Overcoming "Troubling Catholic Issues"

A non-Catholic Christian emailed me the other day:

I have some friends in many different churches including catholics but they all hold conservative family values that christianity was famous for.

. . . [H]ow have you been dealing with troubling catholic issues: "queen of heaven","papacy","praying to many gods" - not official position but one could honestly and successfully argue it has been supported by the catholic church or at least by less than honest bishops within the church.

My reply is below:

I like conservative-family-values Catholics, too. It's a shame there are so many unfaithful ones, though. I heard a guy from Massachusetts say that his state has a lot of "Kennedy Catholics," but hardly any Catholic Kennedys.

Don't think I've never questioned or hesitated over "troubling Catholic issues." I have. One thing that simplifies the process is to understand the authority issue. That's the biggie. But then, over time, the "troubling" issues clear up through research or contemplation and are no longer troubling. That's not to say that some things -- a lot of things -- are never fully understood. Not everything is meant for comprehensive understanding in this life. It's far easier for a flea to understand Algebra II than for us to understand how God can make something out of nothing.

The common Protestant objections to Catholicism, however, can be overcome. Most are refuted through gaining a proper understanding of the Church's teachings, correcting what "they say" she teaches.

Mary is in fact the "Queen of Heaven," in the sense that she gave birth to (is the mother of) the King of Kings. Queens aren't queens only when they're married to the king; we also have queen mothers, who are queens by virtue of the fact that their son is king. This is the case with Mary, who is naturally exalted because of her Son the King, who is the ultimate Exalted One.

To say that ANY of Mary's titles imply she is a "goddess" is to clearly violate the First Commandment, and that's a big one.

The pope is merely the bishop of Rome. Of all the world's bishops (the successors of the apostles), the Roman bishop alone holds the "keys of the kingdom," for he is the successor of Peter, who, along with Paul, ended up in Rome. Jesus gave Peter the keys, and it was upon Cepha that the Church was founded. Christ is the true foundation, but in His absence Peter is given the "keys" (a symbol of genuine authority, an allusion to Isaiah 22).

The idea of a man "filling in" for Christ for certain responsibilities is not such a terribly difficult concept really. Even [non-Catholic] ministers administer bread and wine in the Lord's Supper. They validly baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." They claim to make "binding and loosing" decisions in the church. They believe they teach authoritatively what Christ taught since they're teaching straight from God's Word. I know it's not exactly the same, but they do claim to possess some kind of divinely given authority, to one extent or another.

"Praying to many gods." That's not good! Catholics are the ultimate Christian defenders of the truth that there is only ONE God. That is fundamental, foundational. Anything else is unthinkable.

But just as you asked me to pray for you the other day, and I asked you to pray for me, so it is that one might ask Mary or another saint to pray for him. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much, so if (that's the key word, "if") Jesus' mother is now with God, and has attained the holiness we're all striving for now, who better to pray for us?

"Pray" is not always synonymous with "worship." To a lot of people, prayer is the highest form of worship (since they don't believe in the true sacrifice of the Mass), but "prayer" often means lesser things. Even in the KJV, it is frequently used of people making requests of others (e.g., Genesis 13:8: "And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee . . . "). Making requests of someone is not worship. We do honor Mary (Jesus did that, too) with great esteem, but she is "merely" the highest exalted creature. God alone is the Creator; He alone is not created. So in fact it glorifies HIM when we exalt and bless that which HE created, and exalted, and blessed. Mary's prophetic word is true: "All generations will call me blessed" (Luke 2).

If someone spoke glowingly of your parents, your brother, your wife, or your children, that would not detract from the glory that's due to you. Just the opposite: it would bring honor to [you]. You would be pleased, because they are your family.

A Catholic "prays to," or speaks to, Mary and the other saints because they enjoy a special closeness to God. And, biblically, that's an advantage when it comes to answered prayer.

Finally, there are bishops who are corrupt. There have even been scandalous scoundrels who became pope. Jesus said there would be both wheat and weeds in His Church (Matthew 13:24-30). But never in 2,000 years has any bishop or pope changed (reversed) any Catholic dogma. Even when certain popes held a particular heretical view, they could not declare it as official doctrine. Not a bad record, especially when you compare it to certain self-appointed "apostles" of recent history.

One of many big differences between modern false "apostles" and the Catholic Church's bishops in union with the pope is this: one tries to restore the truth, and the other preserves and transmits the truth. The first believes the truth is always being lost and needs to be found; the second believes truth is always faithfully passed on and needs to be believed.