Why do Catholics worship Mary and pray to her, shouldn't you only pray to God or Jesus?
The answer to this question lies in the the fact that we don't "worship" Mary. It is NOT a teaching of the Church that we worship Mary nor even is she as Holy as Jesus or God. In fact the word "worship" is a word we use in relation ONLY to God (the trinity), The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
We, as Catholics honor Mary, we do not worship her. It is a general concept/practice of the Church to show Mary the rightful honor that she deserves as the Mother of God.
Many protestant people assume that when we refer to the Immaculate Conception, that we are talking about Jesus. In reality, it was Mary who was conceived without sin before she gave birth, without sin, to Jesus (Scripture backs up this teaching in many places, and is thus a strong teaching of the Church). In fact, it does make logical sense that Jesus would not be born of a women who had ANY sin about her.
And it is because of Mary's nature (fully human, yet without sin) that the Catholic Church regards our Blessed Mother as worthy of our faith and praise. This is why some Catholics have a strong devotion to Mary as a model for all humans, especially for women and mothers.
It may seem, however, like Catholics place Mary above Jesus and even God sometimes to the outside observer. In actuality, a great many Catholics have a deep devotion to Mary and recognize the divinity given to her by God. In essence, what we Catholics are doing when we pray "to" Mary is that we are not actually praying "to" her as if she were God, but praying "to" her in the sense that she has a special grace with God for us humans to use in delivering our prayer to God.
So, a proper outlook of Mary in the Church would be to say that Catholics pray "through" Mary to God and not say that Catholics pray "to" Mary.
In defense of some Catholics who seem to focus solely on Mary, the following comment may be of some help;
"The Catholic Church is the only church that gives the proper respect to our Blessed Mother, Mary"
- Rev. Billy Graham, a protestant minister.
Why do Catholics pray to statues and other objects?
The short answer is we don't pray TO the statue/object, but rather we pray USING the statue/object.
A good analogy for why the Catholic church has and puts emphasis on so many statues, pictures, relics, and sacramental type items is that they are a way of deepening our faith experience in prayer.
You might relate to this concept with the following example. Let's say you have a picture of your wife and children. You take this picture with you on a long journey where you are away from them for many months. During this time, you take out the picture and look at it for long periods of time or maybe even kiss it in honor / remembrance of your family and the love you have for them.
Is it the picture you love or what it represents?
Good, practicing, informed Catholics will tell you that it is NOT the picture or the statue that we love and honor, but what they represent that we love. We are not placing our faith into objects but into Gods love for his people. We do this in honoring and remembering the love we have for others, the Church and for God.
Why do I need to confess my sins to a Priest? - Why can't I just talk to God and tell him "I'm sorry"? - God forgives my sin, not the Priest, right?
Confession in the Priesthood is an integral part of the Catholic Faith. It is founded absolutely in Scripture as Jesus, on Easter Sunday after he rose from the dead, appeared to his apostles (The First Priests) and gave them the authority to forgive sins - "Who's sins you forgive they are forgiven them".
Likewise, Jesus himself established the Priesthood. He founded the Church on Simon/Peter who was the first Pope. He established the apostles and commanded them to go forth and preach the Good News. Jesus knew that after he was gone that men would have to carry on His work. In the Priesthood, Jesus' divinity could continue to "live on" amongst His people on earth. Priests carry Jesus' Holiness to His people in both their word and deed. Therefore, they are FULLY the representatives of Jesus on earth.
Most all people would admit that at one time or other in their life that they have sinned. And, most all people would admit that sinning separates us from the fullness of God's love - in other words, when we sin we turn our back on God through sinning against His Commandments, His Church and His People.
This separation must be reconciled in some way. Spiritually, it must be reconciled by the sinner truly being sorry for their sin and asking for God's forgiveness. Physically, they must reconcile with the ill effect of that sin and return to union with their brothers and sisters they have sinned against.
Confession and absolution by a Priest is the ONLY true way we have of obtaining that FULL reconciliation with God and His Church. For in sin, we have separated ourselves not only from God, but also from the Church (our brothers and sisters on earth). Therefore, the Church must be part of the reconciliation process. The Priest, as God's personage on earth, offers that which he has been given - God's reconciliation and love in delivering God's absolution in a real way to us on earth.
And, yes,, you should talk directly to God and ask his forgiveness - you ARE most definitely forgiven by God when you are truly sorry for your sin and how it has offended Him.
However, your reconciliation is not complete until you have reconciled with
God's Church (your brothers and sisters) whom you have also sinned
against. All sin, in some way, effects your brothers and sisters on earth.
Only the Priest functioning in the capacity that was given to them by Jesus to
represent both the Church and God in Confession can truly absolve us from our
sins.
Why are there so many Catholic Priests being accused of child abuse?
This is a very hot topic with the Catholic church today. There is no simple answer to why some people abuse children. What we must realize is that Catholic Priests are human beings. Human beings are subject to Sin. There are many people out there who have done many bad things in their past and, fortunately, they have established a relationship with God, repented and have shared in His loving Mercy.
