This document provides answers to 10 common questions asked of Catholics. It summarizes the Catholic views on salvation, worship of the Eucharist, veneration of Mary, confession of sins to priests, use of religious images, prayer for the dead, addressing priests as fathers, obedience to the Pope, and whether Catholic beliefs are found in the Bible. The document emphasizes that Catholic beliefs are grounded in both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and that Catholics should always discuss these topics with charity, concern, and willingness to admit what they do not know.

1. Top Ten Questions Catholics
are Asked?
Charlie A. Roy
September 6th, 2006
Saint Mark - Wed Night Theology

2. Apologetics Ground Rules
Always engage with a charitable heart.
Attitudes and actions win more converts
than clever arguments.
Celebrate the similarities.
Always focus on the positive.
Be ready!

3. # 1 Are you saved?
Understand the Catholic view of Salvation
 Saved from what?
 Saved by whom?
 Saved how?
 How is this saving act applied to us?
 How does the Catholic view of Salvation differ
from that of our Protestant brothers and sisters?

4. a. Saved from what?
 All religions offer salvation from something.
 Buddhism – suffering
 Islam – Moral Ignorance
 Hinduism – escape from the cycle of Samsara
 Only Christianity offers the solution to the
problem of sin.
 Sin is the origin of all problems.
 Sin effects not just others but also our
relationship with God.

5. b. Who can Save?
Who can bridge the infinite gap of sin?
Only someone who is divine and human is
capable of doing anything to mend the
gap created by sin.
Only Christ can accomplish our atonement
or at-one-ment with God.

6. c. How does Christ save us?
 Why not clapping his hands or snapping his fingers?
 Covenants are a lifelong relationship. On the cross God
offers himself in the person of his only begotten Son for
our redemption.
 Only death can usher us out of an old covenant and into
a new covenant.
 Crucifixion is the greatest moment of love the world has
ever seen.
 Signs of our redemption.
 Vale of the temple torn in two.
 Josephus records the gate collapses.
 Darkness and an earthquake.

7. d. How is what Christ did through his
Passion and Resurrection applied to us?
Christ’s death and resurrection allows
sanctifying grace or our ability to share in
the life of God.
This grace is given to us through the
Sacramental Economy.
It is what enables us to be Holy.
Example: ship on water.
Pre-figured in Ezekiel 36
Called the “Sacramental Economy”

8. e. How does the Catholic view of
Salvation differ from the Protestant view?
 For Catholics salvation = sonship / daughtership.
 Through grace we actually become holy and
worthy of being called children of God.
 1st
John 3:1 “See what love the Father has given us that
we should be called children of God, yet so we are.”
 2nd Peter 1:4
"by which he has granted to us his precious and very
great promises, that through these you may escape
from corruption that is in the world because of passion,
and become partakers of the divine nature."

9. Continued…
Beginning with Luther the Protestant view
focuses on Imputation as opposed to
Impartation.
Impartation = process where as
Imputation = event, or a switching place.
This small but significant difference leads
to big differences over time when you look
at the outcomes of Protestant Theology.

10. Outcomes….
Imputation leads to:
 No Sacraments: if salvation is an event no
point to Sacraments.
 No Purgatory: doesn’t make any sense if we
are momentarily saved.
 Once saved always saved theology.
 No assistance needed – no Saints no
intercessory prayer needed.

11. #3 Why do Catholics worship wafers?
We believe in the Real Presence of Christ
in the Eucharist.
Biblical based…
 John 6:52-66 the Eucharistic Discourse that
shocked his Jewish audience.
 Matthew 26:26-28 the Last Supper where Jesus
says, “This is my body…this is my blood.”
 1st
Corinthians 11:23-27, “…whoever eats the
bread or drinks the cup in an unworthy manner
profanes the body and blood of the Lord.”

