First, I am Catholic, and so is this other guy.
I responded to him and asked, "Do you remember how you felt when the first news about Catholic priest abuses in Boston broke, a couple of decades ago?"
He replied, "I was sort of numbed with disbelief."
"Okay," I continued, "and have you ever thought about how such a scandal could exist for so long, not to mention other scandals? Have you ever thought about the power structure at the top levels of the church administration that manipulated things to keep all the scandals a secret?"
"I guess I never thought of it that way," he replied.
"Well, " I said, "do you think that the the Catholic church is the only entity in the history of the world to have a power structure, and secret scandals, etc.?"
Silence.
"And so," I added, "by simple extrapolation, I am confident that a relatively tiny number of people in the highest positions among the governments, corporations and other institutions are all busy pushing their agendas, and protecting their secrets. And if that's true, it's probably just as true that an even higher level of controllers are orchestrating things to their advantage and to further their agenda."
Deer in the headlights stare.
Catholics don't pray to Mary. And the sins of man (even ones this heinous) don't and have never changed the fact that the Church is the spotless Bride of Christ, made spotless by His Blood, as are we all.
They have this prayer called the Hail Mary....
Hes avoiding the questions. Why not statues of grandmother Mary to pray to? They just spew dogma instead of giving clear answers. Kinda like masons they act like they have some secret knowledge. To proud to admit they was lied to and still believe the garbage.. Lol
One, the First half of the Hail Mary is straight out of the bible, even the King James version. Two, the second half is simply a request for Mary to intercede with her son Jesus to listen to our prayers Ie. remember when Jesus tells her at the wedding feast at Canna that its not his time and she tells the servants "do what ever he tells you" and Jesus honors his earthly mother's request. Third read The Perfect Protestant and Catholic Prayer by Peter Ingemi "Hail Mary"
Which verse directs us to pray to Mary? I recall Christ telling us directly to pray to the Father.
Where does it say Mary is the intercessor? I recall Christ is the intercessor.
Why do you pray to angels?
I recall that John was told not to worship an angel when he mistook one for God in the book of Revelation.
All sin is equal in the eyes of the father. There is no degree of sins. So your "HEINOUS sin" rings hallow. No such thing. Sin is sin.
Where's grandmother Mary's statue and necklace. Is she not just as important? Was she not preordained by God to birth the one preordained to birth Jesus. Does the holy reverence end at Mary. Where's the granny statues?