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Bjoern Mandl wrote: |
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Hi, guys —
- Why are there so many pictures of people (and statues of people) in Catholic churches?
- Isn't that idolatry?
- What if a person wants to become a priest and is uncomfortable praying and bowing down in front of statues and pictures?
- When people bow down in front of statues in church, isn't that exposing them to temptation?
- How can I deal with these questions and the conscious objections seeing the Bible says it is so idolatrous?
- How can I deal with that?
Bjoern
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| { Why are there pictures of people and statues in Catholic churches and can priests wear beards? } |
Eric replied:
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Bjoern,
This was a debate that raged in the 8th century and was finally settled by the Second Council of Nicaea (the 7th Ecumenical Council) in 787 A.D. They condemned Iconoclasm (the idea that you propose that using images in worship is an error) as a heresy and ruled that images used in worship are legitimate.
It's not idolatry because in the case of images of persons of the Holy Trinity, the honor passes over to the prototype (just as, if you might for example kiss a photo of your mother, you're intending to honor your mother, not the photo). Distinctions have been carefully made about the kind of honor being given to images.
- The worship and adoration due to God alone is called latria.
- The veneration due to the saints is called dulia,
- with a special case of the Mother of God, which is called hyperdulia.
Thus we don't worship saints in the way we worship God.
Whether someone is worshipping or adoring an image is something that is determined by the intent of their heart. It would be wrong to bow down in front of an image intending to offer it the worship and adoration due to God alone, or to venerate the stone or plaster of a statue. It would not be wrong to bow down in front of an image to pick up a piece of trash on the floor, or to give right honor to the person the image represents. It looks the same, but what distinguishes it is the intent. As long as your intent is right, you are good.
Note that as a priest you'd be required to do things such as:
- venerate the relics of an altar at the beginning of each liturgy (if you are a Roman Rite priest) or
- bow down before icons and incense them (if you are a Byzantine Rite priest).
This is really a question you need to wrestle with and resolve before you enter seminary.
Eric |
Bjoern replied:
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Thanks Eric!
- Do Catholic parishes and church buildings exist where there are no pictures and statues in them or do they usually have pictures and statues?
Because of what the Bible says and what is written about idolatry, I am always confused on how to behave when I am in one of those buildings or churches. I just sit there and do nothing and watch. I just look at the pictures and listen, like in school class.
- Maybe the environment is meant to be just like a school class and not like a place of prayer?
I also noticed, people uncover their heads and priests have no beards.
- Why don't priests have beards in Catholic churches?
Bjoern
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Eric replied:
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Bjoern —
No, there are no Catholic buildings that have no pictures or statues of people. They are required to be present in Catholic churches.
Priests do have beards in the Catholic Church, especially in the Eastern Catholic churches. Historically, it has been rare because it used to be forbidden, owing to the ancient Roman custom of being clean-shaven.
- About uncovering heads, are you referring specifically to men, specifically to women, or both?
It would help me answer your questions better if you told me where you live.
Eric
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Bjoern replied:
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Hi Eric,
If I correctly understand what you said, pictures and statues are required in Catholic churches.
I am now in Trieste in Northern Italy on the border of Slovenia. If I go to the Catholic Church here or in Southern Austria or Slovenia, priests usually are shaved and have shortened hair.
- Can priests in the Catholic Church have long hair and a long beard?
I have seen Franciscans with beards and Cistercian monks with long beards and a Capuchin in Austria with a long beard but priests at Masses are usually shaved here.
I have a long beard myself. One day a woman said to me,
- "Ah, you are not a Catholic because you have a beard, what kind of religion are you?"
so I didn't know whether it was forbidden in the Catholic Church and felt uncomfortable going there as I would have a conscious objective to shaving my beard.
Bjoern
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Eric replied:
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Dear Bjoern,
You said:
If I correctly understand what you said, pictures and statues are required in Catholic churches.
Because of the Incarnation. Images were forbidden before Christ because God was only spirit and had no tangible form, and the primitive Israelites kept falling into the idolatry of their neighbors. But in Christ, God became man and took on human flesh. He united humanity and divinity; he is a living icon of God.