12. #4 Why do you worship Mary?
 We venerate Mary or honor her we do not
worship her.
 Her position is summed up in the “Hail Mary”
prayer.
 Ever Virgin: Greek word for brother and sister is
“adelphois which can be translated cousin”
 Immaculate Conception
 Genesis 3:15 “enmity between the serpent and the
women” enmity – no common ground.
 Luke 1:28 “full of grace” - no room for sin.
 Saved by being preserved from sin.

13. #5 Why do you confess your sins to a
priest?
 Because that is what Christ asks us to do
implicitly in the Gospels.
 John 20:23 On Easter Sunday “If you forgive the sins of
any they are forgiven, if you retain the sins of any they
are retained.”
 Matthew 18:18 "Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven.“
 The human element as well is therapeutic and
comforting.
 Confession is often described as “whispering into the
ears of Christ.”

14. # 6 Why do you pray to idols?
 A common misconception.
 Images to remind and inspire.
 Nativity Set example.
 God himself commands the making of images:
 1) Exodus 25:18-19 "And you shall make two cherubim
of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the
two ends of the mercy seat.
 2) 1 Kings 7:29 "and on the panels that were set in the
frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. Upon the
frames, both above and below the lions and oxen, there
were wreathes of beveled work."

15. #7 Why do you pray for the dead?
Because of our belief in Purgatory.
Purgatory is referred to in Scripture
although not by name.
 2nd
Maccabees 12:46: the soldiers pray for the
dead.
 2nd
Timothy 1:16-17 – in this passage St. Paul
prays for the dead.--- Onesiphirus.
 Part of the Church - Glorious, Suffering,
Militant. All connected through prayer.

16. # 8 Why do you call your priest father?
 Point of this is to claim that Catholics willingly violate
Matthew 23:9 “And call no man your father on earth, for
you have one Father, who is in heaven.”
 Luke 2:48 – When Mary says, “Your father and I have
been looking for you.” Jesus doesn’t correct her.
 1 Corinthians 4:15 “I became your father in faith through
the Gospel.”
 Jesus is using Hebraic Hyperbole to make a point.
 Hebraic Hyperbole: A strong point with strong language
that is not intended to be literal. Other examples
 Matthew 5:36-38: “Simply let your yes be yes, and your no be
no, anything else comes from the evil one.”
 Mark 9:47: “If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out for it is
better to enter heaven with one eye, than hell with two.”

17. # 9 Why do you obey the Pope?
 Understanding the origins of the papacy.
 Kings in the line of David had what is called an al-bayyit
or someone who is “over the household”
 When Jesus speaks of giving the keys to Peter he is
speaking of making him the al-bayyit.
 Jesus needs to establish and guarantee a way that his
grace and teachings would be brought to all generations
without being corrupted.
 This guarantee we call papal infallibility and began with
Matthew 16 where Jesus after giving Peter the keys
says, “the gates of hell will not prevail against you”.

18. Papal Infallibility
What it is:
 Guarantees infallibility regarding faith and
morals when the pope speaks:
 Intending to be binding.
 From the chair of Peter – meaning as the pope.
 On an issue of faith and morals.
What it is not:
 A license to do whatever whenever.
 Does not guarantee personal holiness or
salvation of the pontiff.

19. Why Papal Infallibility
Guarantees the transmission of truth from
one generation uncorrupted to the next.
Church must authentically preach the
Gospel to all ages and all people.
The Holy Spirit guarantees this through
papal infallibility.
Example the Telephone Game.

20. # 10 Are your beliefs found in the Bible?
 Yes and No.
 Most beliefs are referred to in the Bible at least in some
way.
 Church believes the content of truth was handed down
by both Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture.
 The first Christians did not have a Bible only what had
been taught to them and handed down.
 These two S.S. and S.T. form the Deposit of faith alluded
to in:
 2nd
Thess 2:15, 2nd
Thess 3:16.

21. Conclusion
Practice Charity.
Show sincere concern.
Admit when you don’t know the answer
and ask to speak later.
Study and learn so you are prepared when
questions are asked.

22. Question and Answer Time