Catholicism

[blondewithbrains]

I was at lunch with my new coworkers and the subject of religion came up. Someone said they had a lot of questions about the Catholic church and I opened my mouth (never volunteer information LOL) and stated that I was a lapsed Catholic and had gone through 12 years of religious school. Well, of course that answered the floodgates of the questions and I felt like I was taking a pop Theology exam on all 12 years of schooling without the chance to study first.
The questions I remember most were:
1) What is the big deal about the Pope?
2) Why do Catholics say "Hail Mary"?
3) Why do Catholics confess their sins to priests?
4) Is it a sin in the Catholic church to believe in ghosts (you know, the question of ghosts came up a few times when I was in parochial school and none of our teachers ever told us it was a sin to believe in them or discuss them....is it?)
5) What are saints?
6) Is the rosary just a necklace that identifies Catholics as being Catholic?
7) What are miracles?

 

[Maleficent13]

Wow...the majority of these questions I would have thought were common knowledge. Shows what I know about it!

 

[blondewithbrains]

I thought they were, too....I thought the rosary question was hilarious.
The hard part was that I could recite the answer a priest would give/what Catholics are taught word for word but trying to put it into words that a Protestant would understand was a lot harder.

 

[In a hurry]

Oh, Oh! I have a question. Just was wondering this morning...What is a Pagan Baby, and why did they cost $5?

 

[salmoneous]

Let's see

1) He's got a cool car. You don't see Bob going to work in the Bob-mobile, or Larry in the Larry-mobile do you?

2) I forget the exact details, but it has something to do with Doug Flutie

3) The Bible teaches that confession is important for forgivness, and Priests are trained to hear confession

4) Considering that a primary tenant of the Church is commication with the spriits of dead people, I'd be surprised if they have a problem with people believing in ghosts.

5) A professional football team that plays (played?) in New Orleans

6) No

7) Smokey Robinson's backup singers

Hope this has been helpful,
Sal

 

[blondewithbrains]

I don't know what the Pagan Baby thing is talking about but I do know that I had to explain Limbo/Purgatory as well.
Salmoneous, those would have probably been a lot funnier answers than the ones I gave.

 

[kdibattista]

Let's see

1) He's got a cool car. You don't see Bob going to work in the Bob-mobile, or Larry in the Larry-mobile do you?

2) I forget the exact details, but it has something to do with Doug Flutie

3) The Bible teaches that confession is important for forgivness, and Priests are trained to hear confession

4) Considering that a primary tenant of the Church is commication with the spriits of dead people, I'd be surprised if they have a problem with people believing in ghosts.

5) A professional football team that plays (played?) in New Orleans

6) No

7) Smokey Robinson's backup singers

Hope this has been helpful,
Sal

 

[In a hurry]

I don't know what the Pagan Baby thing is talking about but I do know that I had to explain Limbo/Purgatory as well.

Fair enough...I remember my little girlfriends saving to buy them...they seemed a bit confused about it... The general consenus ws that $5 for a baby was a pretty good deal.

 

[Laura]

1) What is the big deal about the Pope?
He is the leader of the Church, the Vicar of Christ, the successor of St. Peter. He really wouldn't be a big deal to non-Catholics.

2) Why do Catholics say "Hail Mary"?
Much in the way Catholics pray to any saint. Mary is special, of course.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07110b.htm

3) Why do Catholics confess their sins to priests?
It is the act of a sacrament, reconciliation. For forgiveness of sins. One should be cleansed of sin to receive communion, for example.
http://www.catholic.com/library/Confession.asp

4) Is it a sin in the Catholic church to believe in ghosts (you know, the question of ghosts came up a few times when I was in parochial school and none of our teachers ever told us it was a sin to believe in them or discuss them....is it?)

What about ghosts? Does the Church believe in ghosts? If you're thinking about creatures with sheets over their heads, of course not. If you're asking whether spiritual souls live on after the body dies, though, the answer is a definite yes.

http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/YU/ay1001.asp

5) What are saints?
Saints are special people whose lives, after death, are examined through a process before they are proclaimed a saint. Miracles are required for certain steps.
http://catholicism.about.com/cs/saints/a/becomesaint04.htm

6) Is the rosary just a necklace that identifies Catholics as being Catholic?
No, a rosary is a string of prayers, the "necklace" is just to help keep track.
http://catholicism.about.com/od/rosary/

7) What are miracles?
Well, apart from the obvious, this should explain:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10338a.htm

 

[MarySB]

Thank you Laura. My DH is always asking me re Catholicism. Only he tells me everything he thinks is wrong with it and expects me to defend it! So, I don't mind innocent questions from people and hope they learn something from it. It's HARD to be a Catholic in this day and age, especially with the scandals re priests and boys and the fact that the "higher ups" in the Church did not report those priests. It makes me very sad.

