary is not worshipped, that has been stated already. she is revered and honored, much like you should your own mother. Mary delivered Christ, which would be the greatest honor God could have bestowed upon her. he is holy because he bore Christ and raised him. she nursed him when he was a small child and loved him. that is why she is considered holy. she is not equal to God. Catholics pray to Mary, especially during child birth, and the saints for guidance and to help us to live the God would want us to. Statues and carvings are not idols. until the reformation and the enlighenment era, the genreal populus could not read, so the images were created to depict a story, much like in a childs story book.
User Detail :
Name : Kimberly, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 29, City : Knoxville, State : TN, Country : United States, Social class : Middle class,Catholics do not pray to Mary. Go attend a Catholic mass. We pray to God and to Jesus. All throughout the over 65 minutes. The Hail Mary is not said in the mass. Now, as for the Hail Mary prayer, I suppose some Catholics believe that since Mary is a saint and the mother of Jesus we should ask her to ‘pray for us’, that is what the Hail Mary is, asking MAry to pray for us siners. Kind of like when you are sick and ask your friends to pray for you? You are asking them to pray to God to heal you. We suppose if Mary prays for us that it is extra good, I dunno. My eyes are on Jesus. Always have been. I am a devout Catholic. It does make me uncomfortable when I see a Catholic school’s office with statues and portraits of Mary but not one of Jesus. I want to smack them and tell them to stop being so pagan…
User Detail :
Name : Suzanne Root, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 41, City : Vista, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : stay at home mom, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Think of it this way. Have you ever asked someone to pray for you? Well that is basically the same thing as when Catholics pray to Mary. We are asking her to pray for us which in turns means that she is praying to God for us. And if you rarely here Catholics speak of Jesus then you must not be talking to many Catholics. We do not worship Mary we ‘adore’ her which means admire, look up to, love her. Shouldn’t we love the woman that gave birth to Jesus?
User Detail :
Name : Michael M., City : Fargo, State : ND, Country : United States,Catholics do not pray TO Mary, we merely ask Mary to pray FOR us. Just like I would ask any random person to pray for me and I know Christians in general do that. If you look at the Hail Mary, for instance, ‘Hail Mary full of grace the lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.’ (All directly from the Bible) ‘Holy Mary Mopther of God’ (stating the belief of Christians) ‘PRAY FOR US SINNERS, NOW AND AT THE HOUR OF OUR DEATH. Amen’ So as you can see, we do not pray to Mary, or any of the the Saints for that matter, as a devine being, we only ask for them to pray for us to God.
User Detail :
Name : Megan19969, City : Pullman, State : WA, Country : United States,I am Catholic and I do pray the ‘Hail Mary’ sometimes. Praying the rosary is essentially meditating. It is acceptable to pray to saints and the Virgin Mary but no Catholic would argue that Mary is a Goddess. There are many misconceptions about Catholism and the role of saints and Mary. I appreciate that most protestants do not take the time to truly undersatand Catholic view because it is not the way they were raised. Still, Mary is the earthly mother of Christ and thus is glorified. Remember, EVERY Christian faith is born of Catholism so it would be to your advantage to educate yourself about where your version of Christianity comes from. Mary is sacred as the mother of God, and a holy example for all Christians; that’s where it ends.
User Detail :
Name : Meghan, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 26, City : Portland, State : OR, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.