Top five mythconceptions about the Catholic Church

This post I made a while back got me to thinking (again) about how many people out there have some real misunderstandings about the Catholic faith. The Catholic Church is often attacked because people are not fond of her teachings. While it is true the Catholic Church has many teachings that are hard for some people to understand, often times the so called “teachings” are really not reflective of what the Catholic Church actually teaches. I call these “teachings” of the Catholic Church that she actually does not teach “mythconceptions”.

I’ll try to go over here what I see as the top five “mythconceptions” about the Catholic Church and why they are incorrect. I will use the paragraphs from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. If you have more questions after reading this, an excellent online version of the catechism can be found here.

• Catholics worship Mary just like a god.

  I honor my mother, the one who gave me birth. She raised me as her son and told me how to survive in my earthly life. In the same way, my spiritual mother told me what to do to survive in my spiritual life (read John 2:5). She deserves the same honor. We honor her as the Mother of God. We ask her to intercede on our behalf. Arguments for this can be found all over the web. I won’t repeat them here. All I ask is that you don’t accuse me of breaking a commandment when I am not. I don’t worship The Blessed Virgin Mary. I don’t know any who does. I would prefer you not to break a commandment by bearing false witness against me. An excellent paragraph about Mary from the catechism is number 971.

  971 “All generations will call me blessed”: “The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.” The Church rightly honors “the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of ‘Mother of God,’ to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs. . . . This very special devotion . . . differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration.” The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an “epitome of the whole Gospel,” express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.

• Purgatory is a teaching that gives a person a second chance after dying to go to Heaven.

  Fans of the show Lost probably know that one theory about the show is that the plane crash survivors are in Purgatory. I can see it a good analogy. In the show it seems that before one of the survivors dies, they overcome some attachment to whatever is bad in their life. This is true about the real Purgatory as well. Purgatory is not a second chance. Your final designation is already determined when you die so to speak. Purgatory is final cleaning of attachment to sins before entering the presence of God. The best paragraphs from the catechism to explain the Church’s teaching would be 1030-1032.

  1030 All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. 1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire: “As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.” 1032 This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: “Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.” From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead: “Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.”

• The Catholic Church teaches that only Catholics can get into Heaven.

  I recently watched an episode of the Simpsons that showed a Heaven where Catholic and Protestants were separated out into two different heavens. I can’t even conceive of that though. When my Baptist grandmother passed away a few years ago, I mentioned to mother who had just converted to Catholicism that her mother was Catholic now. We were sure she was in Heaven, so so we knew she was in the Church now too. So I guess technically I would say in a way that only Catholic get into Heaven. But it is not the teaching of the Catholic Church that only people who have practiced Catholicism on Earth can get into Heaven. Take my grandmother as a prime example. She was boarder line anti-catholic. But I firmly believe in my heart that I will see her when I get there. The common misunderstanding on this issue comes from the quoted Church fathers that “Outside the Church there is no salvation”. This quote is often misunderstood. Paragraphs 846-848 explain what “outside the Church there is no salvation” means.

  846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body: “Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.” 847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church: “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience – those too may achieve eternal salvation.” 848 “Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.”

• Catholics can confess their sins to some man and think they’ll get into Heaven.

  This is really two misconceptions rolled into one. The first is that Catholics confess their sins to “some man”. The second is that just by saying what our sins are in confession, we will be forgiven. Neither of these are true.

  We do not confess to and receive forgiveness from “some man”. That man in the confessional is a priest who is acting in Christ’s place. Christ left the ministry of forgiving sins to his Apostles. This is explained well in paragraph 1461 of the catechism.

  1461 Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation, bishops who are their successors, and priests, the bishops’ collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry. Indeed bishops and priests, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, have the power to forgive all sins “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

  Without contrition, the absolute sorrow for all your sins the confession is not valid. The person confessing their sins must be truly sorry for his or her sins. It’s not magic. Paragraphs 1451-1453 explain this the best.

  1451 Among the penitent’s acts contrition occupies first place. Contrition is “sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again.” 1452 When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called “perfect” (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible. 1453 The contrition called “imperfect” (or “attrition”) is also a gift of God, a prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is born of the consideration of sin’s ugliness or the fear of eternal damnation and the other penalties threatening the sinner (contrition of fear). Such a stirring of conscience can initiate an interior process which, under the prompting of grace, will be brought to completion by sacramental absolution. By itself however, imperfect contrition cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins, but it disposes one to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance.

• Catholics believe that everything the Pope says is gospel and must believed to get to Heaven

  This stems from a complete misunderstanding of Papal infallibility, which states that the Pope is infallible when teaching on faith or morals under the mantle of his Papal authority. I’ve emphasized two things in that statement “faith and morals” and “Papal authority”. Both of those conditions must be met for the Papal infallibility to in effect. If you ask the Pope what the best football team is, he might get it wrong. In that case, neither conditions are met. Good reading from the Catechism on Papal infallibility would be paragraph 891.

  891 “The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful – who confirms his brethren in the faith he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. . . . The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter’s successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium,” above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine “for belief as being divinely revealed,” and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions “must be adhered to with the obedience of faith.” This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself.

The tragedy here of course is that there are Catholics out there who are poorly catechized. You may find practicing Catholics who believe in any or all of these things. That is unfortunate. But we are all humans and none of us are perfect. I encourage you, the person reading this right now to find out what is really the truth on those things you think you know about the Catholic Church. Don’t assume you neighbor has it right, wether he’s Catholic or not. Don’t assume AP got right, because they often don’t. Find out the truth for yourself!

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said the following.

There are not a hundred people in America who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church— which is, of course, quite a different thing.

My hope is that those millions might dwindle from this post. I know that unfortunately the hundreds will remain the same. Some people just can’t handle the truth. It’s like Our Blessed Lord said when his followers were leaving his side after the taught them about the Eucharist.

61 Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it? 62 But Jesus, knowing in himself, that his disciples murmured at this, said to them: Doth this scandalize you? 63 If then you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 64 It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life. 65 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that would betray him. 66 And he said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father.

Our Lord knew there would be people who could not follow his teachings. It shouldn’t be surprising then that when his bride the Church teaches his teachings, some people will turn and walk away.

Here’s some good resources if you want to learn more about the Catholic Church.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Catholic Answers

Catholic: What do they believe?

Marriage: Take the Mystery Out of the Catholic Ceremony

Also, my preferred online Bible is the Douay-Rheims translation and can be found here. Anytime I have quoted scripture, it has come from this website.

Another good resource is the blog of Jimmy Akin. He covers a range of topics aside from Christian/Catholic apologetics, including pop culture and science geek subjects. On a similar thread, the Catholic podcasts at SQPN are an excellent resource for learning about the Catholic faith. Be sure to check out their professionally produced “That Catholic Show“. It’s got video!

Anyone who has any questions is always free to also shoot me an email. I confess I don’t have all the answers, but I do know how to get them. I will also always cite references that prove it really is what the Church teaches.

Take care and may God bless you!

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