Do you think that the Catholic church worships their religion more than God, why or why not?

No.

Worshipping 'religion' would vioate the first Commandment.

Do not confuse being religious with being mentally ill. Some mentally ill people have a religious mania but this is the fault of the illness not of the religion. Someone could just as easily have an anti-religious mania.

If the kid or you ever attended a Catholic Sunday Mass you would hear the Bible proclaimed four separate times, an OT reading, a Psalm (usually sung), a NT letter, and the Gospel.

With love in Christ.

No.

As a Catholic I can guarantee you that I worship God and do not worship my religion at all.

God gave us religion, he gave the Hebrews their religion, and the Catholic Church is a continuation of that.

Catholicism is the Church Jesus instituted. He said to Peter "feed and guide" my flock. That is the mission of the Church. He gave us the sacraments, especially the Eucharist where Christ becomes present.

There is this misunderstanding of scripture that Jesus was anti-religion. This isn't true. His admonishment of the Pharisees had to do with their attitude and personal practice, not with keeping the religion God had instituted. In fact, at one point Jesus says to his followers "you have to do what they (the Pharisees) tell you because they sit in the seat of Moses (meaning they have authority) however don't follow them in the way they act." (That isn't word for word, just a summary). But Jesus acknowledges the authority of the hierarchy God has setup and he said it must be respected. So the idea that he was against religion is a rather new belief.

For a Catholic to say they can't live without the Catholic Church, they are encompassing all that it is. They are recognizing that it is THE divine institution that Christ instituted and to which he gave his own authority. That the only place in the world we can receive Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, is in the Catholic Church. This is the holy place where Christ becomes present.

Your friend is saying that Jesus is what he can't live without because Jesus gave us the Catholic faith, so that we could receive him. The Mass is ALL about Christ, and Christ centered.

BTW, Catholics do read scripture.

Catholics don't worship their religion, we worship God. "Latria" is the term used in Catholicism to denote worship due to God alone and the Mass is the main way Catholics worship - the Mass is the sacrifice to God of His own Son, the most perfect sacrifice. From the time of Abel, the acceptable form of worship was a sacrifice (of flesh and blood) offered to God and this was mandated in the Mosaic law. But the OT was prefiguring the NT and the NT fulfils the OT. Jesus came and offered Himself as a pure and unblemished sacrifice once and for all and after this, the sacrifice of bulls and lambs no longer applied as they were not perfect as Jesus Himself and God the Father deserves the perfect sacrifice as worship. The Mass is simply going back to that point in time to when Jesus gave His life for us and making that sacrifice present by the priest who takes on the role of Christ the High Priest (in persona Christi) and offers the sacrifice to God the Father, in obedience to Jesus' commandment to do this in memory of Him. Most Protestant denominations cannot understand the way Catholics worship as their denomination no longer has the priesthood and therefore cannot have the sacrificial worship of the Mass.

Your friend is mistaken. Scripture is mandatory and read out aloud at all Masses - daily Masses have one OT/NT and one Gospel reading with a Psalm sandwiched in between. Sunday and feast Masses have three readings and a Psalm. Good Friday doesn't have a Mass, only a service but it still includes the readings. The Mass readings follow a 3 year cycle so that the Bible is covered almost entirely in that cycle. As far as possible, the readings have a theme which links the OT/NT reading to the Gospel e.g. the readings for Friday, 20Dec2013 are Isaiah 7:10-14 and Luke 1:26-38 - the virgin is with child. The Mass itself makes use of scripture in the prayers and responses e.g. The Lord be with you / Our Father../ (Lord) I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof ..healed/ Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord ..Hosanna in the highest..blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord / Take this and eat..do this in memory of me / My peace I give to you.

Too much of religiosity can lead to superstition as the Catcheism of the Catholic Church warns. Or scrupulosity. By the way, the church is the body of Jesus so you can't separate the two. You can't and shouldn't worship the Church as she represents the humanity and Jesus as the head is the divinity. But you can and should love the church, just not in an idolatrous way.

No.

The Catholic Church is a gift to us from Jesus Christ to help us understand and follow His teachings. So following the Church is following Jesus. Without the guidance of the Catholic Church people can make up whatever they want about God and their "relationship with Him". And in doing so they end of following themselves and their opinions and their own feelings rather than following Christ. You then become an idol for yourself because the sole source of your authority and your truth is yourself.

There are people who misuse their position in the church or misuse their religion - but the Church itself - the Body of Christ - is a gift from God that we should cherish.

And your friend is wrong - Catholics do read the scripture. It's read at EVERY Mass. Even the rosary is about meditating on events in Scripture. (http://catholicbridge.com/catholic/mary_rosary.php ).

The Catholic church being an entity that exists on Earth....

Why would anyone pick an ethereal answer to that question?

Catholic masses feature two readings from scripture and one homily in every single mass. This isn't like a secret. You can walk into any Catholic cathedral or church and attend a mass if you're genuinely curious.

I'm trying to understand how your friend can be that devoted to the Church and yet believe that we don't read scripture in church (which we do. Over the course of three years, we read the entire thing cover to cover. Every day there are three readings from scripture). The only way I can see that working would be if he goes to a Tridentine (pre-vatican-2) Mass that still does the readings in Latin, but doesn't know Latin and doesn't know that what he's hearing are readings from scripture, although most Tridentine Masses say the readings in the vernacular, so... well, its confusing.

To your questions: Yes, to all, although I don't view this as a uniquely Catholic problem. I've met a number of Protestants who seemed far more devoted to their pastor than to God.

Jesus Christ is our savior and Lord He is the head of the Catholic Church

and we are the body. We can't live without Him. Of course someone who truly believes will understand that , we cannot live without Him. He loved us into creation, we are His sons and daughters, even though we sin, we are forgiven and truly truly He is the Son of God. (ps if you ever went to Catholic Mass you would hear 3 readings at every Mass, one from the Old Testament, one from Psalms and one from the New Testament. Never read Scripture at Mass?

indeed your friend needs a bit more religious education)

Your friend is probably an ignorant catholic. At mass, we catholics read scripture based on the liturgical year. Right now we are in Advent, which is a time for preparation for the birth of Jesus. We are very much devoted to Jesus and not the Catholic church as an entity.

Most Catholics have never received Salvation. Catholics follow the teachings of the Catholic Church while rejecting the teachings of God in the Bible.

Its the Catholic Church that means more to the Catholics then God does,

Sounds like your Catholic friend has NOT accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. It sounds like he is what we call a false Christian.

Read Matthew 7:21 where many people who think they are Christians are in reality not a Christian and will never enter into Heaven.

Also beware the Leaven of the Catholic Church.

>>he says that Catholics never read scripture in church.<<

We have Scripture readings EVERY SINGLE DAY:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/

"Readings from Scripture are part of every Mass. At least two readings, one always from the Gospels, (3 on Sundays and solemnities) make up the Liturgy of the Word. In addition, a psalm or canticle is sung."

http://www.usccb.org/bible/liturgy/index.cfm