[SecondAmendment]

No offense taken, I knew my post would be provocative, but it is an observation I have made through my conversion from a Catholic to a Lutheran.

Specifially:

• The Catholic church unilaterally asserts they are the only legitimate Christian Church
• Much of the Catholic Church's teachings are not grounded in scripture.
• The Church has dishonestly represented the views, teachings, and history of the Protestant churches, and especially the Lutherans
• The Church dismisses all Protestant criticisms with Ad-Homeinem attacks, never addressing the actual substance of any arguments.
• The Church has a very top down bureaucratic structure, always requiring a priest for any religious function
• The Church constantly pushes an agenda of "Social Justice", and personal sacrifice while having vast riches in the Vatican.
• The Church has actively shielded and protected priests from wrong doing instead of fully cooperating with the authorities.

This is of course not a blanket statement, there are many good Catholic lay people and Priests, but the issues I have listed are real and systematic within the Church.

Not to mention virtually all positions of the Church with the exception of Abortion and Birth Control are IDENTICAL to those of the Democrat Party (http://usccb.org).

[wideawake]

The Church dismisses all Protestant criticisms with Ad-Homeinem attacks, never addressing the actual substance of any arguments.

While I disagree with most of what you wrote, a good portion of it is a matter of personal opinion - except for this.

This statement is demonstrably false and should be obviously false to anyone who stops and thinks about it for one second.

Numerous Catholic theologians have spent long years explaining in great detail the substantial arguments against Protestant criticisms of the Church.

To ignore this fact is to ignore much of the history of the Reformation itself.

[Salvation]

**Not to mention virtually all positions of the Church with the exception of Abortion and Birth Control are IDENTICAL to those of the Democrat Party (http://usccb.org).**

Huh?

The Catholic Church has been the one and only Church to stand staunchly against

abortion
birth control and contraception
euthanasia
embryonic stem cell research
homosexual unions between a man and a man or a woman and a woman

Where have you been?

[verga]

Lets take a look at four of these: Much of the Catholic Church's teachings are not grounded in scripture.

Every Dogmatic teaching of the Catholic Church can be found in the Bible. Not all of them are found explicitly there, but each of them is there.

The Church has dishonestly represented the views, teachings, and history of the Protestant churches, and especially the Lutherans

Can you cite specific examples?

The Church dismisses all Protestant criticisms with Ad-Homeinem attacks, never addressing the actual substance of any arguments.

I believe that you are confusing "members of the Church" with the actual Church itself. The council of Trent was called to examine various official teachings, including the number of books in the Bible.

The Church has a very top down bureaucratic structure, always requiring a priest for any religious function

Well right off the bat anyone can perform a baptism. Even a non Catholic. I know of at least 2 cases where Jewish people have performed Catholic baptisms.

Second A priest is not required for a Catholic wedding. Friends of mine were married by a deacon. Jimmy Akin performed a wedding for his niece (IIRC). In a Catholic wedding the priest acts an observer to insure that the proper matter and form is followed, but it is not required.