My 101 Reasons for Leaving the Catholic Church:

Sacramentals

What are they?

Tom and his parents entered the church. Pausing at the door, each dipped the fingers of their right hand into a bowl of holy water, then made the sign of the cross, touching their wet fingers to their forehead, chest, left shoulder and right shoulders, respectively. After MASS, Tom's mother walked reverently past the STATIONS OF THE CROSS, arriving at the corner of the church. Placing a dollar bill into an offering box, she lit one of several candles that were placed in front of a STATUE of the VIRGIN MARY. She then knelt and prayed. After church, the family went home, asking the Lord to bless them and their food before eating Sunday brunch.

All of the following are sacramentals: the holy water, the sign of the cross, the STATIONS OF THE CROSS, the candles, the statue of Mary, and the pre-meal blessing.

Sacramentals are sacred signs that signify blessings which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sacramentals themselves do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit. Only the sacraments can do that. Rather, the use of sacramentals prepare the person to receive grace and dispose the person to cooperate with it. The sacramentals also sanctify the person in their life's circumstances.

What types of blessings can the church confer? First and foremost is the removal of the consequences of VENIAL SIN. The Catholic Church teaches that there are major and minor sins. Major sins, also known as mortal, separate a person from the graces of the Church and of God. Unless CONFESSION is made to a priest, the person's ultimate destination is hell. Venial sins, on the other hand, do not cause such eternal separation. They do, however, require that satisfaction be made before entrance into heaven. This payment can be made either here on earth, or after death through suffering in PURGATORY. The proper use of sacramentals can remit the temporal consequences of sin.

Sacramentals frequently differ from culture to culture. Sacramentals that are recognized by the Catholic Church include PILGRAMAGES, the VENERATION OF RELICS, the ROSARY, the wearing of sacred MEDALS or SCAPULARS, the burning of incense, and religious dances.

How did they come about ?

The use of sacramentals sometimes develops "from the ground up." The sacramentals start as forms of popular piety. The Catholic Church recognizes that such usage can lead to superstition. "Pastoral discernment is needed to sustain and support popular piety and, if necessary, to purify and correct the religious sense which underlies these devotions so that the faithful may advance in knowledge of the mystery of Christ. Their exercise is subject to the care and judgment of the bishops and to the general norms of the Church." (CCC 1676). At other times, sacramentals have been instituted supernaturally by an APPARITION OF MARY. And others have been created by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

A fourth century bishop, Scrapion, blessed holy water and offered it for the removal of sickness or evil spirits. Pope Leo IV (847-855) required that the priest bless water for use every Sunday and to sprinkle the people. Holy water is sprinkled on the casket of a deceased Catholic. Holy water may also be taken home in small vials for private use.

The sign of the cross is supposedly traced back to the fourth century. The armies of Constantine and Maxentius were fighting each other in a civil war. The night before the decisive battle at Milvian Bridge, Constantine allegedly saw a vision of a large cross with the inscription "in this sign you shall conquer." Constantine used the sign of the cross the next day, and won the victory. His mother, Helena, visited the Holy Land in search of the actual cross of Christ. Almost 300 years after the crucifixion, she allegedly found three crosses. It was determined that these were the ones upon which Christ and the two criminals were killed. To distinguish the true cross, a funeral procession was halted, and each cross was held over the dead body; when the third cross was held over the body, the corpse revived. The CRUCIFIX (a replica of the cross with the corpse of Christ) is itself an important sacramental used by devout Catholics. A larger than life-size crucifix is prominently placed behind the altar in most Catholic churches.

Unfortunately, sometimes the use of sacramentals can have a detrimental or deleterious effect. Nadab and Abihu, two sons of Aaron, were struck down by God for using sacramentals (Lev. 10).

Why they are wrong:

1) ...because they promote superstition and false worship;

2) ...because the use of sacramentals for worship minimizes the use of the Scriptures -- thereby promoting ignorance of God;

3) ...because the Catholic Church has no authority to act as a mediator of graces based on the use of sacramentals;

4) ...because sacramentals often devolve into idolatry, which God abhors.

Warnings from Scripture:

The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands? And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men." Mk. 7:5-8

All Scripture is inspired by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, an will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Tim. 4:3-4