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Do Catholics worship and pray to Mary? 

 

This is sadly an incorrect view of how Catholics acknowledge Mary. Worship is strictly for God alone, and since Mary is not apart of the Trinity; she is not allowed to be worshiped. Sometimes it can seem that Catholics worship Mary as there are statues and icons featuring Mary everywhere. However Catholics use these images and statues to remind them of the faith that Mary had towards Jesus. It would be the same reason why you would have a picture of someone you love dearly in your home. You want to remember that person and be inspired by their lives. Another common mistake is the belief that Catholics pray to Mary like they pray to Jesus. We all want to ask our friends and family to pray for us, and Catholics believe that we can ask Mary to pray for us too. 

 

For more information on Mary, please check out the pages on Mary

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Are Catholics Christians? 

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Yes, definitely. To be called a Christian means that you follow and trust in Jesus Christ, and the good news of salvation; and that is certainly what the Catholic Church does. Of course, not all people who were raised Catholic would consider themselves Christians; as many may have fallen away from God, but they may still say that they were raised Catholic. Many evangelical Christians may not regard Catholics as Christians because they may believe that the Catholic Church believes and teaches things that aren't biblical. However, the Catholic Church upholds all the basic Christian doctrines and utilises past church writings to understand the faith more fully.

 

If you want to discover more on Catholics, please check out the pages on the Church

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Why are Catholics going to the priest to get their sins forgiven? Only Christ alone can forgive sins.

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Catholics believe that Jesus instructed His disciples to be able to forgive and retain sins. John 20 is a good place to look for evidence of this. Certainly Jesus forgives our sins, and actually it is Jesus who is forgiving our sins in the confessional. The priest is speaking the words of Christ when he says "I absolve you from your sins". This is called in persona Christi when the priest speaks in the person of Christ. God allows this. He instructed this, and through the Holy Spirit it is possible. Of course we must pray to Jesus directly, and give Him everything on our heart. However the Bible does support Jesus forgiving sins through our Church leaders.

 

To find out more, please visit the page on the Reconciliation and In Persona Christi

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It is said that Catholics do not have an assurance of their salvation, and that they need to do good works to save themselves. Do they preach a false Gospel?

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This belief on assurance of salvation and good works has always been a block between Catholic and non-Catholic Christians. It may come across that Catholics do not have an assurance of their salvation. This is usually because Catholics believe in Purgatory and the fact that God judges us on the good deeds that we do. Catholics should have an assurance that all believers in Christ have been saved, and will be saved; however that is not up to us to decide. Believers in Christ are not saved by works they do by their own strength or without the working of the Holy Spirit. The Catholic Church teaches that works through genuine faith saves us. This is Biblical teaching and the Church has always upheld this teaching. 

 

To find out more on this topic, check out the pages on Grace and Salvation  

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Why is it so important to go to Mass? and why Mass, and not just a church service?

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We've always heard that "Sunday is a day of rest" and it's definitely true. All Christians are asked by God to rest on Sundays and to worship Him. Every Sunday is important as it was the day that Christ resurrected from the dead. Therefore by attending Church on Sunday we are uniting ourselves to the resurrection, and of course doing what the Lord asked us to do, worship Him.

But why Mass? 
The difference between Mass and a normal Christian Sunday service is the Eucharist. Only in the Mass will we receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. I once heard it like this. "If you truly love someone you would make the time and effort to go and see them, especially if they requested to see you. The Mass is no different. We should treat going to Mass like seeing the person we love the most, because Jesus is there. He is longing to see you; and when you do not come to Mass, you're basically saying 'I love you, but I will come and see you when I feel like it, not when you've asked me to.'"

 

To understand more, visit the topic of the Mass

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Do Catholics believe that the bread and wine in Communion are the literal body and blood of Christ?

 

Yes, it is the central teaching of the Catholic Church that the Eucharist (Holy Communion) is the literal Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a difficult teaching for our human brains to comprehend; however, we mustn’t get caught up in putting “transubstantiation” into a worldly outlook. I say this because it’s a divine miracle, that only God can perform through the words of the priest during the Mass. Catholics believe that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, because that’s what Jesus says in the Bible. Jesus doesn’t say, “This is a symbol of my body”, or “Remember my body and blood through this bread and wine”. 

Jesus says: 

 

This is my Body – Matthew 26:26

This is my blood – Matthew 26:27

I am the bread of life – John 6:35

I am the living bread that came from heaven – John 6:51

The bread that I will give you is my flesh – John 6:51

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day – John 6:54

For my flesh is the read food; my blood is the real drink – John 6:55

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Discover more about the beauty of the Real Presence of the Eucharist

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