Posted on 10/17/2017 10:42:27 AM PDT by ebb tide
It is no more idolatry than Mount Rushmore or Stone Mountain.
Neither am I. It is some combination of voodoo and abuse of a corpse, and is perhaps the most impossible thing to try and explain to non-Catholics.
"Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet."
Well, I don't look at Mt. Rushmore or Stone Mountain as a collection of relics, nor do I pray to them. I still feel that it would be more appropriate to bury the poor guy's head rather than carrying it around and treating it like it was still worthy of reverence.
It's hard to believe that when all the prayers and attention are aimed straight at that object with the maximum of reverence, that there isn't some kind of idolatry.
"God did extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them. Acts 19:11-12"
Still happens in our churches.
Sorry about yours.
Actually, NO. It is NOT idolatry, which is the WORSHIP of false gods or artifacts. This decapitated head is regarded with great respect and VENERATED, (revered) not worshiped, for its place in Roman Catholic history. The purpose is to inspire others to have and display the same great faith that he did, much like a Congressional Medal of Honor exhibit in a fine military museum.
This is true idolatry.
Veneration of the holy saints of God is not idolatry. On the contrary, it is an acknowledgment of the power of God to sanctify and redeem.
Perhaps only for a lax Catholic to explain.
Kinda’ sounds like our Rock and Roll Hall of Fame here in Cleveland where we have the shirt worn by so and so, the guitar played by so and so, the music stand used by so and so, etc., etc., ad nauseum. And the “relics” are behind glass, handled as if they were holy, etc., etc., ad nauseum.
Do you not have family photographs “behind glass”? Are they idols?
Only if I were remembered in their wills.
Meanwhile, the Church is dealing in relics, skulls, bones - even tongues!
The hypocrisy infuriates me.
I’m surprised, as Catholics, that your dad was cremated. That’s something new since VII.
“...nor do I pray to them.”
Neither do we. You’re a product of public education aren’t you?
“The hypocrisy infuriates me.”
There is no hypocrisy there.
The relics of known saints and martyrs are venerated and often displayed so that people can easily venerate them.
Your father’s remains needed to be properly entombed. If he were a known saint, a canonized saint, or a martyr, then things might be different.
We’re talking about two different categories of remains and they are treated in two different ways. That’s not hypocrisy.
No, a product of Catholic education. And even then, I always wondered about praying to "things."
“No, a product of Catholic education. And even then, I always wondered about praying to “things.””
So you always wondered about something that none of us does? We venerate the relic. We don’t pray to it.
In his Letter to Riparius, St. Jerome (d. 420 AD) wrote in defense of relics, saying, We do not worship, we do not adore, for fear that we should bow down to the creature rather than to the Creator, but we venerate the relics of the martyrs in order the better to adore Him whose martyrs they are. https://aleteia.org/2016/08/01/4-quick-facts-about-the-veneration-of-relics/
https://www.catholic.com/tract/relics
The fact that you actually think venerating relics includes praying to them (when it doesn’t) makes me doubt that you have a Catholic education despite your claim to it.
Perhaps you’re confusing venerating the saint (which would include prayers of petition for intercession for instance) with veneration of their relics which includes no prayers to the relics at all. It’s the information age. There’s no reason to make mistakes like that as an adult. Try harder.
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