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I just dealt with a poster who impersonated a Catholic until I called her on it

That's actually standard practice among some antiCatholics. Most of the groups claim to have "former priests" on staff, whom they quote as sources for their distortions. When one objects that it is impossible for even the most poorly educated of priests to believe what they publish, they reply that there is really a secret conspiracy to keep the "real" (i.e., demonic) Catholic teachings from the laity, and that any published documents are merely for public consumption. What "really" goes on in the Vatican is known only to a select few, among whom is the "priest" they have on a leash, so to speak.

It's standard conspiracy-theory kookery, of course, but that's an inherent part of antiCatholic bigotry. You may recall the rumors these people were propagating around JFK's candidacy (and Al Smith's, but he was before my time) that the Pope would push a button, and the secret Vatican decoder-rings which all Catholics receive at their antiBiblical confirmation would glow Marian blue, the signal to mobilize an army to subvert the sovereignty of the United States.

Some of this stuff can be partially penetrated by asking one's interlocutor to submit to a little quiz. I usually ask one who expresses outrage at an out-of-context passage from the Catechism how many Biblical citations, roughly, say order of magnitude, are to be found in that document. They're never anywhere close to a correct answer, because they don't actually read the full 700 pages or so; instead they get passages exerpted and distorted through the lens of one bigoted organization or another.

It helps to know a bit about the tactics you're up against.

It's standard conspiracy-theory kookery, of course, but that's an inherent part of antiCatholic bigotry.

Astute observation...like their revisionist histories they can't prove because "the Catholics destroyed all evidence that the baptists existed from the time of the Apostles and were the only true Church." Its kinda like historical gnosticism..."only us fundamentalists know the Real history of Christianity...come join us and we'll fill you in..."

the Pope would push a button, and the secret Vatican decoder-rings which all Catholics receive at their antiBiblical confirmation would glow Marian blue, the signal to mobilize an army to subvert the sovereignty of the United States.

LOL! I apologize, but that is just ludicrous. As any Catholic knows, the Marian (spiritual) weapon of choice is the Rosary. I just read Our Lady of Fatima's Peace Plan from Heaven (Tan Books, ISBN 0-89555-217-5) and will try to improve my efforts.

When a person starts deliberately lying in their anti-Catholic diatribes, you know you are dealing with the demonic. A lot of this nonsense is based on pseudo-historical fantasies. From very early on, the early Christians have the core of Catholic beliefs and sacramental practices. The whole idea of this grand leap from the third to the sixteenth century essentially denies the whole idea of the Holy Spirit and of Christ founding the Church. I mean why stop at the sixteenth century? Why not argue we didn't "discover" ancient Christianity until the 1960s? That makes about as much sense. But then...which 16th-century or 1960s heretical/schismatic sect or cult do you choose from out of the hundreds - indeed, thousands - of possibilities? Gnostic eschatology creates more confusion than it can claim to solve. And, of course, you would have to throw out the whole canon of the Bible if you adhere to the Catholicism-as-evil theory. The whole concept of organizing the New Testament books into an authoritative canon is a product of the early "Catholic" Christians. End of story.