I am minded of the 1884 (!) Presidential election, before which the Democrats were accused by a speaker at a Republican gathering — a Presbyterian clergyman, in fact — of being a "party whose antecedents have been rum, Romanism, and rebellion." Republican candidate James G. Blaine didn't denounce the remark, which inaction is believed to have cost him the backing of New York Irish Catholics, and eventually the election.

But it wasn't until JFK that we got the first Catholic president, yes? So that bigotry was around a long time.

In my former church, for a big important event like Easter, or Christmas, or confirmation, the altar boy enters the church carrying a crucifix on a long pole which is then placed at the front of the church. The altar boy is the head of a procession, Christ's death for us being placed as most important.

I also remember a Chapel sermon at my (Lutheran) high school during Lent being about the gory (literally) details of what Christ had to suffer for us, how it is actually death by suffocation, etc.

While we have to be wary of false doctrines within Christianity (including our own denominations), I think it is wrong to treat other Christians poorly and deride them for the way they practice their own faith. I think it IS good to remember how much Jesus suffered in his death for us.

As a Protestant I wish I could apologize on the behalf of everyone but it would do no good. The nastiness would continue.

I left the church I quit the church I was raised in as soon as I left home because of this very issue. I just refuse to believe that my God is as petty as my fellow Protestants about how Catholics choose to worship Him.

There's no way God endorses the closed minded teaching and preaching we're taught in Sunday school and Sunday services about the "fate" of Catholics.

Please just know that all of us aren't petty, narrow minded idiots. That honor just seems to belong to the most vocal of the group.

Charles,

Wow...it sounds like the Stupid Party was stupid even way back then. :-D No wonder the GOP used to have so many problems with the Catholic vote.

Barb,

My church has similar processions for important events. During Lent, we also place a lot of emphasis on remembering Christ's suffering. I think it makes the joy of Easter and the resurrection clearer when we remember what came before.

Janette,

It sounds like you have had a similar experience to mine. My parents didn't go to church so my sister and I went to church with my Grandma (my Dad's mother). It was a charismatic Pentecostal church with "speaking in tongues" and the whole bit. When my Grandma died when I was in my early teens, I quit going to church. I went back to church (to the Lutheran church I go to now) in my mid-twenties.

The church I grew up going to was very anti-Catholic. I remember the preacher telling a bizarre and really hateful story one time in one of his sermons. He said that a preacher's wife went to borrow sugar from a nun. When using the sugar, she found that there was crushed up glass mixed with the sugar. The preacher's wife confronted the nun and asked her why she tried to kill her and her family. I was just a kid, but I remember that story even now.

Most of us Protestants are not like that, and I hope Catholics realize this. I've held my tongue when a few Protestant bloggers have said things that I thought were bigoted, and perhaps I should have said something. Well, I guess I'm saying something now. :-)

In Japan, two missionaries from the U.S. visited my friend Todd’s house. They came to Japan to save people in the military who served overseas. I guess they went door-to-door; they knocked on Todd’s door right after we finished supper. Todd invited them in. After an hour of stimulating conversation, they asked my denomination, saying I had impressed them with my witness and my knowledge of scripture.


“I’m Catholic,&rdquo I said.


They looked at each other, suddenly pale and silent. Then they fled, saying they didn’t feel they could make any progress for Jesus in that house.


My impression: they would’ve stayed to cast out demons. A single Catholic, however, either threatened their souls, or carried so much damnation, no effort could save him.


Their resignation on their faces depresses me still.

Hi Daniel,

That is depressing...it's really sad (and infuriating) to see Christians treat fellow Christians like that. :-(

Susan,

It is because of experiences like what Holly described in my own life that every defense of Catholicism I make always starts with Scripture.

Scripture forms the basis of every doctrine we hold. Yes, even the Marian doctrines. Scripture...and making sure we give the proper answer to the ultimate question Jesus posed: "Who do you say that I am?"

Paul,

That is an excellent approach...I believe everything should be backed up by Scripture. While tradition can be important and edifying, Scripture should always take precedence. I have heard some of the Scripturally-based Catholic explanations for Marian doctrines and the belief in Purgatory. I found these explanations to be very compelling.

Hi Susan B,

this is Maggie4Life so you know me on Blogs for Terri.

I am a Catholic, and to everyone here I feel a continuing love and warmth. Each one of you are so very precious in God's sight and I can only love the people who are so generous in their thoughts and feelings on such a thorny subject.

I have a deep respect for each one of you. Keep up what you are doing and hopefully one day you will make the right impression so that people like myself no longer have to face such shocking discrimination and disinformation.

Catholics do not have two heads. The good sisters do not give sugar laced with glass to preachers' wives. That sounds like an urban legend that is meant to cause prejudice.

I should explain that I am a Catholic in a family where there are a lot of Protestants. My grandmother was a Methodist when she married a Catholic and was made an outcast by her father and mother. I think all of you are familiar with that kind of prejudice. I do know that this hurt my mother so very much and it has coloured her opinions on certain matters. I am married to a Catholic and yes we have a good marital union.

I am going to make a second post here because I have some information to share about Martin Luther and especially why I have no ill feeling towards his efforts to reform certain bad practices within the Church

Here are some facts about Martin Luther that I want to share with all of you:

Did you know that Martin Luther accepted the more recently declared Catholic dogma of the Assumption? Yes, it is true. He preached on the Assumption when this was not declared as Marian dogma.

Did you know that Martin Luther defended Mary as both Mother of God, and as Perpetual Virgin?
Yes. It is true. Martin Luther did not deviate on these doctrines that had not at that time been declared as dogma.

Martin Luther was one of Mary's sons. He was a very Marian priest and even on his death bed he had both a crucifix and a statue of Mary in his room.

I have read many things about Martin Luther, and I find that I have to discern on the things that are true, and those that might be true. I accept that he had a psychological problem (not a mental problem) in that he was to my mind overly scrupulous. I do not place any blame upon him in this matter. He was a victim of a heresy of his time and that meant he had a wrong idea about what was meant by works and he was too caught up about sin. As a result he needed to free himself from that bond (his slave bondage)so that he could love God in a fuller sense.

Some people blame Martin Luther for some of the bad things that happened in Germany. I do not blame him. I believe that he did not intend for such widespread lawlessness.

Do I think he was hot headed? Yes. Was he impetuous? Yes. Did his anger get the better of him? Yes. Well even for some of us who have a little bit of German in the blood it is hard not to be hot headed, and even intemperate at times.

What I am getting at here is that other Protestants who seem to dislike the Crucifix have moved away from the position of those early reformers and have reached a point where they indulge in what they term Christianity but it is as you say Susan, "fluffy bunny". I prefer the term "prissy".

Hi Maggie,

I appreciate your comment on Luther very much. Just as I get upset when Protestants are bigoted towards Catholics, I also don't like it when some Catholics try to portray Luther as an evil man. As you said, he just wanted to love God more fully and follow God's word.

I have heard that Luther believed in the perpetual virginity of Mary. I didn't know that he believed in the Assumption. I have just started reading a biography about Luther and I'm hoping it will provide more details about things like this.

Also, as you pointed out, he was very much against the lawlessness that occurred and my understanding is that he was heartsick over it.

I can be pretty hotheaded myself. (I've got German and Apache Indian blood in me, after all.) I think that Luther really struggled with anger and his temper. I can relate, because I have the same struggles.

Anyway, thanks again for your comments! :-)