The Joy of Catholic Media

The depth of Catholic understanding of both life and the scriptures is infinite. I thought as a Protestant I knew scriptures. And believe me I did. (Or so I thought in comparison to other Protestants.) My friends, who were always among the most highly educated--you know, with more letters after their names than in them--were always amazed at my knowledge of scripture. I could win ANY bible trivia game and did so on many occasions when I would play my university-student friends (who had WON their own College Bible Bowls.) I had read through the Bible so many times that I literally had worn several Bibles out. I was very proud of this fact--as you can see!

So, when I was studying Catholicism, I was a bit cocky. On my first visit to see a priest I mentioned the Nephilim of Genesis.  ("Oh, Father Ernst--YOU DON'T know about the Nephilim---snicker, snicker--well, let ME a Protestant enlighten you about the mysteries in scripture....") Over the next year of RCIA I was given a big smack right in the pride department. Now don't get me wrong--it wasn't RCIA. They didn't even talk about the Bible at all--these were lay Catholics--hardly what I would call knowledgeable of scripture. Again when the Archbishop came to class and bet us all that no one could answer this question: What was another name in the OT for Mt. Sinai?" I rolled my eyes and whispered sardonically under my breath... "Sheesh, let me know when you have a hard one...." Like Leave it to Beaver's Judy, I stuck my hand in the air and casually through out, "Mt. Horeb" and gave a smug smile at the class.

During RCIA I started reading Catholic writings: St. Augustine, the Catechism, Chesterton, Muggeridge, the Catholic Encyclopedia.... dozens and dozens.

Yikes. Slap, slap.......my pride started to deflate......

In the end, I wept for joy! There is no humiliation so deeply soul-satisfying as knowing you don't know it all!! I found myself surrounded by saints and inspired writings that dwarfed my grandest spiritual thoughts. The Catholic knowledge of Christ and His great mysteries of faith stunned me and sent me reeling. There is something out there-- a mystery--a gorgeous epic of breathtaking glory that begins to unfold and it never ends. The Catholic church is an inexhaustible ocean of new heavenliness to explore.... You think you have reached the end of one thought, one tiny little doctrine or tradition, just to find that it opens a door to an unexplored universe of understanding. Catholic faith is ever expanding, a cosmos of truth that rather than inhibits, unlocks and displays love that literally overwhelms you. At times I have to pull back from the overstimulating phenomenon of it all and take a rest! Our bodies are simply not capable of holding such exquisite, almost painfully exquisite, thoughts for too long. But they are a taste of what we will fully experience when our bodies are perfect.

Would you like a taste of this glory?

Watch or listen to archived programs of Mother Angelica, Father Groschel "Sunday Night Live", The Journey Home, Threshold of Hope, EWTN live, The World Over....

Get a membership to www.realcatholictv.com and watch "The One True Faith" "Basic Training" or anything there--just keep in mind it is for Catholics who have left the church or are not living the faith so Michael Voris can sometimes come across a bit strident.

Listen to EWTN Catholic Radio online: www.EWTN.com

http://www.ewtn.com/audiovideo/index.asp

Read: The Privilege of Being Catholic
           How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization
           Triumph
           Upon This Rock
           Mary, Mother of the Son series

Keep watching and reading till you get it--it takes time --SIX years for me. At first it seems strange, weird, even against God. You will have to jettison any pride you have. These may offend you, hurt you, anger you--but in the end, you will bless me for suggesting them to you.

Catholicism is a taste of heaven, because it brings us to Christ and His kingdom.

"Lest you become as a little child you will in no wise enter the kingdom...." Pray that our Lord will show you the great and glorious mysteries of the Catholic faith. Once you get past the shock that you have been lied to about what Catholics believe and open your heart to humbly receiving the truth...... don't say I didn't warn you..... You are in for an experience you never expected...

Mother's Day at St. James Cathedral

Franz Biebl's Ave Maria

I haven't stopped crying since I became Catholic......

Blessed Mother Mary,
May I spend eternity calling you blessed,
Happy Mother's Day.