In a greater sense, God united spirit and matter; this is why we have the sacraments, which use tangible things to convey grace:
- bread and wine in the Eucharist
- water in Baptism
- oil in Confirmation/Chrismation, Anointing of the Sick, and ordination.
Images are an expression of the Incarnation.
You said:
I am now in Trieste in Northern Italy on the border of Slovenia.
Thanks, that helps some.
You said:
If I go to the Catholic Church here or in Southern Austria or Slovenia, priests usually are shaved and have shortened hair.
- Can priests in the Catholic Church have long hair and a long beard?
I think it would depend on the norms his bishop has laid down, although apparently in the 19th century the pope forbade beards (again). Whether that still applies today, I am not sure; I know it doesn't apply to certain religious orders. Here is more information for you on the topic:
"In the earliest times the shaving of the hair on the face was considered effeminate (Clem. Al. "Pædagog." iii. 11), and the beard was worn by clergy and laity alike. Early, however, in the Middle Ages, ecclesiastics in the West shaved off the beard (Bede, "H. E." iv. 14), and this custom furnished Photius, in 867, with the ground for one of the reproaches which he made against the Latins. Pope Gregory VII. required the Archbishop of Cagliari and his clergy to shave, and from the twelfth century onwards, all through the Middle Ages, synods were constantly enforcing the rule, "Clerici barbam ne nutriant." In the middle of the sixteenth century the clerical beard again came into fashion, and the beard is seen on the portraits of the Popes from Paul III. to Innocent XII. Synods now simply required that the beard should not be too long. At the end of the seventeenth century fashion changed again, under French influence. And when some of the Bavarian priests began to wear the beard, Pius IX, in a brief dated 1863, commissioned the Nuncio at Munich to see that the bishops put a stop to the innovation. This rule, of course, does not apply to an order like that of the Capuchins, with whom the beard is no novelty. [Talhofer, in the new edition of the "Kirchenlexikon."]
(Addis, William E., and Thomas Arnold, A Catholic Dictionary (New York: The Catholic Publication Society Co., 1887), p. 926) |
"In spite of this, the phrase barbam nutrire which was classical in the matter and was still used by the Fifth Council of Lateran (1512), always remained somewhat ambiguous. Consequently, usage in the sixteenth century began to interpret the prohibition as not inconsistent with a short beard. There are still many ordinances of episcopal synods which deal with the subject, but the point upon which stress is laid is that the clergy "should not seem to be aping the fashions of military folk" or wearing flowing beards like goats (hircorum et caprarum more), or allowing the hair on their upper lip to impede their drinking of the chalice. This last has always been accounted a solid reason in favor of the practice of shaving. To judge by the portraits of the popes, it was with Clement VII (1523) that a distinct beard began to be worn, and many among his successors, for example Paul III, allowed the beard to grow to considerable length. St. Charles Borromeo attempted to check the spread of the new fashion, and in 1576 he addressed to his clergy a pastoral "De barbâ radendâ" exhorting them to observe the canons. Still, though the length of clerical beards decreased during the seventeenth century, it was not until its close that the example of the French court and the influence of Cardinal Orsini, Archbishop of Beneventum, contributed to bring about a return to the earlier usage. For the last 200 years there has been no change, and an attempt made by some of the clergy of Bavaria in 1865 to introduce the wearing of beards was rebuked by the Holy See. As already noted, in Eastern lands a smooth face carries with it the suggestion of effeminacy. For this reason the clergy, whether Catholic or Schismatic, of the Oriental churches have always worn their beards. The same consideration, together with a regard for practical difficulties, has influenced the Roman authorities in according a similar privilege to missionaries, not only in the East but in other barbarous countries where the conveniences of civilization cannot be found. In the case of religious orders like the Capuchins and the Camaldolese Hermits the wearing of a beard is prescribed in their constitutions as a mark of austerity and penance. Individual priests who for medical or other reasons desire to exempt themselves from the law require the permission of their bishop."
