Rochester

Country: United States
State or province: New York

Team Leader
James Scheer
Contact

Admin
Login

Team Badges

Recent Blog Posts

• Rochester NY public market

• St. John Bosco School Presentation

• Saturday, September 26 at the Rochester Public Market

• Geneva Farmers Market: Thursday, September 24

• Students Choose Evangelization as Their Research and Service Project

An Interesting Encounter

September 16, 2019

From Karen Bernhardt Kuntz

This morning (June 14) at the Public Market I had an interesting conversation with a woman for whom I would like to ask you to pray.

When I offered her a Rosary, she said “No thank you.” Then she asked “When you pray the Rosary, who are you praying to?” And I said “We are praying to God.” She said “Catholics pray to Mary and the Saints, and that constitutes worship, which is idolatry.” I said “If we did worship Mary and the Saints, that would INDEED be idolatry. But Catholics do NOT worship Mary and the Saints. In fact, we do not even pray TO Mary and the Saints. Rather, we ask them to pray for us – to intercede for us.” She said “Where is that in the Bible?” I told her that in Revelation we read about the Saints around the throne of God and how their prayers rise up to God, mingled with incense. She said “The Bible says there is only one intercessor between God and man, and that is Jesus.” I said,”Actually the Bible says there is only one MEDIATOR between God and man, and that is Jesus. But we can have many intercessors.” I said, “For instance, if I asked you to pray for me now, you would be an intercessor for me.” She said, “Well, that’s different. I’m living and I’m standing right here beside you.” I said “It’s true that you are living, and your prayer for me can be very effective. As Catholics, we believe that the Saints in Heaven are also very much alive. Imagine how effective their prayers are, because they are in the very presence of God!” At that point she turned away and shot back at me “I hope you find the truth some day.” I said “Thank you for your concern. I have found the Truth. God bless you – have a nice day!”

As I said, please pray for this woman. Obviously she is coming from a place of many misunderstandings about the Catholic faith. Thank you!