At the Easter Vigil Mass of 2014, I finalized my conversion to Catholicism. I entered the Church for the first time and have never regretted it. However, prior to and during my conversion I had to deal with many things which I thought I understood about Catholicism, but actually didn’t. Here are the top four things that I find are most misconceived about the Catholic Church

1. We Worship Mary and Other Saints

Catholics believe that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was without sin. Additionally, Mary is shown great authority and respect by both Jesus and his Apostles. Revelation also shows Her crowned as Queen of Heaven and Earth. So, we ask Mary (and other Saints who we know are in heaven) to pray with us and for us (intercession) to God. This is similar to asking for a friend to pray for us, since we believe those in heaven can hear our pleas.

2. Transubstantiation (Communion)

In extreme cases, I’ve heard people compare Communion in Catholic Churches to cannibalism, since Catholics believe that Communion contains the actual Body and Blood of Christ. In order to really grasp the concept you need a little background in Aristotelian physics. Aristotle taught that anything in the universe has two parts: substance (defined as it’s purpose; also called its soul) and forms (its attributes). For example, an axe has a purpose, which is to cut. But it also has attributes that can change (size, shape, color, etc.), but its purpose stays the same. The same applies to Communion but in reverse. The bread and wine both have a particular flavor, color, appearance, etc. But during Communion, it’s the substance that changes. It becomes the Body and Blood of Christ in its most basic of substance, not in its characteristics.

3. Purgatory

People often confuse Purgatory with the fictional Limbo from Dante’s Inferno. To clarify, Catholics do not believe in Limbo; it’s fictional. Additionally, Catholics do not believe that the unbaptized go to some semi-hell place that can never go to heaven. Purgatory is a sort of pre-Heaven. Individuals who are in a state of grace but have sin (venial sins) are cleansed of those sins before entering heaven. The Bible says, “Nothing unclean can enter heaven.” So Purgatory is where that cleansing is done.

4. Venial and Mortal Sins

I’ve heard criticisms of the Catholic stance on sin, saying that, “all sin is equal.” As Catholics, we share these views with a few slight differences. We believe that some sins are minor infractions (venial sins) and other are explicitly against God’s most sacred laws, the Ten Commandments (mortal sins). This is similar to a legal code; something can be a serious crime like a felony or a lesser crime, a misdemeanor.

This list could continue forever, explaining a 2000 year old faith to millions of people with millions of questions. I'm new to the faith and only know so much. For more information check out http://www.catholic.org/