A bit about Catholicism

This Sunday we discussed the Christian belief system most familiar to us (that's still not our own). Everyone knows someone who's Catholic- but pretty much no one felt like they really understood where the splits in our beliefs fall. Now, keep in mind, this is a pretty basic summary of a very deep and intricate issue- but we had one hour, not 10 years, and so this is as deep as we can go for now.

And obviously, we started at the beginning. The Protestant Reformation, spearheaded by none other than Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. It's important to note that Luther was WITHIN the Catholic church as he made these calls for change; he didn't criticize from a sense of outside superiority, but from a sense of personal responsibility. And his call to change can broken down into 3 categories:

1. Issues with corruption: Not a reason in itself to formally split, these were things that Luther felt were wrong and needed to be called out. At that point, the Catholic church had issues with "buying" positions within the church (Have enough money? Yes you, too, can be a Bishop!), papal children (if someone's promised to not have sex, they probably shouldn't have children younger than their vows of celibacy, right?), buying indulgences (see next point), and general moral negligence.
2. Salvation is through faith in Jesus alone, and it cannot be bought through good works (and certainly not with money): you can't buy a "get out of jail free" card (indulgences) and all the good works and penance in the world don't count more than Jesus' free gift of grace.
3. Scripture should be the only authority when it comes to faith, not "tradition" and not the Pope: Luther had some questions about the idea of papal infallibility, as well as the idea that just because something had "always" been done that it had "always" been done as Jesus intended.

 To keep things interesting, we staged our own "reformation," moving from the center of the room to one side or the other, based on whether we disagreed or agreed with certain statements. I have to say, I loved having you guys moving around as I further explained each statement, deciding for yourselves whether you thought something was a big enough deal to make a formal "split," or whether you felt essentially the same!

Our statements (and explanations) are below:

• Your denomination’s pedigree is important Because they aren't Protestants/Reformers, Catholics trace their church back to Peter, The Rock, and so view their beliefs as consistent with Jesus. This is part of why they have such an emphasis on TRADITION. Protestants might find church history to be incredibly interesting and worth studying, but are typically much more focused on the "where are we right now?" part of the equation.
  
• There can be areas of humanity that are beyond sin and corruption Catholics believe in papal infallibility in teachings on faith and morals, though they separate the Pope's behavior from his teachings. They also believe that papal infallibility stems from the Pope's extensive research and learning before issuing a statement, rather than from divine grace or inspiration. Additionally, they point to Matthew 18:18 ( “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be^[a] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^[b] loosed in heaven."), as evidence that what the Pope says here on earth has a true link to what happens heaven.