In many instances, we do find that Priests are being accused unjustly, due in part to the stereotype associated with being a celibate man. In those cases where we find that the charges are correct, we as fellow human beings, must seek to do what is right and protect children while also protecting the sanctity of the Priesthood and allowing for repentance.
Let us not forget that there are many men who are able to maintain the vow of celibacy and are TRULY the hands of God on earth. We must seek to raise the Holiness in those men up while constantly being vigilant for the works of evil in all men.
Why can't there be women or married priests?
One of the most important aspects of the Catholic church is that its teachings are supported on three very important legs; The Bible, Tradition and the Magisterium.
The Bible serves to give us instruction on what God expects from us. Much of it is plain instruction about how we live our lives (The Ten Commandments, for example). However, there is much that needs interpretation, explanation and application for us in our daily lives. This is the role of the Magisterium, the teaching body of the Church. We Catholics rely on the teaching body of the Church to divine what is truly "Of Christ" and what is not in both the Bible and the handed down traditions of our predecessors. Traditions, are the interpreted, common sense ways that we live our faith. In all these things, we establish direction for our faith.
And, in answering this question, it is important to embrace these tenants of the Catholic church in order to understand its teachings.
So, we find that throughout direct the teaching in the Bible, interpretive understanding of the Magesterium and also in our traditions, that the role of Priest in the church is a sacred lineage handed down from the apostles.
All of the apostles were men and all of them put their lives (including their marriage) in the back seat in order to serve the Messiah. We find in the teachings of the Old Testament and Jewish faith that Men, traditionally, are the head of the family, charged with upholding the Faith and keepers of the religious teachings.
While these arguments may be outdated, we must realize that they are taught for a reason. From a common sense perspective, Men's and Women's roles in the family are quite different for good reasons. They are also different in the Church for good reasons. Men are called to be the spiritual leader of the family, women are called to teach and deepen faith in the family. This holds true for their role in the church, men are called to lead the faithful people and women are called to support and deepen the faith of the faithful people.
So, in the Church, as it is in family, it is not the role of women to be leader of the people. This does not mean that they do not have a valuable role in the Church, it simply means that they through scripture, tradition and interpretation, the role of women has never been that of the leader of the Church.
The concept of not marrying comes from the example and devotion to the example of Christ Himself. The tradition of the Apostles taught that it was the role of the man to give himself completely to spreading the Good News. If a Priest were to marry, his loyalty would, by definition, be divided. He is expected to devote himself 100% to his family while still being called to devote himself 100% to God. This is not the intention God had for His apostles. When a man is TRULY called to His service, he is called wholly and completely. For this reason, a man must choose between the Priesthood and service as a husband and father.
What is so special about Communion (Eucharist)? Aren't the wafer and wine just symbols of Christ?
The Catholic Church teaches that through God's gift of the Church and it's Priests, that we are to participate in Holy Communion as it becomes the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer.
We, as Catholics, believe that during the Sacrifice of the Mass, the "substance" of the bread (wafer) and wine actually changes to that of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
We call this process, TRANSUBSTANTIATION also known as REAL PRESENCE. Transubstantiation is predicated upon the distinction between two sorts of change: accidental and substantial. Accidental change occurs when non-essential outward properties are transformed in some fashion. Thus, water can take on the properties of solidity (ice) and gas (steam), all the while remaining chemically the same. A substantial change, on the other hand, produces something else altogether. An example of this is the metabolism of food, which becomes part of our bodies as a result of chemical and biological processes initiated by digestion. In our everyday experience, a change of substance is always accompanied by a corresponding transition of accidents, or properties.
In the Eucharist a substantial change occurs without accidental alteration. Thus, the properties of bread and wine continue after consecration, but their essence and substance cease to exist, replaced by the substance of the true and actual Body and Blood of Christ.
It is this disjunction from the natural laws of physics which causes many to stumble and one of the sharpest dividing points amongst Catholic and Protestant denominations. In fact, many of Jesus' followers left when He brought forth this concept to them, as they viewed it as cannibalism.
The basic objection to the Catholic doctrine of the real presence is NOT that it is against Scripture, but that it is against physical reason. The words of Jesus seem plain enough. “This is my body.” This is my blood.” “Unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you do not have life in you.” “My flesh is real food, my blood is real drink.”
Those who do not believe that he meant the Eucharist He said these things, do have much trouble with this belief/concept. The non-belief, however, pre-supposes that God could or would bring about this supernatural change - even if it was asked for by His people in His Church.
Our Catholic belief was described very well by Pope Paul VI when he said,
"We believe that the Mass which is celebrated by the priest in the person of Christ in virtue of the power he receives in the Sacrament of Order, and which is offered by him in the name of Christ and of the members of his Mystical Body, is indeed the Sacrifice of Calvary sacramentally realized on our altars. We believe that, as the bread and wine consecrated by the Lord at the Last Supper were changed into his Body and Blood which were to be offered for us on the Cross, so likewise are the bread and wine consecrated by the priest changed into the Body and Blood of Christ now enthroned in glory in Heaven. We believe that the mysterious presence of the Lord under the appearance of those things which, as far as our senses are concerned, remain unchanged, is a true, real and substantial presence".