First of all, why you would post this thread in on a site with very few Catholics, is beyond me. Perhaps so you can have a bunch of people agree with you and no one say other wise. If you want to really make a difference, go to
www.catholicanswers.com, post it there, and see what kind of replies you get. Secondly, in no way am I saying the Catholic church is perfect. But honestly. Is there a perfect denomination here on earth? Not likely. As I'm reading here, though, it would seem you have a twisted view of the Catholic church. So, I'm going to try to inform you a little of why Catholics think the way they do.
The Catholic church bows down to Mary, and that in itself is IDOLATRY!
The Catholic church does not worship Mary. Perhaps there are some people within the Catholic church that do this, but it is not the teaching of the Church. The Church teaches that Mary is a "role-model" of sorts. They feel that Jesus would have had a close relationship with His mother, like any child does, and would expect us to do the same. Catholics hold Mary as a very good example of a Christian. Nothing more. There's a huge difference between veneration and worship. Catholics do not, by any means, see Mary as divine.
Mary is not the mediator or someone to pray to. The scriptures REFUTE this heresy clearly:
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6
Catholics don't pray to Mary thinking that Mary does miracles or answers their prayers. They "pray" to Mary asking her to pray to Jesus who will mediate to God. Sounds like quite the roundabout way, but think about it. For the most part, Christians ask each other for prayer. I'd ask you to pray for me if I was ill or struggling. If I'm not mistaken, prayer is part of our spiritual being. As Christians, we believe that when we die, it's only our bodies that perish. Our souls go on. Would it not make sense, then, that we would still be able to pray to God? Catholics are simply asking their brothers/sisters in Christ to pray for them. They aren't expecting the saint or Mary to answer the prayer.
The vatican cannot forgive people of their sins! All mankind has sinned, Jesus is the ONLY perfect lamb of God.
Why, then, did Jesus command his disciples to go out and forgive? (Jesus said..."As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (John 20:21-23)). If Jesus needed them to go out and forgive, does he not still need people to forgive now?
2 Cor 5:18-19 "...gave us the ministry of reconciliation..."
2 Cor 2:10-11 "What I have forgiven... in the presence of Christ..." Paul has forgiven people's sins in the name of Christ.
James 5:14-16 "...Let him call for the elders of the church... he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another..."
Transubstantiation is blasphemy and satanic! Jesus died ONCE, it is a FINISHED! Catholics teach the bread and the wine become the literal blood and body of Christ! That is cannibalism! The mass is so anti-Christian, it just boggles the mind why any Christian would support it!
"This is my body. This is my blood. Do THIS in memory of me."
There is no where in there that would suggest it be literal or symbolic. There's no way to say what is right and what is wrong. Perhaps it is just a symbol. Perhaps it isn't.
Jesus said "Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and died ...I am the living bread that came down from heaven ...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man you will not have life within you."
52 The Jews argued with each other, saying, "How is this man able to give us his flesh to eat?" 53 JESUS said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you. If you should not eat the flesh of the SON OF MAN and you should not drink HIS blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 The (person) gnawing on MY flesh and drinking MY blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For MY flesh is true food and MY blood is true drink. 56 The (person) gnawing on MY flesh and drinking MY blood remains in me and I (remain) in him. 57 In the same way the Living Father sent me and I live through the Father, the (person) gnawing on MY flesh will also live through me. 58 This is the bread having come down from heaven, unlike (the manna which our) ancestors ate and (then) died. The (person) gnawing on this bread will into the age (of the Kingdom)."
After this passage, it's said that many people left Jesus. Why was He not like "Hold up guys. I was only talking metaphorically here. You don't REALLY have to eat me. Come back." ?
The Roman Catholics also teach a works salvation heresy. Their favorite book of the Bible is James which if you read it in the whole scope of the Word, it is saying that our good works are a FRUIT of GENUINE faith in Christ. We are approved in the eyes of men, but God looks at the heart(1 Samuel 16:7).
The Catholic church does not teach that you get to heaven by works. Like you or I, the Catholic church teaches that you get to heaven by grace alone. It is only through the death and resurection of Jesus that anyone may get to heaven. They do, however, teach that faith without works is dead. Where you came up with the "James is their favorite book of the Bible" is kind of hilarious and pulled out of the air, but that's a whole other story.
The Catholic church IN NO WAY believes that Mary, saints, works, the pope, etc can save them. It's all Jesus. They're quite aware of this.
Now, I'm not a theologian, so I'm sure there's way better ways of going about these things, but I just wanted you to get the other side of the story. It sounds to me that you've been given false teachings of the Catholic church and formed your opinions from them. Why not trying to read the Catholic catechism, or perhaps just "Catholicism for Dummies."
I'm not trying to convert you into Catholicism or anything like that. I just don't think it's quite fair to be putting words into Catholic's mouths or describing misconceptions of them as truth. Sure, Catholics aren't perfect. But isn't that the whole point of being human?