I've noticed that a lot of Catholics are clueless about Protestantism... why is this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Protestants know about Catholicism because it's part of our history. Catholics don't need to learn about Protestant beliefs in order to learn about their own. Whereas Catholic beliefs are a critical part of explaining the Protestant movement and why Protestants believe as they do.

I also think it's the nature of the religions. Catholics have go-betweens. They don't need to know the ins and outs of their religion, because they have an actual personal authority they can go to. Protestants have a personal relationship with god, no go betweens. Sure, you can talk to your pastor, and he or she can give you guidance, but there's no absolution or anything. It's between you and god.

Ok, Catholic school from K to law school and I have no idea why you think I don't have a personal relationship with God. What the heck are you talking about? What's a go-between?

A priest.

And Protestant churches have ministers and pastors. Same thing.

No, they aren't. Catholic priests can forgive sins. Protestant pastors can't. That's between the person and god.

Also, a priest has the ability to consecrate the Eucharist (transubstantiation).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Protestant here, and I find Catholics ignorant of the life of Jesus. The sermons in our church focus a great deal on Jesus and the life and politics of the Jews. Often they don't even understand how Palm Sunday and Passover are related. Catholics services are all pomp and circumstance with little religious meat.

I'm Catholic and my husband is Evangelical Christian. We have this debate all the time. He expects his church's Sunday service to be practically a Bible study and to feed him information. He brings his Bible and his notebook and takes notes the whole time (when they're not singing, which seems never-ending). He doesn't understand that a Catholic Mass is first and foremost about worshiping God, and the primary focus is not his own religious education. Yes, the priest might use his homily to explain something, but it's 20 mins, not an hour and it's not the whole reason we're there. Mass is not about us, it's about Him.

Just a different way of worshiping.

Fascinating. Thank you for sharing that perspective, I'd not encountered it before but I think it's really helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ex-Catholic here. In my Catholic elementary school (in the 1970s), we were told that others were going to Hell. So I guess we weren't too interested in learning about their beliefs. (which is a problem, I agree.).

Even other Christians (Protestants)?!?

NP here, but yes if you weren't catholic you go to hell or at least purgatory. I was in catholic in the 80s, but I'm Protestant. Catholics at my school were very isolated and self segregating.

This sounds like my Catholic school (here in DC) in the mid 2000s.

Also sound like my catholic school. CT, 1980s

[Anonymous]

I went to all girls catholic school with nuns. Regarding "go-betweens ": isn't this also the purpose of praying to saints? And Mary? I understood Protestantism rejected that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm always surprised by people who jump between faiths. Do you just decide that you don't believe something anymore and pick a new religion that aligns with that? People just seem more cavelier than that - "Oh I was raised Methodist but now I go to my wife's Lutheran church." Well aren't they fundamentally different in enough ways that you can't interchange them?

I don't know about that. For example, I know many active Catholics very well and not a single one professes to believe in transubstantiation or agrees with the church's teachings on homosexuality, the role of women in the church, sex before marriage or birth control. It's not surprising that they'd jump ship to another church with slightly less objectionable positions on these issues.

Are there educated adults who still believe these things are true and correct? I think educated Catholics put up with these teachings of the church for the comfort of familiarity.

I don't believe you know many active lracticing Catholics.

[Anonymous]

http://www.usccb.org/bible/liturgy/index.cfm?refresh=1

You are very unfamiliar with Catholicism and clearly do not know much about it beyond stereotypes and falsehoods.

Are you familiar with the structure of the mass? The fact that is is common knowlege and covered in the Catholic church of the link between Palm Sunday and the Passover (I mean, seriously).

Are you familiar with the liturgical cycle? Of the amount of scripture read during daily and Sunday Mass and feast days?

I think that before you start slamming other faiths, it is best to become informed about the basics of that faith.

Anonymous wrote:

Protestant here, and I find Catholics ignorant of the life of Jesus. The sermons in our church focus a great deal on Jesus and the life and politics of the Jews. Often they don't even understand how Palm Sunday and Passover are related. Catholics services are all pomp and circumstance with little religious meat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm always surprised by people who jump between faiths. Do you just decide that you don't believe something anymore and pick a new religion that aligns with that? People just seem more cavelier than that - "Oh I was raised Methodist but now I go to my wife's Lutheran church." Well aren't they fundamentally different in enough ways that you can't interchange them?

I don't know about that. For example, I know many active Catholics very well and not a single one professes to believe in transubstantiation or agrees with the church's teachings on homosexuality, the role of women in the church, sex before marriage or birth control. It's not surprising that they'd jump ship to another church with slightly less objectionable positions on these issues.

Are there educated adults who still believe these things are true and correct? I think educated Catholics put up with these teachings of the church for the comfort of familiarity.

