If the Bible prohibits worship of idols why do we do that in our churches?

This is a common question that non-Catholics ask, especially Evangelical Protestants. The Church has actually dealt with this question for centuries, and in the 8th century it led to the Second Council of Nicaea. This was a gathering of bishops from all across the Catholic world to deal with an idea called “iconoclasm.” The iconoclasts rejected all statues and images in churches, saying they were idolatrous and violated the First Commandment. In response, the Church looked to the writings of a monk named St. John of Damascus (or John Damascene). John taught that in the Incarnation, God took on a human face: he made visible to us what was before totally invisible and ineffable. The infinite God, by becoming a man in Jesus Christ, allowed himself to be identified by finite qualities. The unknowable God made himself knowable. The Son made himself like us in all things but sin (see Hebrews 4:15), so that through him we might know the invisible Father (see John 14:9), who “dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16).

So then, we do not “pray” to statues, pictures, or icons of saints, the Blessed Virgin Mary, or God. Rather, these images and statues, in their very limited way, remind us of the glory of Jesus Christ, who took on a limited human nature for us. Even in the case of a statue of a saint (including Mary), we are not “praying to” that statue; the statue serves as a reminder of those virtues and holy qualities of that saint, giving us confidence that he or she will intercede for us with God and inspiring us to similar virtues.

Chris Cammarata

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