Hi Laura,

Nice to hear from you again.

You said:

• Why do so many people disapprove of Catholics?
• Why do so many people scoff at Catholics and Catholic teachings?

Because, for many, it goes against their lifestyle; a lifestyle that would require them to change their sinful habits.

Some Christians, even Catholics, may say:

You have no right to tell me what to do or believe!

and they are correct!

It is their free will; but it is a free will they will be accountable for at their particular judgment: something our culture doesn't think about these days.

Instead of listening to the one Church Jesus established on St. Peter and his successors, they have made the decision to make themselves their own personal pope.

This is also known as Moral Relativism which says there are no absolute truths — that nothing is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. What is true and right [or false and wrong] is relative to the individual's opinion of what he or she considers true and right [or false and wrong]. What set of truths is true for you, Laura, is different for me, and the moral relativist says this is OK.
This, of course, would lead to chaos because people could:

• drive through red lights
• kill who ever they wished, or
• steel money that was not theirs
  
  and consider it a truth or good.

Practicing Catholics don't believe this. We believe moral Truths are absolute and intended for all people and can only be found in the Catholic Church established by the Truth, Jesus.

Catholics who follow the path of Moral Relativism are basically saying:

Hey, If I'm the Pope, I don't need that man over in Rome.

A Catholic whose actions and words are like that of a Protestant, does far more damage to the Church's image than any Protestant could do.

• Why?

Because the message is:

Catholics don't believe what they say. Just look at their words and actions.
e.g. Pro-abortion politicians who are Catholic ?

They are just a bunch of hypocrites.

The Church would reply: Yes, we do have our hypocrites, but not everyone in the Church is a hypocrite. The majority of our Church consist of holy, practicing Catholics. You just won't hear about them on the 6 o'clock news. We are a Church of sinners and Church of saints at the same time. This is one of the main reasons I love being Catholic!

You said:
There are so many people who don't think Catholics are Christian and they refuse to hear any explanation otherwise.

• So my question is, why are so many Christians against Catholics?

Because of ignorance and a lack of open-mindedness. Archbishop Fulton Sheen said:

"There are not more than 100 people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive to be the Catholic Church."

The Archbishop's comments are the exact reason why AskACatholic.com got started:

• to clarify misperceptions about the Catholic faith, and ... for lay Catholics
• to let them know:
  • It's OK and healthy to ask questions about your faith!

Sadly, I have heard from more than one person of stories where elderly Catholics were told, growing up with the nuns, that one shouldn't ask any questions about the faith. This is not right and does not respect our God-given intellect. Truth has nothing to be afraid of and Catholic religious should know this.

Besides being ignorant of the faith another reason Protestants tend to be against Catholics is because many times they have never heard the other side of the story, but only what their Sunday Protestant preacher has instilled into them. Most, if not all the time, this is based on Sunday Protestant preachers using the Bible like a Catechism along with the non-Biblical premise that the Bible is the sole rule of faith. [The Bible has never been a Catechism nor was ever intended to be used as a Catechism of Christian doctrine.]

If our separated brethren are not open to hearing what we have to say, that's not our fault.

Finally, they have never heard the reasoning why the Church had to use the word Catholic to describe Herself. I hadn't until I found the quote on the home page of my web site by St. Pacian of Barcelona, (c.310-375 A.D.)

The only way to remove the ignorance, inside as well as outside, of the Church is by promoting Catholic Apologetics at the diocesan and parish level.

This is also why I believe Catholic apologetics support groups at the CCD or teenager level is critical to preserving evangelical, holy Catholics for generations to come. It has to start at the CCD level!

Not knowing the answer to a question from a separated brethren is just being human.
The key to solid faith-sharing is:

• the Catholic's willingness to research and find the correct answer and
• an openness and patience from the Protestant to receiving an answer

Evangelization and Apologetics compliment each other.

You said:

• What did we do, to warrant such loathing from some Protestant and born again's and others?

1. We allowed bad, scandalous behavior in our Church to go unchecked and this resulted in people, some inside and some outside the Church, to be hurt in some manner.
2. We never evangelized our CCD students
3. We never catechized our CCD students
4. We didn't prepare the lay faithful to answer questions among our own believers about the faith.
5. We didn't prepare the lay faithful to answer questions from non-believers, and sadly the root of this is
6. We allowed a seminary culture to decline in moral standards. This has to improve so a personal prayer life takes precedence. We can't go back to the 2002 crisis. If a seminary professor is dismissed from any Catholic seminary, all Catholic seminaries should be aware of his dismissal, so no seminary unknowingly accepts him back.

You said:

• Sure, our religion is strict; sure we have slightly different beliefs, but is that really a reason to condemn us?

No, it isn't. A healthy attitude toward faith-sharing is what is needed. This includes:

• daily prayer and study
• living a good sacramental life, especially not doing dumb things like going to Communion after committing a mortal sin, and
• an open-mindedness toward the other's view point

My faith-sharing philosophy is:

"Agreeing to agree and agreeing to disagree, while still being friends."

It is despite our disagreements in religious beliefs that friends can still be friends.

Hope this helps,

Mike