Ave Maria-Franz Biebl- Chanticleer

The Joys of the Communion of Saints

Jesus love me this I know.....

As I was talking to Mary and Peter this morning, they told me they loved me too.

You see, Jesus has lavished us with saints in heaven who, through Christ, love us as He loves us.

If you are ever feeling down or unloved or unlovable, just keep this in mind:

The Father loves you,
The Holy Spirit loves you,
The Blessed Lord,  Jesus Christ loves you,

Our Blessed Mother, Mary loves you,
Our Blessed Joseph loves you,
St. Peter loves you,
St. Paul loves you,
St. James loves you,
St. Andrew loves you,
St. John loves you,
St. Matthew loves you,
St. Mary Magdelena loves you,
St. Stephen loves you,

The list goes on forever. Right now, besides a special guardian angel who is sent by God to love and protect you, to serve you and draw you to Him, you have a heavenly host, a saintly throng in heaven who do nothing but pray for you and love you and draw you to Him.

As a Catholic I now understand that I can talk to them, have  relationship with them. They are not dead but more alive than I am--than YOU are!! They are in heaven and are closer to God. They are perfected and we can draw from their strength, their holiness, their faith and their love.

What a MIGHTY God we have to give us a endless fount of family who love us!

The Joys of the Closed Eucharist

My daughters' outcry of injustice against the closed Catholic Eucharist was an echo of my own years ago. The arrogance, the elitist attitude--how DARE the Catholic Church tell me, a saved, baptized, mature Christian that I cannot partake in their Communion service. Why tattooed, lip-ringed, liberal, homosexuals were walking up there--big as you please--partaking in their Eucharist! NANCY PELOSI--the baby-killing, Jezebel of all Catholicism, bats her demonic eyes with her plastic-surgeon enhanced smile, and walks up the aisle to receive the Eucharist from the hands of a priest. And they refuse to allow me! Why I have been more Catholic than Nancy Pelosi as a Protestant than she ever was.... 

It is hard to understand the Church’s decision to be exclusive in the Lord’s Supper. 

Only..... it never was the church’s decision not to allow anyone to partake in the Eucharist. Yes, yes, I read the Didache (an assembly of church rituals that supposedly was written during the Apostolic age) that said only those baptized could come to the “breaking of the bread” and that it had to be an anointed bishop that presided, all others who had a similar Eucharist were outside of the church. But again, I just thought that was a man-made imposition on the faithful. 

What I didn’t realize was the Jesus himself instigated a closed Lord’s Supper. The Catholic Church was not innovative, it was not their command but Jesus’. The Protestants will cry foul! To which the Catholics will say they have the complete teachings of Christ--those passed down orally as well as written and they will claim Jesus commanded a Eucharist that was presided by an ordained apostle to only those who have been baptized into the valid kingdom of heaven and not some unorthodox break off sect lead by a false shepherd.

I have heard this debate back and forth, ad nauseum. There is no answer to satisfy the hurt Protestant who feels excluded. 

Then something dawned on me as I was praying yesterday.

Wait. 

There IS Biblical proof of a closed Lord’s Supper. Remember that Jesus had many followers, many disciples. He also had seventy that he chose to go out and spread the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. He even gave these seventy the power to heal and cast out demons! 

Were any of these invited to the Last Supper, the Supper in which Christ shared his body through the breaking of the bread and His blood through the cup which he shared?  

No! The only ones who were invited to this communion--this sacred closed communion were the Twelve Apostles. And even one of these--Judas the Betrayer--left before the Eucharist was instituted. 

Jesus Christ did not specifically exclude his other followers because they weren’t good enough, weren’t Christian enough. He had a very specific reason, Jesus was inaugurating His Kingdom on earth, His literal church which would be His Beloved Bride. This one and only love, would become united with Him and be part of His very body, she in Him and He in her. 

There could be no mistaking the Bride, for false shepherds would try and sneak in and deceive the flock. The sheep had to KNOW their true shepherd and they could know because He would make plain who they were. Only the TRUE shepherds were to lead and feed the flock.