To answer the OP, I have not encountered this to be true. I went to Catholic school 6-12 in the 90s/00s and was taught in depth about Anglicanism, Martin Luther and the 95 theses and calvinism and puritanism and all those early schisms. We did not get in depth on baptism/evangelicals/episcopalians but that is because at some point all of those are just like different flavors of jolly rancher and christian is christian. I have met very few people identify as 'baptist' or 'methodist.' I know a lot of people that identify as 'christian' and a lot of people that identify as 'catholic.'

To tie that into what I was thinking about the PP I'm responding to. I think its funny because in Catholicism there is a strange dichotomy in that I feel like they are more attached to canon and the specific teachings of the church than other religions which take a more 'personal relationship with god approach' but at the same time we are LESS attached to specific teachings. I never really felt pressure to proselytize to sinners or to impose my beliefs on anyone. My priests and teachers were always willing to talk about homosexuality and women in the church and birth control etc and no one was a real hard ass for any of those things. As long as you believed in the general vibe and progressed through the sacraments you were essentially good. There is a lot of encouragement about questioning the church and teachings and talking through it. The only thing they are SUPER firm on is abortion IMO. Anyway, I wouldn't jump ship to another version of christianity because they seem to take everything even MORE seriously. IE, the actual rules in Catholocism may seem more strict, but the enforcement seems way less strict. I was always told that basically you should be a good person, treat the needy with kindness, do good works, believe in god and not get an abortion.

-AA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm always surprised by people who jump between faiths. Do you just decide that you don't believe something anymore and pick a new religion that aligns with that? People just seem more cavelier than that - "Oh I was raised Methodist but now I go to my wife's Lutheran church." Well aren't they fundamentally different in enough ways that you can't interchange them?

I don't know about that. For example, I know many active Catholics very well and not a single one professes to believe in transubstantiation or agrees with the church's teachings on homosexuality, the role of women in the church, sex before marriage or birth control. It's not surprising that they'd jump ship to another church with slightly less objectionable positions on these issues.

Are there educated adults who still believe these things are true and correct? I think educated Catholics put up with these teachings of the church for the comfort of familiarity.

To answer the OP, I have not encountered this to be true. I went to Catholic school 6-12 in the 90s/00s and was taught in depth about Anglicanism, Martin Luther and the 95 theses and calvinism and puritanism and all those early schisms. We did not get in depth on baptism/evangelicals/episcopalians but that is because at some point all of those are just like different flavors of jolly rancher and christian is christian. I have met very few people identify as 'baptist' or 'methodist.' I know a lot of people that identify as 'christian' and a lot of people that identify as 'catholic.'

To tie that into what I was thinking about the PP I'm responding to. I think its funny because in Catholicism there is a strange dichotomy in that I feel like they are more attached to canon and the specific teachings of the church than other religions which take a more 'personal relationship with god approach' but at the same time we are LESS attached to specific teachings. I never really felt pressure to proselytize to sinners or to impose my beliefs on anyone. My priests and teachers were always willing to talk about homosexuality and women in the church and birth control etc and no one was a real hard ass for any of those things. As long as you believed in the general vibe and progressed through the sacraments you were essentially good. There is a lot of encouragement about questioning the church and teachings and talking through it. The only thing they are SUPER firm on is abortion IMO. Anyway, I wouldn't jump ship to another version of christianity because they seem to take everything even MORE seriously. IE, the actual rules in Catholocism may seem more strict, but the enforcement seems way less strict. I was always told that basically you should be a good person, treat the needy with kindness, do good works, believe in god and not get an abortion.

-AA

And you will always be loved and forgiveness is yours for the asking no matter what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to all girls catholic school with nuns. Regarding "go-betweens ": isn't this also the purpose of praying to saints? And Mary? I understood Protestantism rejected that.

I'm not exactly sure what the PP means by the term "go-between," but the purpose of asking Mary or the saints to pray for you is the same as asking the person in the pew next to you to pray for you.

As Christians, we believe that asking others to "storm heaven" with prayers on behalf of a particular petition will have the effect, we hope, of convincing God to help those we pray for. It doesn't matter whether the friends and relatives we ask to pray for us are here on earth with us or already in heaven, we feel the more prayers, the better.

When we ask Mary, the mother of Jesus, to pray for us, we say, "Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death." In the same way that we ask those close to us to pray for us. I know that both my mother and my mother in law prayed for me and my family every day when they were alive, and I am just as sure that they pray for us in heaven, and I regularly ask them to pray for us and their ggrandchildren.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to all girls catholic school with nuns. Regarding "go-betweens ": isn't this also the purpose of praying to saints? And Mary? I understood Protestantism rejected that.

