I have come to realise that most of those that bash the Catholic Church's teachings know very little about the Catholic Church and what a practicing Catholic believe. I, as a life-long Catholic will try to correct some misconceptions here

1. The believe that Catholics elevate Mary to and above the place of Christ.

This one is straightforward false and you just need to attend a Catholic Mass to disprove the above notion. The most important celebration in the Catholic Church is the Holy Mass. The Mass is 100 percent Christ Focus. The Mass is actually a prayer of the faithfuls to God while offering Christ as the victim. He is both the victim and priest. We believe that the Mass is the greatest prayer because when God sees the Christ offered he pardons and answers just like he passed over when he saw the blood of the unblemished lamb on the door post of the isrealites.
The entire teaching of the Catholic Church is summarized thus; Jesus Christ born of the virgin Mary died to save mankind. Catholics spend 40days reflecting on Christ's ultimate sacrifice during lent(we preach Christ and him crucified).
Yes, Catholics rever Mary but never above Jesus. Mary's greatness comes from her important association with Christ, she therefore derives her greatness from Christ. She is the God bearer, Mother of God, the Ark of the covenant, the greatest woman that has ever lived(blessed are you amongst women and blessed is the fruit of your womb), she therefore shares in the blessing of Christ. As an analogy, I would love readers to imagine that it prophesied that Jesus will be born again by a girl in Nigeria, imagine the reverence that you will give to that girl.

2. That Catholics don't read the Bible.

Another false claim. Everyday at Mass passages are read from the Bible and one of them must be from the Gospel i.e one of the first four books of the New Testament. However, the Church does not depend on the written word alone but also on tradition. It must also be noted that there cannot be a contradiction between the written word and tradition. The critics of this must realize that the Bible is a product of tradition. I will explain this if anyone argues against it

3. That Catholics are not spiritual.

The answer to this is that Catholics are generally not hypocritical, they are more practical in their faith. It is not those that shout Lord Lord that will necessary be justified

4. That Catholics worship images

Well, there are a lot of statues that can be seen around and within a Catholic Church. One thing is certain however, No priest will ever tell u to give them worship. The statues basically help to remind us of what they depict. Nobody goes to the Church to worship any statue there but to pray and offer worship to Yahweh through his son Jesus Christ.
I will explain it this way, when a Catholic enters a Catholic church and sees the statue of St. Michael the archangel, with Angel Michael holding a sword and crushing the satan under his feet, he/she immediately is reminded of the defeat of satan as recorded in scriptures. He therefore connects with the scripture even before opening the Bible.

clefstone:
2. That Catholics don't read the Bible.

Another false claim. Everyday at Mass passages are read from the Bible and one of them must be from the Gospel i.e one of the first four books of the New Testament. However, the Church does not depend on the written word alone but also on tradition. It must also be noted that there cannot be a contradiction between the written word and tradition. The critics of this must realize that the Bible is a product of tradition. I will explain this if anyone argues against it

Most Catholics churches don't study and preach the Bible in details. Even during the reading of the gospel and the epistles, they have already prepared book which make most members rarely come to church with their bibles. It has made them depend on it.

clefstone:
3. That Catholics are not spiritual.

The answer to this is that Catholics are generally not hypocritical, they are more practical in their faith. It is not those that shout Lord Lord that will necessary be justified

Some Catholics charismatic and spiritual but most of them aren't spiritual.

clefstone:
4. That Catholics worship images

Well, there are a lot of statues that can be seen around and within a Catholic Church. One thing is certain however, No priest will ever tell u to give them worship. The statues basically help to remind us of what they depict. Nobody goes to the Church to worship any statue there but to pray and offer worship to Yahweh through his son Jesus Christ.
I will explain it this way, when a Catholic enters a Catholic church and sees the statue of St. Michael the archangel, with Angel Michael holding a sword and crushing the satan under his feet, he/she immediately is reminded of the defeat of satan as recorded in scriptures. He therefore connects with the scripture even before opening the Bible.

Catholics worship images although not all. Many of them cry to the statue of Mary for intercession. Many Catholics have altars of Mary statue built on it. They light candles at the altar before saying their prayers. At the end of recitations of 5 or more decade of the rosary, you hear words like
"Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, hail, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O merciful, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Amen"
All these are said facing the altar.

clefstone:
I have come to realise that most of those that bash the Catholic Church's teachings know very little about the Catholic Church and what a practicing Catholic believe. I, as a life-long Catholic will try to correct some misconceptions here

1. The believe that Catholics elevate Mary to and above the place of Christ.

This one is straightforward false and you just need to attend a Catholic Mass to disprove the above notion. The most important celebration in the Catholic Church is the Holy Mass. The Mass is 100 percent Christ Focus. The Mass is actually a prayer of the faithfuls to God while offering Christ as the victim. He is both the victim and priest. We believe that the Mass is the greatest prayer because when God sees the Christ offered he pardons and answers just like he passed over when he saw the blood of the unblemished lamb on the door post of the isrealites.
The entire teaching of the Catholic Church is summarized thus; Jesus Christ born of the virgin Mary died to save mankind. Catholics spend 40days reflecting on Christ's ultimate sacrifice during lent(we preach Christ and him crucified).
Yes, Catholics rever Mary but never above Jesus. Mary's greatness comes from her important association with Christ, she therefore derives her greatness from Christ. She is the God bearer, Mother of God, the Ark of the covenant, the greatest woman that has ever lived(blessed are you amongst women and blessed is the fruit of your womb), she therefore shares in the blessing of Christ. As an analogy, I would love readers to imagine that it prophesied that Jesus will be born again by a girl in Nigeria, imagine the reverence that you will give to that girl.

Mary is dead and shouldn't be honoured or reverence. The only person to be honoured and reverence is Jesus Christ. The Mary you guys are reverence is the Queen of heaven in Jeremiah 44:19 "
The women added, "When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?