Jesus made that plain at the Last Supper. He chose only His Apostles as clear representatives of His Shepherds. They alone would have the authority to continue the Eucharist. Remember, Jesus had not given the bread and fish directly to the multitude, but gave it to the Apostles to distribute. Jesus was setting up an authority for his kingdom that could not be mistaken or usurped---be fed spiritually through the hands of the chosen Apostles. The Eucharist is through the hands of the Apostles. They alone have God’s blessing to distribute His body and blood, soul and divinity to His beloved Church.

When we go up to receive the Catholic Eucharist, we are acknowledging the Priest’s God-given authority to distribute to us His body and blood. We are submitting and pledging our soul, spirit, body, loyalty and love to His Catholic church. The Catholics simply ask that those who receive this understand thoroughly what they are doing, for if they don’t, they will be liable for the very body and blood of Christ. They will be hurting both His body and His Bride's body. And in fact, Paul says, that is why many are sick and die. 

The closed Communion is distributed by God’s chosen because it is not a symbol, but the real presence of God. It is the most sacred moment of Christianity and Jesus---NOT the Catholic church commanded it to be for those who have pledged a lifetime of service to His Kingdom, led by the pope.  To open this up for anyone--- to encourage them go through the motions of the deepest pledge, the most intimate commitment and oath to the Catholic church without their realizing it, that would be a treacherous trick. 

Our honor and fidelity to God’s anointed in the Catholic church must come from a full understanding of what pledge we are making. 

The Catholic closed Eucharist was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper so we can know just exactly who we are to go to and submit to and be fed by. It was not an open--all followers invited---communion. Jesus made it exclusive, not the Catholic Church. I am thankful for that, and hope that one day my beloved daughter can understand this as I have.

Celibacy and Priest Sexual Misconduct

When I was becoming Catholic, it seemed to me that celibacy was weird... why would you insist that your leaders remain unmarried? There was just something fishy about it. After all, God commanded us to be fruitful and multiply. The Israelite priests were married. Paul gives the rules of a married clergy in II Timothy and Titus. 

Yeah... those suspicious Catholics, always sneaking in extra rules, they are just like those Pharisees that Jesus called out and railed into them as hypocrites, snakes and white-washed tombs....yeah! Come on! read your Bible Catholics!! I had very little compunctions towards diplomacy at that time in my life. I was, after all, a Biblical scholar and I knew..... 

And look what happened, just what I would suspect... Priests gone sexually rogue.

So, there are a couple of things I want to throw into the discussion. These are not to excuse sexual misbehavior, nor to ignore victims or to exculpate priests who were found guilty of abusing people under their authority. Of course, anyone who deliberately abuses a child need to be prosecuted. Anyone who rapes a child needs to be given a chance to repent, signed with the cross and then stoned. God have mercy on their souls for my belief is they should come before God’s judgment swiftly so they cannot destroy anymore little ones. Or we could just do what Christ suggested and put a millstone around their necks and throw them into the sea. So please do not suggest that I am being soft on crime.

We need to understand what type of person does such crimes and why, so we can stop them by pro-active prevention. So looking at statistics can be helpful.

The first question: Does celibacy have any relational cause to child abuse? (Please refer back to the post before this for statistics.) 

My first reaction was yes! Of course, it is obvious.... these men are sexually repressed and eventually the stress manifests itself by abusing the children they have contact with.

I am not totally rejecting that instinct as completely erroneous, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed I was making too broad of assumptions. If we begin seeing people who are sexually abstinent as potential sexual time-bombs, we then have to put a lot of people into that category: military, widows and widowers who choose not to remarry, all old maids and bachelors. It doesn’t seem just to place under suspicion all unmarried people. 

We must be very careful how we categorize. 

A high percentage of people who are convicted of child abuse have clinical depression. Are we to be suspicious of all those who admit depression? A number of people who are convicted of child molestation were using illegal drugs? Should those who take drugs be under suspicion as child molesters?

71% of all priests accused of molestation were born between 1930 and 1949..... what conclusions can we draw from this statistic?

