I don't mean this to be offensive to any Catholics in any way and believe that they can have true salvation unlike the Jw. Also, I know little about the in's and out's of practicing Catholicism, as I have never had any interest in being one. Regardless I am always surprised when an ex-Jw says that they have found the real truth in Catholicism. To me it seems that they are falling into the belief that they are in the one chosen religion and all other religions and subsequent denominations are wrong. The Catholics also seem to have fairly strict ordinances regarding detailed aspects of your life and are very liturgical....and these things seem to be reasons that some left the Jw's. Catholicism also has it version of the Bible....again something that turned some Jw's off. Catholic history is steeped in 'new light' like teachings and the leaders hold their authority far above the average catholic member, believing that without their direction they would be totally lost on how to understand the Bible....again things that made ex-jw's say 'Wait a minute...you mean to tell me.....'.
Again I mean no offense, and I am sure that there are plenty of things that I am either off about or just dead wrong. So, please correctly me where I am wrong.
Actually, truth be told, I have found Fundamentalism to be much more strict, and Catholicism to be based much more on conscience.
As far as the Catholics considering themselves to be the one and only way, this has been answered pretty well. My studies have shown that the Church tends to be incredibly loving, almost bordering on universalism, but I have been corrected in the past on that.
As far as the issue of the Pope and Mary being worshipped....yeah, ya know, I have met people that go so far over board on the matter of the Pope and Mary to the point that they completely miss the point, that being Jesus. But for the most part, I really don't see the whole Pope worshipping thing too often.
How could an ex-JW become Catholic?
Head trauma.
Just kidding, ex-JW Mary-worshippers.
Er.
I mean Pope-lovers.
Sincerely,
Born-only-once-God-nonrecognizer
funny