(Thurston, Herbert, "Beard," ed. by Charles G. Herbermann, Edward A. Pace, Condé B. Pallen, Thomas J. Shahan, and John J. Wynne, The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church (New York: The Encyclopedia Press; The Universal Knowledge Foundation, 1907–1913)) |
You said:
I have seen Franciscans with beards and Cistercian monks with long beards and a Capuchin in Austria with a long beard but priests at Masses are usually shaved here.
I have a long beard myself. One day a woman said to me,
- Ah, you are not a Catholic because you have a beard, what kind of religion are you?
so I didn't know whether it was forbidden in the Catholic Church and felt uncomfortable going there as I would have a conscious objective to shaving my beard.
You can safely ignore that woman; she doesn't know what she is talking about. There is no prohibition on Catholic laymen wearing beards. However, in Eastern Orthodox circles, men are very proud of their beards, even laymen, so she may have mistaken you for an Eastern Orthodox Christian.
Eric
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Bjoern later followed-up:
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Hi Eric,
I have noticed that most people in the Catholic Church, who attend Mass, don't have anything on their head.
- Should men's heads be uncovered in the Church?
While bishops and the Pope have something like a kippah on their heads, others don't.
- Should all believers who attend Mass in Catholic churches cover their heads, with something like a kippah or some other covering?
Bjoern
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Eric replied:
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Bjoern —
At least in the United States, it's the custom for laymen to uncover their heads upon entering a church. I don't know what the custom is where you live. Clerics can have clerical headwear.
Admittedly this is a bit inconsistent, but that's the way things go.
There is no rule of canon law that specifies one way or another for laymen. There used to be a rule that women had to cover their heads. So it may be that men automatically did the opposite.
Eric
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Bjoern replied:
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Hello Eric,
Thanks for answering my last question.
I'm still confused about the purpose of the Catechism.
- Could it be that the Catechism was written for a polytheistic public of Ancient Rome, Greece, as well as other polytheistic cultures of that time in Europe?
Germanic and Slavic people also had polytheism.
- What is the purpose of the Catechism?
Bjoern
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Eric replied:
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Bjoern,
The purpose of a Catechism, in general, is to teach the faith.
This could be to anyone, though as you point out, in the beginning they chiefly had in mind polytheists. Hence the first-century Didache, or
"The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles to the Heathen",
— which was arguably the earliest known Catechism we have.
The word catechism comes from the Greek term to echo back, indicating the pedagogical technique of memorization typically used. So you're pretty on-target.
Eric
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Mike replied:
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Dear Bjoern —
In addition to the previous questions in this posting, you have also asked Eric other basic questions dealing with basic Catholic teachings.
That said, Yes, part of our job is spreading the faith and catechesis, but you have to do your part if you want to know more about our faith.
The main focus of our work is correcting misunderstandings and misperceptions people have about the faith.
A good Catechism of Rome is one that was approved by the Catholic Church in the 1990s by a recent Saint: Pope St. John Paul II!
If you want to learn more about the faith, you have to get a copy of the Catechism which will have the same paragraph's that Eric has been quoting to you in personal replies to you. You can also search an on-line Catechism if you wish. This one is very popular and is the main one I use to maintain AskACatholic.com:
Just type in search words like idolatry and incarnation to learn about what we believe as faithful Catholics.
If you have access to the internet in Slovenia, you can get a copy of the Catechism mailed to you:
or you can pay to have it downloaded to your Kindle. You can also get an array of Catholic apps for your smart phone that will have the Catechism.
If you are not familiar with English, the Catechism and the Compendium to the Catechism can be found on the Vatican website in different languages:
If your language is not listed on this Vatican page you can use the Google Translate tool to copy and paste the web address of the web page in a foriegn language. click on the blue button and it will translate it to your own native language.
If you have a question that the Catechism does not address try searching our knowledge base at AskACatholic.com:
Again, just type in search words like idolatry and incarnation to learn about what we believe.
If you still can't find an answer to your question Ask Us here:
For faith-seekers like you, who know nothing about Catholicism, the Compendium is a great way to come up to speed quickly because the whole book is in a question and answer format.
Get it on-line or, again, through a Catholic app on your smart phone
Mike
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