But doesn’t it just make sense that a grown man, vowed to perpetual sexual repression would finally crack? Yes, it makes sense.... but how would that crack happen?

What I have heard is that normal men who explode from sexual repression usually pick a consenting grown up, not a child-- the sin results in fornication, not pedophilia. Are there any reports of heterosexual military men bursting with sexual tensions resorting to little boys instead of women (especially when there are women available and willing?) And I know there are many women who have Thornbird fantasies and would be willing to help out a sexually repressed priest.

Sexual temptation rarely takes a normal, healthy attraction to the opposite sex and twists it to an attraction to a child/teenager of the same sex. Yet, look what is happening in the Catholic Church. Priests are sexually abusing boys. 

Look at these stats for sexual victims under 18:

Heterosexual male perpetrator abuse rates (distributed by gender) are 80% females, 20% males. 

This is completely reversed when it comes to the priests’ victims. They are 80% males. That statistic is more in line with homosexual predators. This would suggest that the problem in Catholicism is homosexual priests. So, if we insist that these same priests were married to females, we would run into a different set of problems, because they would still be homosexuals.

The difficulty is that the rate of molestation in priests is less than or equivalent to married men. 

If we could successfully screen out all potential homosexual priests and allow only heterosexual married clergy, the statistics would then reverse and those who were abused would simply switch genders and little girls would be the victims instead of little boys. 

The problem is not celibacy or married clergy. The problems lie with why a person would sexually abuse a child and how can you predetermine who would do these things and then prevent it. This is a formidable task, and to date there has been no satisfactory way to deal with prevention.

If Catholic priests are not abusing at a higher rate than other groups, why the spotlight on the Catholic Church?

There are many suggestions, but all I can say it thank God!! Please, dear Lord, shine the spotlight on our sins so we can see and repent and make amends. Think of all the little children who will not be victims because this was brought into the public eye. So, even though many innocent priests will be implicated by association from this and that is yet another tragedy of the abuse, the Catholic Church will recover and continue just to find another boil coming to the surface to be found and lanced ad infinitum until we are all saints standing before Christ at His Second Coming. Where sin abounds, grace abound even more.

Having said that, I do think there is one explanation about: Why Catholicism--why pick on the Catholic church?

Alleged US victims have received $475,674,835. Lawyers who represented them and the church have made almost $38.5 million. In many instances the lawyers walked away with 62% of the settlement.

What conclusions can we draw from these figures? There have been investigative reports suggesting that lawyers will only take suits against Catholic clergy because Protestant denominations simply do not have the ability to pay out large sums, if any. The Catholic Church is backed by insurance and assets that have the capacity to pay out millions to alleged victims. This sounds cold-hearted, but it is a charge that should at least be considered.

Why would the church require their clergy to be celibate--if there is even the slightest causal relationship, shouldn’t the requirement be dropped?

Yes! If they ever find there is any connection, I would say the church must reconsider celibate priests. The great thing is that at any time the Catholic Church can change the requirements. Priestly celibacy is not a dogma, only a discipline which can be overturned at any time. 

The first Catholic church requirement for a celibate clergy was a local council that only was in force for Spain in AD 306. Attempts were made to spread the practice to the whole church but were unsuccessful. The eastern churches adopted a celibate clergy in the 5th century. There was no uniformity in church law until the First Lateran Council in 1123---Why then? In the hopes of reforming the clergy. That is interesting to note. I could find no information about why celibacy was considered the antidote to the problem, but I can imagine what the problems might be. So, the irony is that the demand of a celibate priesthood came from the reforming priests themselves to combat some type of abuse.

Why make a rule that is not Biblical?

Someone told me that the Catholic pedophile scandal is due to the church disobeying scripture. Well, just like so many Christian doctrines, the scriptures have proof-texts for both sides of this issue. While I agree that scripture does not demand that clergy remain celibate, a priesthood that does choose to remain unmarried have a biblical basis.

Old Testament priests could marry and Paul does command that bishops have only one wife, but certainly marriage is not mandatory because Paul himself was unmarried.