 

[blondewithbrains]

Laura, I should probably send the people who asked the questions to those websites...Thanks. I tried to explain the best I could in my own words, but "priestspeak" kept getting mixed in with it.

 

[RadioNate]

I'm always suprised by the lack of Catholics. I've been lapsed for more than 10 years now but growing up I never really knew anyone who wasn't Catholic. I went to public school. It was only after I went to Catholic HS did I meet any non-Catholics but they were mostly Orthodox or protistant denominations like Lutheran or Episcopalian.

Now most of the people I know are non demonational Christian and approach Catholicsm with intrigue and disgust.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

1) What is the big deal about the Pope?
He is the leader of the Church, the Vicar of Christ, the successor of St. Peter. He really wouldn't be a big deal to non-Catholics.

2) Why do Catholics say "Hail Mary"?
Much in the way Catholics pray to any saint. Mary is special, of course.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07110b.htm

3) Why do Catholics confess their sins to priests?
It is the act of a sacrament, reconciliation. For forgiveness of sins. One should be cleansed of sin to receive communion, for example.
http://www.catholic.com/library/Confession.asp

4) Is it a sin in the Catholic church to believe in ghosts (you know, the question of ghosts came up a few times when I was in parochial school and none of our teachers ever told us it was a sin to believe in them or discuss them....is it?)

http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/YU/ay1001.asp

5) What are saints?
Saints are special people whose lives, after death, are examined through a process before they are proclaimed a saint. Miracles are required for certain steps.
http://catholicism.about.com/cs/saints/a/becomesaint04.htm

6) Is the rosary just a necklace that identifies Catholics as being Catholic?
No, a rosary is a string of prayers, the "necklace" is just to help keep track.
http://catholicism.about.com/od/rosary/

7) What are miracles?
Well, apart from the obvious, this should explain:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10338a.htm

WOW, I'm impressed.

 

[CheshireVal]

I don't know where the OP lives, but here in Georgia there really aren't many Catholics. If you can believe the Wikipedia statistic I just found, they make up only 8% of Christians here. I never knew many Catholics growing up, and I still don't. (Except for DH-- not from Georgia-- who is another "lapsed Catholic.) I didn't know much about Catholicism before he explained it to me.

 

[maddhatir]

I used to be a lapsed catholic-- now that i am older (and wiser) i refer to myself as a RECOVERING CATHOLIC!!!

after reading the original posters questions that were asked of her.....now i know why!

 

[blondewithbrains]

I'm from Tampa, Florida.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

My little one goes to Catholic school. To her, the rosary is a great way to avoid going to sleep. How can you argue - "No you can't pray the rosary! Its past your bedtime." Isn't that like the expressway to hell?
And besides, my DGM would be rolling in her grave if I ever said that.

 

[MarySB]

My mother used to say, "Take the Rosary to bed with you. It will help you fall asleep." LOL

 

[Disney Doll]

I was at lunch with my new coworkers and the subject of religion came up. Someone said they had a lot of questions about the Catholic church and I opened my mouth (never volunteer information LOL) and stated that I was a lapsed Catholic and had gone through 12 years of religious school. Well, of course that answered the floodgates of the questions and I felt like I was taking a pop Theology exam on all 12 years of schooling without the chance to study first.
The questions I remember most were:
1) What is the big deal about the Pope?
2) Why do Catholics say "Hail Mary"?
3) Why do Catholics confess their sins to priests?
4) Is it a sin in the Catholic church to believe in ghosts (you know, the question of ghosts came up a few times when I was in parochial school and none of our teachers ever told us it was a sin to believe in them or discuss them....is it?)
5) What are saints?
6) Is the rosary just a necklace that identifies Catholics as being Catholic?
7) What are miracles?

1. The Pope is a big deal because he is the leader of the RC Church, and God's representative here on earth.
2. It's a prayer to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Catholics have a special devotion to Mary
3. To gain absolution. Confession is one of the sacraments. That being said, I am not necessarily in agreement with Confession. I kind of wonder why we need the middleman.
4. I don't believe it is a sin, but I do think the general Catholic "line" on ghosts is that they don't exist. When people die, they go to Heaven, Purgatory or Hell. They don't hang around.
5. Saints are special people within the RC Church, who usually have miracles associated with them.
6. The Rosary is not a piece of jewelry. It is a thing Catholics use to pray. Each of the beads represents a prayer or one of the Mysteries.
7. Miracle sare things that happen that have no "logical" reason to have happened. Many people attribute miracles to intercessions from God, Jesus, Mary or saints.

 

[minniecarousel]

ooohh - reminds me of the "Baltimore Catechism". They were rote answers that we were required to learn - not to understand, just to recite!

Pagan Babies: my siblings and I figure there must be a lot of adults in Third World countries named "Joseph Michael" & "Mareen Marie" etc! (we never questioned that we got to "name" these babies!)