by Bishop Fulton Sheen
"There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church—which is, of course, quite a different thing. These millions can hardly be blamed for hating Catholics because Catholics “adore statues;” because they “put the Blessed Mother on the same level with God;” because they “say indulgence is a permission to commit sin;” because the Pope “is a Fascist;” because the Church “is the defender of Capitalism.”
If the Church taught or believed any one of these things, it should be hated, but the fact is that the Church does not believe nor teach any one of them. It follows then that the hatred of the millions is directed against error and not against truth. As a matter of fact, if we Catholics believed all of the un truths and lies which were said against the Church, we probably would hate the Church a thousand times more than they do.
If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which the world hates. My reason for doing this would be, that if Christ is in any one of the churches of the world today, He must still be hated as He was when He was on earth in the flesh. If you would find Christ today, then find the Church that does not get along with the world. Look for the Church that is hated by the world, as Christ was hated by the world. Look for the Church which is accused of being behind the times, as Our Lord was accused of being ignorant and never having learned. Look for the Church which men sneer at as socially inferior, as they sneered at Our Lord because He came from Nazareth. Look for the Church which is accused of having a devil, as Our Lord was accused of being possessed by Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils. Look for the Church which the world rejects because it claims it is infallible, as Pilate rejected Christ because he called Himself the Truth.
Look for the Church which amid the confusion of conflicting opinions, its members love as they love Christ, and respect its voice as the very voice of its Founder, and the suspicion will grow, that if the Church is unpopular with the spirit of the world, then it is unworldly, and if it is unworldly, it is other-worldly. Since it is other-worldly, it is infinitely loved and infinitely hated as was Christ Himself. ... the Catholic Church is the only Church existing today which goes back to the time of Christ. History is so very clear on this point, it is curious how many miss its obviousness..."
4 comments:
Here are some common myths about the Catholic Church:
Because Catholics reject the tradition of "sola fide" ("faith alone"), they think they can work their way into Heaven and believe they are saved by works
Catholics think the pope does not sin
Catholics re-crucify Christ at their Masses (or at least think they do)
Catholics think Mary is part of the Godhead and is to be worshipped
Catholics worship statues
Catholics think they can't pray to God directly but have to go through saints
Catholics conjure the dead
Catholics believe people can be saved after they die
The Catholic Church teaches that one who isn't formally a Catholic is damned to Hell
The Crusades are an example of Catholic aggression
The Inquisition(s) killed hundreds of thousands of people and targeted Jews
Pope Pius XII was "Hitler's Pope" and didn't do a thing to help Jews during WWII
The Catholic Church wasn't around until the time of Constantine, a pagan who controlled the Church. The Catholic Church did more than baptize pagan calendar days for the good of Christ, it is pagan in its very roots.
continued
If you believe any of the above myths, I implore you to research. For doctrinal questions, ask the Church what it teaches; it's the only fair thing to do. For historical questions, look at balanced and objective scholarly research from a variety of sources (including Catholic ones).
And as you research, keep in mind the common logical fallacies that are often used in attacks against Catholicism:
Generalization:
"I knew a Catholic/ex-Catholic (or I was a Catholic) who was (mean, a drunk, not holy, didn't like the Church, was superstitious, didn't know the Bible, didn't have a deep relationship with Jesus, etc.), so therefore, the teachings of the Catholic Church are wrong." (Ignores the fact that bad catechesis, miunderstandings, or other shortcomings of a few Catholics do not reflect on what the Catholic Church teaches)
Bifurcation:
"If the Catholic Church doesn't teach that it's faith alone that saves, then it must teach that men are saved by their own works." (Ignores that we teach that we are saved by Grace alone -- a Grace with which we must cooperate through "faith that works in love")
Cum hoc ergo propter hoc:
"Winter Solstice is on 21 December; Christmas is 25 December. Therefore, Christmas is a pagan holiday. (Ignores that fact that there are only 365 days to choose from in a year and that the early Church Fathers had good reasons to choose the date they did. It also ignores that Protestants' "Reformation Day" is celebrated on 31 October, the pagan festival of Samhain.)
Post hoc ergo propter hoc:
"Constantine must have been the real source of the Catholic Church's teachings because after his reign the Church grew tremendously, and before his reign it wasn't as well-known" (Ignores the simple fact that Constantine merely stopped the persecution of Christians with the Edict of Milan and allowed Christianity to spread. It also ignores the writings of the Church Fathers who lived before Constantine -- and who were Catholic.)
Straw man:
"You guys worship statues, and that's evil. Therefore, your religion is Satanic." (Ignores that fact that we don't worship statues)
The ones who do truly hate Catholics are blinded by hundreds of years of propaganda against Catholics. They've been taught that Catholics are not real Christians, yet Catholics are the first Christians.
They've been taught we added books to the Bible, yet those books were there when the Bible was first put together. They've been taught that Catholics believe in salvation through works, yet we believe what the Bible says, which is, we are saved by grace.
It is grace that gives us faith, and it is faith working through love that we do works. They've also been taught that we worship Mary and the Saints, yet all we do is ask them to pray for us.
It's no different than asking the members of your church to pray for you. The Bible calls the saints a "cloud of witnesses," because they are witnessing our lives, they can hear our intentions.
The Bible also says that the fervent prayers of the righteous are better heard by God. Why wouldn't you want the just made perfect to pray for you?
Non-Catholic Christians are hypersensitive about the fact that historically the Catholic Church is the first authentic Christian church and Catholicism is the original version of Christianity which reigned for several centuries before other denominations formed.
It's a kind of sibling rivalry, I think, based in jealousy and fermented in centuries of negative brainwashing against Catholicism.
Catholicism does have an old history of corruption, but other Christian faiths are worthy of criticism as well.
Post a Comment