When the disciples were questioning Jesus about marriage (Matthew 16), he laid down some pretty rigorous demands: “Who ever divorces his wife, except for “porenia” (Greek for illicit sexual intercourse) and shall marry another, commits adultery: and he that marries her when she is put away commits adultery.” The disciples threw up their hands and said something like, “well then who would want to get married under those circumstances?” 

Jesus replied, 

For there are eunuchs that were so born from their mother's womb: and there are eunuchs that were made eunuchs by men: and there are eunuchs that made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. 

Jesus said there would be those who gave up marriage with its sexual intimacy for God’s Kingdom. Not only that but He said those who could do it, should do it--those that are able, let him receive it! Sounds almost like a command. 

Jesus himself chose the path of celibacy and surely those who follow in His footsteps do not deserve our condemnation. Priests feel they are offering up the highest sacrifice they can make for God, that of having their own family, to completely give themselves over to serve the Body of Christ in His church--to be father to the fatherless, father to the child of divorce and those children who simply slip through the cracks of society. That commitment and sacrifice deserves much praise, not scorn.

Look at Paul and his views of celibacy in I Corinthians 7:

It is good for a man not to touch a woman.  But, because of fornications, let each man have his own wife... Yet I would that all men were even as I myself. ...Howbeit each man hath his own gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that. But I say to the unmarried and to widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I... I think therefore that this is good by reason of the distress that is upon us, [namely,] that it is good for a man to be as he is.  Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife.  But shouldest thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Yet such shall have tribulation in the flesh: and I would spare you. But this I say, brethren, the time is shortened, that henceforth both those that have wives may be as though they had none... But I would have you to be free from cares. He that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord: but he that is married is careful for the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and is divided. [So] also the woman that is unmarried and the virgin is careful for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married is careful for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I say for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is seemly, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. ...But he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power as touching in his own heart, to keep his own virgin [daughter], shall do well. So then both he that giveth his own virgin [daughter] in marriage doeth well; and he that giveth her not in marriage shall do better. 

It is hard for me to accept that Paul really only meant that advice for a short period. Especially because when he wrote this letter (around AD 55 when he was in Ephesus)  the church wasn’t under severe persecution as they would be around AD 64. To Paul, remaining unmarried was a better choice for a Christian than that of being married. 

The Bible does allow for celibacy. It is not a deviant way to live, nor is it unbiblical.  It is almost impossible for us in the decadence of our culture and those of us who are called to marriage and children to understand anyone who would voluntarily choose to be celibate for Christ. But they have been doing it since the time of Jesus. 

Let us now unify in praying for the healing of the victims, the scandal that envelopes our Christian brothers and sisters in the Catholic church and Her priests, and that the perpetrators publicly repent, be prosecuted and that truth will be made manifest.

The Sorrows of Priests and Sexual Misconduct

Christians use the priests scandal of sexual misconduct to reinforce their own misunderstandings of Catholicism.

As a new Catholic, I am a convenient target for anti-catholic animus. Because they do not have the facts, just the myths that are repeated generation after generation, people are hardly to blame for hating what they believe Catholics do and teach. It seems the media insidiously, delightfully loves to distort Christianity every chance it gets. And we live in a Protestant country, so it is very understandably difficult to know the truth of Catholicism.

Catholics have a very different worldview of the Bible and to really understand Catholicism takes the long suffering and tenaciousness of learning a new language. I stuck to it for six years... I hardly expect others have the time or desire to do that, so I just have to keep living my faith and hope that someday people will take the time to understand why someone would become Catholic. Anyway.... the point of this post...

These are the terrible facts of the misconduct of Catholic priests. It is important to know them in order for both mercy and justice to be administered in the courts of public opinion. Here they are:

The John Jay Report (google it for reference) did an exhaustive study of accusations of sexual misconduct against priests and deacons and gave the following report in 2004. The research included ALL accusations that were possible for study (some accusers and/or priests were dead--so these were not included in the study) from 1950 to 2002 in the United States. There were 6, 700 accusations that were available for research against 4, 392 priests. The accusations covered sexual misconducts ranging in deviance from showing inappropriate sexual materials such as pictures or stories to a single incident of touching over clothing to the most serious and egregious accusation of rape. This number represents 4% of the 109,694 priests serving in the United States during those years.