I'm not exactly sure what the PP means by the term "go-between," but the purpose of asking Mary or the saints to pray for you is the same as asking the person in the pew next to you to pray for you.

As Christians, we believe that asking others to "storm heaven" with prayers on behalf of a particular petition will have the effect, we hope, of convincing God to help those we pray for. It doesn't matter whether the friends and relatives we ask to pray for us are here on earth with us or already in heaven, we feel the more prayers, the better.

When we ask Mary, the mother of Jesus, to pray for us, we say, "Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death." In the same way that we ask those close to us to pray for us. I know that both my mother and my mother in law prayed for me and my family every day when they were alive, and I am just as sure that they pray for us in heaven, and I regularly ask them to pray for us and their ggrandchildren.

Google "intercession of Saints" -- big difference between Catholicism and most Protestant churches. Catholicism tends to have more intermediates (saints, priests) than Protestant churches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Protestant here, and I find Catholics ignorant of the life of Jesus. The sermons in our church focus a great deal on Jesus and the life and politics of the Jews. Often they don't even understand how Palm Sunday and Passover are related. Catholics services are all pomp and circumstance with little religious meat.

I'd say this is a pretty typical protestant response and not surprising in the least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've encountered quite a few Catholics who know absolutely nothing about being Protestant. They didn't have the first idea how it happened or what Protestants (in general) believed. I'm a Protestant, but I certainly know about Catholicism.

What's up with this?

What do you know about Catholicism, OP?

Well, I know about the pope and the Vatican, Mariology, the rosary, Catholics needing to go to confession, etc.

Oh wow! You're an expert then. The few things you mentioned barely scratch the surface.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to all girls catholic school with nuns. Regarding "go-betweens ": isn't this also the purpose of praying to saints? And Mary? I understood Protestantism rejected that.

I'm not exactly sure what the PP means by the term "go-between," but the purpose of asking Mary or the saints to pray for you is the same as asking the person in the pew next to you to pray for you.

As Christians, we believe that asking others to "storm heaven" with prayers on behalf of a particular petition will have the effect, we hope, of convincing God to help those we pray for. It doesn't matter whether the friends and relatives we ask to pray for us are here on earth with us or already in heaven, we feel the more prayers, the better.

When we ask Mary, the mother of Jesus, to pray for us, we say, "Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death." In the same way that we ask those close to us to pray for us. I know that both my mother and my mother in law prayed for me and my family every day when they were alive, and I am just as sure that they pray for us in heaven, and I regularly ask them to pray for us and their ggrandchildren.

Google "intercession of Saints" -- big difference between Catholicism and most Protestant churches. Catholicism tends to have more intermediates (saints, priests) than Protestant churches.

Catholics believe in the Communion of Saints, in simple terms, meaning that we are all the children of God, as one community, whether here on earth or in heaven. Many Protestant churches believe in the same concept: I was at a funeral at an Episcopal church recently and the minister mentioned the concept during the service. He stated that the deceased was now with those who had gone before and would be able to pray for us in heaven.

You can ask your friend across the street to pray for you and you can also ask your friend who has already died to pray for you. You can also ask people who have died a long time ago who lived particularly admirable lives to pray for you. We are all part of the Communion of the saints and we can all pray for each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've encountered quite a few Catholics who know absolutely nothing about being Protestant. They didn't have the first idea how it happened or what Protestants (in general) believed. I'm a Protestant, but I certainly know about Catholicism.

What's up with this?

What do you know about Catholicism, OP?

Well, I know about the pope and the Vatican, Mariology, the rosary, Catholics needing to go to confession, etc.

Oh wow! You're an expert then. The few things you mentioned barely scratch the surface.

It's better than not even knowing that Protestants are Christians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.usccb.org/bible/liturgy/index.cfm?refresh=1

You are very unfamiliar with Catholicism and clearly do not know much about it beyond stereotypes and falsehoods.

Are you familiar with the structure of the mass? The fact that is is common knowlege and covered in the Catholic church of the link between Palm Sunday and the Passover (I mean, seriously).

Are you familiar with the liturgical cycle? Of the amount of scripture read during daily and Sunday Mass and feast days?

I think that before you start slamming other faiths, it is best to become informed about the basics of that faith.

Anonymous wrote:

Protestant here, and I find Catholics ignorant of the life of Jesus. The sermons in our church focus a great deal on Jesus and the life and politics of the Jews. Often they don't even understand how Palm Sunday and Passover are related. Catholics services are all pomp and circumstance with little religious meat.

Agreed. The Passover meal is celebrated at every mass. The majority of Catholics definitely know this. And during Easter particularly Holy Thursday they celebrate with a sedar and washing of feet which were two jewish traditions.