Bruce

When I was a Protestant, I thought of and criticized Catholicism based on my experience with relatives and neighbors who claimed to be Catholics. I had no idea if these people actually believed and followed Catholic teachings because I had no idea what Catholic teaching actually was. Nor did I make a fair effort to learn. I saw people go to church on Sunday. I saw people pray the Rosary. I saw priests and nuns. I didn't know anything about the Church's actual teaching on any of these things, but spoke about them ignorantly. I knew nothing about the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I knew nothing about the Summa Theologica. I knew nothing about the Liturgy of the Hours. I knew nothing about religious orders in the Catholic Church. I knew nothing about the biblical commentaries of fathers and doctors of the Church I spoke ignorantly against what I saw on the surface, in the lives individuals who were on the outside edge of the Catholic Church, some of whom I realized later are not even practicing Catholics, they just identify as such. Most Protestants speaking against Catholicism have no idea what the Catholic Church actually is, does or teaches. They are, like I was, talking about what they see from a distance. In school, I was learning the need to research topics thoroughly, to consult primary sources, to test theories, to provide proofs for my assertions, etc., and I realized that I was not doing this with Catholicism. I decided to stop and learn. I began reading the Catechism, reading the Summa, reading the Church fathers, learning about the prayers of the Church and actually attended Mass. I quickly realized that the things I thought and said were groundless and false. I was arguing against a straw man that had nothing to do with real Catholicism. Yes, my Protestantism appeared better than my ignorant idea of Catholicism, but once I learned the truth about Catholicism, I left Protestantism and returned to communion with the apostles and saints in the Catholic Church.