The number of alleged incidences dramatically increased during the 1960's peaked in the 1970's and in the last twenty years has almost ceased, returning to their pre-1950's level. Of these allegations, those accusations that seemed to have merit have materialized in 384 priests being prosecuted, 252 have been found guilty and 100 sent to jail. So only 6% of those accused were found guilty, and of those  2% were given prison terms.

Though this is abundantly horrific, having as a Protestant known many people who were sexually molested by their religious leaders, there are several things we can rejoice in.

#1 The accusations were many years ago and the Church has been purged, in large measure, of this demonic activity.

#2 Many of the priests who did this grave evil are now in jail.

#3 The great number of allegations have proven to be based in fiction.

There is more to note. In the study, it was reported that the figure of sexual misconduct for priests was either at the same level or lower than other social and religious groups studied. Sexual misconduct in teachers was found to be a higher percentage than that of Catholic priests. The exact same rate of sexual abuse towards children was found in married men. The rates for sexual abuse in Catholic clergy was the same as in Protestant ministers and Jewish leaders.

The study also brought out several myths that we would like to dispel.

Myth 1: Catholic priests are more likely to be pedophiles than other groups of men. 

In fact, pedophilia--the sexual abuse of those under the age of 14 is extremely rare affecting only 0.3 of priests. Actually the vast majority of accusations came from victims came during the time they were teenagers.

Myth #2 Priestly celibacy is part of the context that leads to sexual abuse of minors.

There is no statistical relationship between celibacy and sexual misconduct.  A percentage of the Catholic clergy that were in the study group were married deacons. Married men who commit these grave acts are statistically the same as celibate priests. The profiles of abusers never, ever have included normal sexual adults who turn into abusers because of environment or sexual repression.  There has never been a documented case of a healthy heterosexual man that developed an erotic attraction to children. They always, without exception, have deviant sexual tendencies from childhood. Therefore it is a misnomer to conclude that a married clergy would reduce sexual misconduct.

Myth #3 Homosexuality is not connected to sexual deviancy.

Homosexuals are three times as likely to be sexually attracted to children and teenagers than heterosexual men.

Reports concluded that a sexual perpetrator is much more likely to be found in one's home, at a childcare center or at school than by a Catholic priest. In a recent national study by NSHS, when victims of sexual misconduct was investigated, there were no--zero- cases involving priests. Categories of perpetrators were: teachers, neighbors, doctors, grandparents, friends, co-workers, gardeners, repairmen or non-family residents of the home, not one priest was accused.

These statistics are culled from the following:

The John Jay Report
Crisis Magazine
Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests
Psychology Today
National Opinion Research Center
The Hartford Currant
Addiction and Compulsive Behaviors [Boston; 1998] Fred Berlin, Patrick J. Carnes and Dale O'leary

The Romance of Catholic Worship

        Laura’s favorite position to worship Jesus Christ, her dearest Lord and Savior, was to snuggle up on the couch at five a.m. when her children were asleep, cover herself with her favorite fuzzy blanket, sip steaming hot coffee then read and pray. She said it felt romantic and cozy, just Jesus and her. It was her favorite time of day.

Church was a lot of trouble--getting her kids dressed and listening to her husband’s deep, resistant breaths that complained about another day where the morning hours were scheduled. But, once at church, she enjoyed the lively praise music and theater seating. Children’s church gave her a break, so she and her husband could worship together. Church was a great place for Christian socializing, but lately, the real time for worship, real worship was alone reading scripture and talking to the Lord as she watched the dawn from her couch. There, the feelings of Jesus near, were the ultimate. 


