Over the last two years, as I moved back to the Catholic Church, I have been confronted with objections by several people regarding certain Catholic teachings. These concerns are almost always the same, and are founded in mythology created by the Watchtower Society, and some evangelical denominations. It is almost as though some ex-JWs unwittingly carry these myths with them and do not realize that they can drop these myths ... without requiring them to join anything.
The following are some of the most common issues that I wish to address:
Papal Infallibility: This is a most unfortunate issue that gets completely twisted from reality. The Pope is a fallible man. He is a sinner as we all are. He has to put faith in Jesus and live in cooperation with the Holy Spirit as any Christian. The best way to describe how he can then be infallible is this: Nearly all Christians, both Catholic, Orthodox, and non-Catholic accept the Bible as inspired of God, and hence inerrant or infallible. The Bible was written by fallible sinful men. St. Peter who denied Jesus with a curse wrote two NT books. God can and does use fallible men to do infallible things? The RCC has always held that the Holy Spirit protects the Church from inerrant teaching ... not necessarily inerrant conduct as evidenced by the seven congregations Jesus strongly counseled in the book of Revelation ... hence its "teachings" are considered without error. Since the Pope is the chief spokesman of the Church, then when he speaks on matters of "faith and morals" it cannot deviate from Church teaching, and cannot run against scripture. So, in this sense, just as the Apostles and other Bible writers wrote infallible words, the Pope can be and is used in an infallible way. Popes do not make willy-nilly rulings and tell people how to live their lives as the JW Governing Body does. And when Popes have said and done wrong things, the Catholic Church has been quite critical of them, and one can find this in Catholic history as well as secular history.
Hellfire: This doctrine is blown out of proportion by the JWs ... all the while the JWs use Armageddon and eternal death in the same scare tactic way that they condemn the Churches of Christendom. I was taught in my youth that Hell is eternal "separation" from God. It is expressed in terms of eternal torment because that has been Christian teachings from the beginning of the faith ... one cannot read hisotry and the early Christian writers and miss this teaching. Christians of all denominations are normally not led to be scared of a literal firey hell ... Hell does not dominate our thinking ... so to hold it up in the way JWs would, as some object of proof that one's faith is not valid, is not correct.
Praying to St. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and praying to the Saints: This doctrine has been greatly maligned by non-Catholic denominations in the last couple of hundred years. The Watchtower is no exception. Catholics and Orthodox hold a long, nearly 2000-year, historic view that the Saints are in heaven, alive, and are watching over us. The Aposles Creed, a statement of faith dating back in various forms to the early 2nd century, and somewhat into the first century, holds that "... we believe in the communion of Saints, ..." which means that one can talk to a Saint just as one would talk to a close member of one's family or a close friend. Such prayer is not considered an act of worship. In fact, I can find no scripture that would limit our contact to only the Father, nor any that prohibits contact with the Angels or Saints. To a Catholic, such "prayer' is a mere form of communication to ask a Saint of special interest to pray for us, to help us in our walk with God. Perhaps you have asked someone in your family to pray for you, and look out for you? It is meant the same way to Catholics.
Note: Some will cite Catholic sources where the word 'worship' is used in conjunction with the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is a situation where the term 'worship' is confused with veneration, for no self-respecting Catholic or Orthodox would ever worship Mary as they would God.
Exclusively the Only True Church: Neither Rome nor Constantinople hold that the only true Christians are located within their walls. They both recognize that Christians are found everywhere. When one becomes a Catholic, one comes to develop a flavor for this word meaning 'universal' and that the Catholic faith accepts people as brothers and sisters who are in other denominations. What Rome and Constantinople do hold to is that they are the "full expressions" of the historic apostolic faith as it was handed down through centuries directly from the Apostles. With them come the seven Sacraments, and the fullness of the Church. It would be cruel, unloving, and judgmental to treat non-Catholic Christians as anything less than our bretheran.
There are other issues, but these have been most commonly asked ... and yes, the Church has made many mistakes and serious sins ... as we all have as individuals. She admits her errors and one can read her history that she and others have written to know this honest admission. The Christian faith is not for perfect sinless people ... rather it should be a spiritual hospital for the sick ... a place to recover and grow in love. If one is looking for a place where perfection is demanded and enforced, one only has to look as far as the Watchtower Society.
Jim Whitney