Catholicism Unveiled

What Hides Behind the Public Image?

Mary Ann Collins, A Former Catholic Nun

A Letter to the Reader

Dear Reader,

When I was a Catholic, my Catholic training made it difficult for me to understand who Jesus is and how much He loves me. I loved Jesus, but I was confused because of some of the things I had been taught. If you have the same problem, then I want to help remove some of that confusion, so that you can know Jesus better.

If you are not a Catholic, but you have Catholic friends or family members, then I want to help you understand them better.

If you are considering converting to Catholicism, then I want you to have a better understanding of what is involved. You need to make your own decision, based on your own personal convictions. But it would be good to be well informed before you decide.

In this book I will sometimes tell about people who did destructive things, or who said things that are not correct. I am not judging those people. Only God knows their hearts. I am just giving you some historical facts.

I believe that there are two kinds of people in this world--those who know Jesus Christ, and those who have the potential to know Him. We should love people in the first group because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. And we should love people in the second group because they need to see the love of God in us and through us. It is the goodness of God that leads people to repentance. (Romans 2:4) When Christians are loving, it demonstrates God's goodness.

An example of this is Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch woman whose family hid Jews during the Second World War. A man betrayed her family and reported them to the Nazis. Corrie's father died in prison. Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to a death camp. Betsie died there but Corrie survived. Corrie found out that the man who had betrayed her family was in prison and was scheduled to be executed. She wrote to that man. She told him that she forgave him, and she told him about Jesus. He wrote back to Corrie saying that if she could forgive him after what he had done, then he wanted to know her God.

I hope that this book will be a blessing to you. If you disagree with me, that's OK. We don't have to agree. But we should love and respect one another.

The Bible says that we need to test everything against Scripture. Therefore, as you read this book--or any other book--I encourage you to ask God to give you His perspective about the things that you are reading. We all need to habitually seek God for His guidance.

I have a website with some Biblically-based articles whose purpose is to strengthen and encourage people. I wanted to include some of them in this book, because we live in stressful times, and we all need encouragement. However, that would have made the book too long. But you can read those articles online.

www.NewLifeWithChrist.com

May the Lord bless you and guide you. And may He give you a revelation of how much He loves you.

Mary Ann Collins
March 22, 2004