After all, Jesus went away from the crowds for refreshing to be alone with His Father. Jesus also said that we should go into the closet and pray. Isn’t that really what was important? A special, intimate relationship with Christ, where He talks to you and you can hear His voice? As a Protestant, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Then there was James, who wanted to get back to what he thought the book of Acts described as the ancient church worship. He began a home fellowship, where neighbors could come in casual clothes, bring something to munch on and they would all sit on the couch while singing a couple songs, reading psalms and people giving their testimony. There was no real structure, just Christians fellowshipping and sharing their love of Jesus.

For many Protestants, worship means a daily comfortable, relaxing little mini-vacation from life as you read a chapter or two from scripture, lift up your voice in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord and then kneel in prayer with your list of requests. Most Protestants feel intimately connected to Christ by these times of worship and see anything liturgical, full of rites and preset prayers, any formality at all, as inauthentic worship. 

American Protestantism doesn’t get the necessity for an organized church. What’s the point? It just adds unnecessary conflicts over how you worship: the music, the building, the people, the theology. Keep it simple. That is godliness. “I can figure out the Bible by myself, thank you very much.”

Because some Protestant worship takes on the chicken-soup-for-the-soul attributes, they have a difficult time understanding Catholic worship. Indeed, some fundamentalists believe what they see in Catholic mass is idolatry. Yet, to understand a Catholic, you must take a journey with me, into the mystery of a romance with our Savior.

The Introduction and Flirtation

“How do I love thee, let me count the ways....”

I love thee, my Jesus by learning thy Holy Word daily and hiding it in my heart. 

[And yet, reading--studying--well, I study for school and read to become educated in many areas. So studying isn’t worship, nor is it unique to worship. Is there anything more I have reserved for just You, dearest Lord, just You?]

I love thee, my Jesus by praising and giving thee thanks. 

[And yet--I praise my children and thank my dear spouse. So praising and thanksgiving aren’t worship, nor are they unique to worship. Is there anything more I have reserved for just You, dearest Lord, just You?]

I love thee, my Jesus by lifting up my most intimate pleas and petitions in prayer. 

[And yet, I ask my husband often for help, and petition politicians and even once “prayed for judgment” in court. So even praying--beseeching--isn’t worship, nor is it unique to worship. Is there anything I have reserved for just You, dearest Lord, just You?]

Perhaps I am left only with the tender earnestness of my worship, the sensation of ethereal holiness as I study, petition, praise and give you thanksgiving. Is it the feelings that makes what I do change from mundane to spiritual? Is it worship when it is profound and intense, but not when I offer praise to my teachers, my husband, my children?

Aha! as I remember your commandment, I believe I know why it is worship, those things that I do in my quiet times. 

You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to worship them or serve them... Exodus 20:3-5

It is my kneeling and bowing before you that makes it go from everyday praising and petitioning into real worship! And yet, wait.... the Bible records many instances where people bow to each other.

 So I am left with nothing unique to my worship--nothing I can offer to God except to make the secular sacred by giving it to Him.

Love, Devotion and Marriage

You call the church Your bride. How am I married to You? I read in scripture that to You adultery and idolatry are related, God? This is confusing. I have no idols, I think.... Is this the key to another, perhaps higher form of worship--exclusive to you and not found in any other form? 

What is adultery in worshipping God? Is it the earnestness, the form, the praise and prayer? What is this idolatry/adultery worship?

Is hand-holding adultery? Hugging? There is nothing in scripture that says these things would be committing adultery. What about a step forward in intimacy, what about kissing? Well, you can kiss your children and even close friends, that is not cheating on your spouse. Even though I kiss my husband and my children, they are very dissimilar. One has an element of sensual love and the other, well vastly different. Could I explain the difference to one who had never kissed? 

Then there is the consummation of a marriage, the most exquisite of intimacies with your spouse. Outside of marriage it is a very deep and serious sin--it is called adultery. This is what God has warned us is equivalent to idolatry. So what, dearest Lord, is this in our worship? How does one commit adultery in worship? Does one have to have an idol we clothe, feed, and pray to, to commit idolatry? Is that not what Catholics do by bowing and praying to Mary in worship? 

What is Adultery in Worship?