• Faith in Jesus isn’t enough to erase all sins at death, though you’ll still arrive at heaven First, we have to start with Catholic teaching on the nature of sins: mortal vs. venial. In the most basic terms, mortal sin is something done wrong with the knowledge that it's wrong and with intention to harm. Venial sin is sin done without those two conditions. For example, gossip/slander would be a mortal sin if you intended to spread a lie about someone to damage their reputation. It would be a venial sin if you idly passed along a story that you didn't verify and it caused a rift between people. Obviously, there's a lot of grey area between those two examples, but that's the general idea. Catholics believe that Jesus' death erases all sins that you've confessed and paid penance for, but since venial sins may be done without you recognizing it enough to label it "sin," Catholics believe that purgatory exists to burn off the impurities that exist from those unconfessed sins (since nothing imperfect can exist in heaven, those sins still have to be "atoned"). Thus, Catholics will pray for those souls in purgatory, as well as offer masses in their honor and request that the saints pray for them as well, that they may be made pure and make it to heaven sooner rather than later. Protestants believe that Jesus' death covers ALL sin, and that faith in him, rather than works or prayers of repentance, is enough. It's worthwhile to note that Protestants still encourage righting your wrongs- but we believe Jesus' gift of grace doesn't allow for other obstacles before entrance into Heaven.
• Matters of faith require an intermediary to guide and instruct you Catholics place a strong focus on "professional" rather than lay understanding, believing that those who have studied for years have a better grasp of the issues and theology than the average believer or newbie. Thus, a priest guides confession and the proper penance, saints pray/intercede, there is little focus on individual interpretation of phenomena or messages, and the church doesn't have a big emphasis on individual or unofficial bible study, as scripture is/was considered too important to risk an "uneducated" understanding overriding what those who studied a passage for years had found. Protestants focus greatly on bible studies and individual interpretation, believing that combining the insights of many believers gives us a greater understanding of who God is and what He asks of His people. While Protestants also value role models and great thinkers and theologians (and seminary and pastors, etc.), we tend to see them as aids to our faith rather than 100% necessary bridges to knowing God.
• Intercession is an important part of the body of believers Yay! All of us believe this! FYI, intercession basically means praying on behalf of someone else. Catholics make a special separation on the importance of having the saints in heaven (and particularly Mary, whom they refer to as the Holy Mother) pray on behalf of those both living and dead. Their belief in this importance lies primarily in a) the belief that those given special honor or those who have been nearest to God for the longest have a greater weight/insight in their prayers and b) that those who are in heaven are less distracted in their prayers, and thus may pray unceasingly. Protestants give importance to past Christians on the basis of their ability to model a Christian life, but we don't celebrate many individual saints and don't focus on their abilities in Heaven. We do put a lot of importance on praying for others, even if we don't call it intercession, and you can see it in worship (prayers of the people), in prayer chains, and in announcements (to name a few).
•   Ritual gives meaning, weight, and honor to your actions Catholics have ritual down to an art! During Mass alone, they will use a basin of holy water to remind themselves of their baptism, they cross themselves, they kneel and stand at specific times in order to give honor to God (believing that if you would rise or kneel to a physically present king, you should do the same to the physically present God- even if you can't see Him), they have specialized phrasing and programming so that Catholics all over the world can worship in the same way- and I could go on and on! Protestants also have our rituals, our special services to include believers all over the world in the same type of worship, and our rote prayers, but we definitely don't practice ritual on the same scale as the Catholic church.
• When communion is served, it literally transforms into the body and blood of Christ Transubstantiation is a big word for the wafer and wine becoming literally the body and blood of Christ. Catholics recognize that in terms of appearance, molecular composition, taste, etc. there is no change in the wafer and wine. And official Catholic teachings on this can be really hard for an outsider to understand! The best explanation I came across is that when people get married, they are visually and molecularly the same before and after their vows- but that something essential in their self has changed when they went from being single to married, something important and intangible has changed, much the wafer has changed in important and unobservable ways. Most Protestants (other than some Lutheran synods, for example) believe that communion is done in remembrance of Jesus' body and blood sacrifice and is meant to be a holy, symbolic exchange rather than a physically-altered phenomenon.
• The Greek language “Old Testament” teachings used by the early church are important, even if the Jews didn’t use them While Protestants base authority on Sola Scriptura, rather than including tradition and the pope, it's also important to note that we have a different bible than the Catholic church! The Catholic bible includes a set of books in the Old Testament known as the Apocrypha or the Deuterocanonical books. (Side note: say Deuterocanonical out loud. It's fun. Now that I know it, I wish we could use it more often!) They are books used by the early church, and are written in Greek (as much of the early Christian church growth occurred with Gentiles). Protestants, true to form, reject tradition as a reason to keep using something, and use a bible that does not include books the ancient Jews wouldn't have used.
• Christians need to pray formal prayers, written by officials, because words are important No one doubts that words are important, right? But Catholics place more importance on formal, written prayers and rote prayer than Protestants do; Hail Mary, Our Father, and formal prayers to individual saints are all in heavy rotation for a Catholic believer. Catholics also focus on using set prayers and prayer beads (i.e. the rosary) as a way to focus thoughts and unify believers. Protestants, of course, also say the Lord's Prayer, have written prayers said in unison (like our weekly prayer of confession), and use prayer books- but Catholics are much more likely to use a formal prayer for individual prayers than a Protestant would be. Protestants tend to focus on the belief that God understands our meaning, even if we can't find the words- whereas Catholics believe that finding the words (even if they aren't spontaneously your own) is important for a believer. Note: both Catholics and Protestants believe rote (recited) prayers and free-form prayers are important- but each tradition focuses MORE on one or the other.
• Not attending weekly church is a sin For a practicing Catholic, Sunday Mass is a day of holy obligation (there are a bunch of other days throughout the year, too- you can look them up if you're curious). Protestants don't have days of obligation, and while we strongly recommend having a congregation and coming to church regularly, we don't view corporal (coming together as a group) worship as a requirement. We (perhaps too often) give a lot of leeway for personal circumstances and desires.
•  Only unmarried men can dedicate themselves properly to preaching the word of God This belief comes in two parts: One, Jesus remained unmarried, and therefore those who follow in His footsteps as preachers ought to also remain unmarried. And two, each person is given only so much energy and passion (and time), and a person who is married or has a family will necessarily dedicate energy, passion, and time to them- time that they would have otherwise had free to dedicate to their congregations. And why men? Because Jesus voluntarily chose only men when picking his 12 disciples. Protestants, on the other hand, believe that having a family can add to a pastor's ability to understand his or her congregation (since there are usually families in that congregation!), and we prefer to give our pastor's more license in choosing how to spend their energies and time (you are a pastor AND....). We also tend to believe that Jesus chose men as his 12 disciples based on culture, rather than as a binding statement to his future church, but really, there's a fair amount of difference even within the Protestant churches on the whole female pastor thing.
•  Abortion is a sin that requires lots of emphasis to eradicate Most of the Christian church feels that abortion is a sin (though not everyone), most commonly using Psalm 139:19 (For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb) as evidence that God is involved from conception. And if God "knows" you from conception, that argues that a zygote/fetus/baby has a soul and is a person from conception onwards. The Catholic church, more than any other denomination, has made this an area of special emphasis (see below for more information on the "why?").
•  Birth control is attempting to limit God’s sovereignty in your life, and is therefore also a sin This is one that culturally sets Catholics apart from most Protestants- officially, Catholics can only practice Natural Family Planning as a form of birth control. They believe that children are the natural consequence of sex, and any form of artificial birth control (the pill, condoms, IUDs, etc.) is a step away from giving your life over to God (and giving your whole life to God is one of the underlying beliefs of making Jesus your Lord, no?). So birth control in general is trying to keep God's plan for your life limited to certain areas, indicating a general lack of trust in God's goodness, and abortion in particular adds murder to the list of "Things That Are Not Good." Most Protestants believe that God gave us free will and knowledge as a gift, part of which currently includes the ability to plan our family size and spacing. Additionally, Protestants emphasize that family size and spacing can be planned WITH the input of God, using prayer and discernment to determine God's plan- in much the same way as we would use prayer and discernment to find the career or location God has called us to. It's important to note, though, that Protestants don't all agree on the use of birth control- and some feel that even natural family planning is attempting to limit God's blessing of children.

