As usual, Chesteron hit the nail on the head; that is me (well was me, I'm at least at a point where I can dream that the Roman religion is true). Over the years I've found myself on the edges of conversations where I know the Catholic point of view was grossly misrepresented or nonfactual things were said about the Catholic faith... I usually didn't speak up unless I felt I had to, and even then it was in a timid sort of way.

I don't have the luxury anymore.

Well, perhaps that was no luxury, perhaps that was a curse. Either way, I am about to start having these conversations regularly (with level-headed Evangelicals, passionate but misguided Evangelicals, and vehement anti-Catholics) and I will be the center of attention and I will have everything and the kitchen sink thrown at me and I will have to give some answers. Nothing like necessity to get one out of a funk.

So I'm coming to you guys to see if you know of any truthful responses to some of these questions I am being asked. Aren't you lucky?? I'm only in the early stages of this and I know I am going to get some real whoppers thrown my way.

Ready for my first question?

And no, this was not a comment from an anti-Catholic...

I don't even know how to start responding to that one. If anyone has read any Catholic teaching on the Papacy you know this isn't true at all. Is there some wording in Catholic teaching somewhere that would give someone a false impression of this idea?

Now that one was funny! Sadly, people like me might be responsible for things like that....I have a gift for sarcasm..sometimes when people say ridiculous things about the Church, I like to play along to see how gullible they are by making up even more outrageously stupid things and seeing if they believe it...

My all time favorite one of these is when I was listening to someone rant about Catholics 'worshiping statues' and I said, with as serious expression as I could muster, that statues of saints aren't just statues, they are actually inhabited by the spirits of the saints they represent and as such they actually are the saint in question (like the paintings in the Harry Potter universe) and that we call this the doctrine of 'trans-sub-statue-ation'

That was in about 1998, and I bet that somewhere out there is a crazed anti-Catholic still ranting about the Catholic doctrine of 'trans-sub-statue-ation'....

Another time a fundamentalist got right in my face and said 'do you really believe that Mary was assumed into heaven?' and I said 'not only do I believe it, but I believe that when she went into heaven she spun in the air and did a pirouette just like a ballerina'


Ah....my gift of sarcasm gets the better of me sometimes...

I didn't know we could only pray thru the pope.
I thought we could only pray thru the priests.
(that is the version I got most often - that we cannot pray directly to God ... )

L.

You are being put in a tough spot if these people expect you to explain any miscellaneous ridiculous assertion about the Catholic Church that they have ever heard or read. What I recommend you do is request documentation, and I don’t mean documentation from Catholic sources since there won’t be any.

Did they get it from a Chick tract? An anti-Catholic web site? Tell them to show you, in print, the source of the assertion. At that point you have something to deal with. Is the writer misunderstanding or traducing what the CCC, or some other official Church document, says? Is the person taking a particularly dark time or event in Church history as a true representation of what the Church believes? Is the assertion quoting an anti-Catholic source as authoritative? Is it just someone’s opinion, with nothing to back it up?

If they don’t have a source that you can check then just say, “That is not true.”

Yep, the simplest answer is the best. Until they can come up with documentation from a reliable source that is what Catholics do, then I wouldn't go further.

Now as far as the Pope being an intercessor, we all are intercessors each time we pray for someone. So when the Pope prays for all the Catholic faithful, then yes he is being an intercessor for all the Catholic faithful. I am hard-pressed to not roll my eyes at this supposed charge against Catholicism.

Definition of intercession - prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of another.

So does that mean that the Pope has to approve of all our prayers? If I'm praying for something he doesn't consider "good", then it doesn't get passed along? Or is it more like a game of Chinese whispers, where he'll pass along anything that gets prayed, you just better hope (don't bother praying) that he hears you right?

I'd ask for more information and let them dig themselves into a hole and hopefully they'll realise how ridiculious their suggestion is.

You know, usually we get beat up over praying to Mary. Nice to know that someone thinks we actually pray to God.

Let me third or fourth the advice that you have to make the accuser come up with support for his claim. All you have to do (and should do) is say, "Catholics do not believe that. Where do you hear it?" You will hear:

a) From Pastor Bob, who read it somewhere.
b) From Pastor Bob, whose aunt used to be Catholic.
c) From Pastor Bob, who used to be Catholic himself.
d) From the speaker's own aunt, who used to be Catholic.
e) From the speaker, who used to be Catholic.
f) Etc.

When you get that response, don't say, "They're lying!" Say, "I'm not sure where they got that, but they really must be remembering wrong."

Sadly, they might not even be remembering wrong. It's entirely possible that some Catholic person taught them that or something like it; those who are supposed to teach the faith sometimes insert piously-intended innovations without even knowing it.

When you've gotten this far, some interlocutors will still insist that they must be right, and that's the point at which you tell them that they're going to have to show you it in writing from a Catholic source.

I like Father's response. "I'm sorry, but I fear you have some inaccurate information. Perhaps you can show me your source for this?"

You can also add if you feel like it: "All the reading I've done of their catechism and documents show clearly the opposite to be true."

Which is true, is it not?
--Ann
PS: It is possible that they are somehow confused about the Communion of Saints (wherein we can ask the intercession of those in heaven, including angels).

I like your own response that I put in bold. Fr. used to have a line in his signature about the Catholic faith being so full that one cannot take it in a teacup.. or something like that. I think answers like that are the best ones to give.

You can engage these people and ask them where they heard that.... and after they answer the way Fr explained because undoubtedly that is how they will answer, you can explain how through your own investigation into the Church, that is not how it is.

You can literally go back and forth with someone about this and unless their mind and heart is opened to actually HEAR what you say, you are going to be wasting your breath.

Since you believe you are about to go into battle on this, my suggestion to you is to wake every day and first thing say the St. Patrick's Prayer. There is no better way to start the day than with a prayer like this one. It is just the armor that you will need.

The Prayer of St. Patrick

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a mulitude.

Christ shield me today
Against wounding
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through the mighty strength
Of the Lord of creation

"Now obviously a man (talking) like that is simply imagining what might exist; it has never occurred to him to go and ask what does exist".

GKC

Yep, ask them where they got that....the burden of proof is on them.

SV

The answer is wasted on those not really interested in the question.

You probably already know about this website, but I think it does a pretty good job of conveying Catholicism in the evangelical vernacular.

http://www.davidmacd.com/catholic/index2.htm

IN the bar section of my entertainment center is a bobblehead of Martin Luther. When I hear such things as Catholics pray to the Pope, I walk over, open the doors to the cabinet,and sharply smack Luther on the head while asking, "Do you see what you started?" He always vigorously nods his head "Yes." You could try such an approach to whomever told you Catholics must pray through the Pope.

No.

Ask the person to back up his claim. If he can't, tell him that you are then not required to answer him. And if he won't back up his claim, maybe even claiming that this is something 'everyone knows,' there's not much more you ca do except tell him he's wrong.

you go girl

Gotta get me one of those!!

BB the only advice I have for you is; DON'T ARGUE WITH PEOPLE WHO USED TO BE CATHOLIC. They are the hardest to be converted because they already know the truth and don't care about it.