"It ain't ignorance causes so much trouble; it's folks knowing so much that ain't so."This is especially true in the Catholic faith. Catholicism is a big crazy thing and there is no telling what people will do with it sometimes. A person will invent some quirky habit and pass it onto others as if it came straight from the top - so to speak.
Today I want to address seven things which Catholics are often SURE is part of Catholic teaching ... but actually aren't. What's worse, these myths often leave people hurt and confused.
So let's dive in.
Myth #1: If you get divorced, you cannot receive communion.
Every now and then you will hear a call on Catholic Answers Live which goes like this:
Caller: "Hi. I have been away from the Church for 27 years. I know that after I got my divorce, I was banned from receiving communion. I just wanted to know, is that still the case? Can I come back now?"
Answerer: "Did you ever get remarried?"
Caller: "No. I've remained single."
Answerer: "Yeah... you were given some bad information. You were never banned from communion. You can return at any time."
Caller: *sobs*People who are divorced and re-marry outside the Church do face an enduring impediment to receiving communion. Unfortunately, many people hear that and shorten it down to: "Divorced people cannot receive communion."
However, divorce does not by itself create an impediment toward reception of Communion. And many, many people have been suffered terribly because someone misinformed them about this matter.
As the saying goes: "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."
Myth #2: If you are infertile, you cannot get married.
The Church teaches that childbearing is one of the essential purposes of marriage. Because of this, many people wrongly conclude that people who are infertile cannot get married.
That is not the case. The Code of Canon Law states:
"Sterility neither prohibits nor nullifies marriage." [Unless this information was maliciously withheld from the other spouse] - CCL 1084, 1098What the Church does say is that a person cannot get married if he/she is anatomically unable to have sex. Again, the Code of Canon Law states:
"Antecedent and perpetual impotence to have intercourse, whether on the part of the man or the woman, whether absolute or relative, nullifies marriage by its very nature." - CCL 1084The rationale for this can be explored another day. But the bottom line is that unless you look like Darth Maul after his fateful encounter with Obi-Wan Kenobi... you can get married.
Myth #3: Marian apparitions are a form of authoritative public revelation.
One phenomenon which occurs within the Catholic world are apparitions of the Saints and particularly the Virgin Mary. These visions sometimes deliver prophetic messages and instructions for the faithful.
The apparitions are often helpful for people. However, people of a certain certain personality type sometimes become obsessed with hunting down every purported vision and thinking all Catholics are bound to follow them.
However, even if an apparition has been deemed by the Vatican to be worthy of belief, it is not required for the faithful to believe in it. These apparitions fall under the category of "private revelation" and binding on precisely nobody. The Catechism states:
"No new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout the ages, there have been so-called 'private' revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history." - CCC 66-67
Myth #4: Mary had to have been immaculately conceived, or else she would have passed along a tainted nature to Jesus.
Sometimes Catholics - in a well-intentioned attempt to make an irrefutable argument for the doctrine - will argue that Mary had to be immaculately conceived. Why? Because if she hadn't, she would have supposedly passed on a tainted human nature to Jesus.
This is a terrible argument.
If it was logically necessary for Mary to have an untainted nature for her to pass it on to Jesus, it follows that Mary's mom would have needed one too. And Mary's mom's mom. And Mary's mom's mom's mom... going all the way back to Eve. The ultimate result of this argument would be that Eve could not have fallen, thus negating the purpose of the redemption.
In reality, the Church says this is a "singular grace" [CCC 491]. In other words, Mary was the only one to receive this gift - and it was not done for any logically necessary motivation on God's part.
Myth #5: You should not chew the Eucharist because it will hurt Jesus.
This one is usually taught by pious nuns who really, really mean well. Unfortunately, it isn't taught by the Church in any capacity.
In fact, it actually goes against things which are taught by the Church... such as the fact that Jesus can no longer suffer in Heaven. Plus, the specific Greek word which John used to describe Jesus' instructions on eating His flesh in John 6 was to "gnaw".
Myth #6: Purgatory has a set length of time.
Purgatory does involve a type of change in one's soul - and time is a measurement of change. So it is logical to suppose that Purgatory - in some sense - involves a duration of time.
However, this cannot be "time" in the sense that we experience physical time right now. Purgatory is something endured by the unembodied souls of the just. So the Church has never taught anything about how long Purgatory would last.
There have been various mystics who have proposed ways of understanding time spend in Purgatory. But as I said above, those "private revelations" are binding on precisely nobody.
Myth #7: Sunday is the new Sabbath for Christians.
This myth comes from an oversimplification of how the 10 Commandments interact with Christian practices. The third commandment reads:
"Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God." - Exodus 20:8Children are often taught that we fulfill the 3rd commandment by attending church on Sunday. But at some point kids find out the Sabbath was actually on Saturday. So they inevitably ask why that discrepancy exists. This frequently gets explained by saying the "Christian Sabbath" is on Sunday.
But... that's totally false.
In reality, the Sabbath day remains the same as it ever was. The Sabbath is Saturday. However, Christians are not bound to keep the Sabbath. Saint Paul said in his letter to the Colossians:
"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day." - Colossians 2:16Why is this important?
Because there are certain groups of Christians which base their whole existence on protesting the supposed movement of the Sabbath to Sunday. And the big villain in their ideology is... the Catholic Church.
Catholics would do a much better job answering objections from those folks if they didn't go around saying the Church changed the Sabbath.
No comments:
Post a Comment