 Things we didn't get to on Sunday? Criticisms of the Catholic church, as well as reasons why people are drawn to this particular church. You can find a bit more about both below:

Criticisms: 

• Any centralization of power or strong hierarchy makes corruption easy and reduces the ability of individual churches to respond to their communities' needs.
• Corruption of the heart, which can be disguised in a large, hierarchical organization, can make even more heinous and terrible actions possible (if you've read the news in the last 5 years, you probably don't need me to elaborate much on this one).
• Exclusion of women from positions of hierarchical power or teaching is lopsided and even misogynistic
• Wealth used for buildings, artwork, real estate, stock market holdings, etc. could be used to help the poor (the argument against this criticism is that holdings like the Vatican bring in more money than they cost, giving them a positive impact; the counter of that is often the question of whether Jesus would have approved of a church that acts as a business and brings in money by using worldly splendor)
• Use of ritual without some sort of guide can be very exclusionary and alienating to outsiders.
• Policy of excommunication is an implied threat that coerces compliance
• Focus on "professional" interpretation and wording, rather than individual insights and inspiration, doesn't encourage believers to make their faith their own, and catechism/required attendance/parochial schools/home rituals indoctrinate certain beliefs, rather than allowing seekers to come to them with an open heart.
• Official answers are NOT seeker-friendly (the official answers often use terminology coined by Catholic scholars, and tend to talk in a circular fashion rather than giving answers that would be easy for an outsider to understand).
• The importance placed on confession, adherence to ritual, and the doctrine of purgatory can place an emphasis on sin and guilt that makes Catholics feel that they can never please God (How many times have you heard a variation of "I'm Catholic, I KNOW "guilt." ")
  

But really, all of us, in every denomination, have things that could be criticized- and probably even have a fair amount of overlap with the list of common Catholic criticisms. So let's end on a positive note: What makes people join or stay with the Catholic church?

• Knowing you're doing something that has been done by believers throughout the ages gives depth to your faith
• Being part of a large body of Christ gives a sense of community and options for activities and charities that couldn't be done otherwise
• Some people thrive on a sense of knowing what will happen- they like knowing that you could go to any Catholic mass in any town, and they would all be following the same lectionary and have the same traditions and expectations.
• The Catholic church has a number of large charities that it runs, and many people have very positive associations with the good works that they do
•  Mass is a very sensate experience-  and the level physical exertion, visual stimulation, and use of incense is pretty unique to the Catholic church.
• More than most other traditions, Catholic teaching is assured of its "rightness"- if you do this, believe this, avoid this, you'll be right with God. This is obviously a very simplified explanation, but there is something appealing about that sense of certainty.
• It asks something of you- there are expectations that must be followed and there are consequences to violating those standards (your lack of attendance is called a sin, your use of birth control may get you excommunicated). People are more likely to be fully committed when they don't feel like their membership just an empty promise.

So what do you think? Are there additional criticisms or benefits of the Catholic church that I didn't list? I'm sure there are! Feel free to let me know if you think of any!

5 Minutes of God Time:  Salve Regina Gregorian Chant