Misunderstood - Series Introduction

On a previous blog post I had promised of doing a series of posts focusing on misunderstandings of Catholicism. As a Catholic myself I find it extremely important to spread the Truth of the Gospel, the Truth as I believe it to be found in the Catholic Church - therefore making sure others truly understand what the Church teaches. (In this series I will often refer to the Catholic Church as just "the Church" with a capitol "C".) I have many family and friends of other faiths including Protestant (i.e. Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Calvary Chapel, Non-Denominational, Fundamentalist Evangelical), Mormon, Jewish, and even some who are non-believers, Atheists. I respect all of them and would never want to intentionally misrepresent whom they are and what they believe - even if I disagree with them. It would be wrong of me to do so. So I am hoping and praying this series of blog posts will in return bring me and my Faith the same respect, even if the person disagrees with them. I think it's very easy for all of us to jump to conclusions. I believe and feel the great divide between Catholics and non-Catholics stems from Authority. Who holds the Authority to rightly interpret the Scriptures and fully know what God is teaching us through His Word? Since many non-Catholics adhere to their own personal interpretation or that of their pastor or church they will come to a conclusion that the Catholic Church must be unbiblical and teach a false Gospel because it's interpretation differs from theirs. But is that a logical conclusion? I don't believe so - I believe it would be fair to come to a conclusion instead that both of us as Christians have arrived at different understandings of the Scriptures because they've been interpreted differently so therefore all we can say is that "we agree we disagree".

Below are five topics I will be blogging about for this series. All my non-Catholic blog readers, have any of you heard these assumptions about the Catholic Church?

Misunderstanding Assumption I (click here to read post)
The Catholic Church's teachings are unbiblical on Salvation and Justification. It teaches that one has to earn/merit and work their own way to Heaven.

Misunderstanding Assumption II (click here to read post)
Catholics believe a man, the Pope, over the Word of God. Therefore many of it's teachings are unbiblical and just "man made-up" traditions.

Misunderstanding Assumption III (click here to read post)
Catholics worship and pray to Mary and the Saints instead of God. They even worship statues!

Misunderstanding Assumption IV
Catholics re-sacrifice Christ at Mass in the Eucharist (real presence - body and blood of Jesus Christ) showing that Calvary wasn't enough.

Misunderstanding Assumption V
The Catholic Church teaches that unless you're Catholic, you can't be saved and have eternal life in Heaven.

Before starting on addressing these topics, I wanted to give my readers an opportunity to leave a comment with any other assumptions you have of the Church that you're not sure are true or not, or you have trouble understanding it. I will definitely do my best to add it to this series and answer.