Well, to a Catholic, there are common forms of intimacy, like prayer, petition, praise and study. These do not constitute the fullness of worship. They are likened to handshakes, kisses and hugs. They are the beginning of intimacy but can be done to others who are family and friends. Mary and the saints in heaven are supposed to be our family, so to kneel in petition to them is no different from those who kneeled in the Bible to petition their family or Israel’s kings. It is not an intimate worship. It rather is relationship-oriented and a form of devotion or respect  when done to kings and queens. 

But, for Christ there is another level the Catholics have that is to them the ultimate form of worship this side of heaven. It is reserved only for the Godhead. It is called the Eucharist. 

Each week, the whole church, the Bride, is commanded by her Lord and King, to meet her in the exclusive and most intimate of communion. It is the mystery of Christ with us, Christ in us and we in Christ. We share the cup of His blood poured out for us, we eat the manna from Heaven, the bread broken for us which is His body. We are united in Him and that is the highest form of worship known to humans. It is an encounter with the Divine that He will share with nothing or no one. It alone is set aside, sanctified and made holy in a way that no study, prayer or praise can do alone. 

While Catholics come together at mass and begin the dance of love with their creator in singing Psalms, reading His holy word in scripture and lifting up praise and petitions, our worship has only begun. It is when we kneel and watch the bread being blessed by the anointed and consecrated priests, we are entering a form of miraculous worship, that eternal and timeless making present the God’s Holy sacrifice of the cross. This is the perfect, highest and ultimate adoration found in the passion of Christ. He shares His passion for His bride and we respond with faith and submission. It is the sweetest intimacy from which flows His eternal life into ours that we may become a life-giving force for the world.  The parallel to the consummation of marriage is profound and mysterious.

His body is broken and poured out in love for us and as we partake in Him, we become more fully His body. Therefore, having received His grace, we go and break ourselves to restore the broken of the world to Him. That is the crowning form of worship which we do not share with any secular or casual form. It is for God alone.

Because the Protestant church services do not include the transubstantiation of the Bread and Wine, they do not have the same form of this worship. Their communion service is symbolic and therefore does not have the same intense complexity as the Catholic.

Misunderstandings 

So while, in a sense, the Protestant forms of worship never goes beyond the kissing and hugging stage. They have not experienced the rite of consummation, so they have no higher forms of worship than studying, prayers of petitions and praise. They feel like they are engaged in idolatry when they use these forms, especially kneeling in petitions to God. But in the Catholic mind, these forms are not necessarily worship, but are part of the beginning stages of intimacy that are worship only when they are done before God. Do not misunderstand, these forms can and do constitute worship or Satan would never have told Christ to bow at his feet and worship him. The wise men would not have journeyed across the Arabian peninsula if they could not have worshipped at the feet of the babe who was to be King. This indeed is worship, but not always.

Just as it is not worship when Lot fell down prostrate in front of the two strangers who turned out to be angels visiting Sodom, so bowing does not necessarily mean worship. Just as kissing your child and kissing your husband are very different acts of love. This is the same understanding Catholics have for praying to saints. Praying isn’t necessarily worship. Studying isn’t necessarily worship, kneeling isn’t necessarily worship and praise isn’t necessarily worship. It is only when these things are within the ritual of intimacy with Christ, they are worship and when they lead us to the Eucharist, we have found the most precious form and sacrament of worship that is exclusively towards God and God alone. 

Just as Israel as a group, would be called to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices and celebrate special holy commencements, so Catholic believe that you cannot separate the highest forms of worship from the whole of the community. We can worship Christ individually, but there is a power, a glory, a holiness that is found when the Body of Christ is joined in adoration of the King, from the saints and angels in heaven singing “Alleluia” to the Christian pilgrims on earth to those in purgatory, we are all one church and part of the one body of Christ. It is when our hearts and souls and spirits combine to one resounding Body--His Church becomes His Body through the Eucharist, that all glory and honor, all devotion and reverence, blessings and praises, thanksgiving and love reach their powerful zenith in worship.