Great question! :)
Prayers for the dead are often offered up so that those who are undergoing purification through Purgatory may finally see God in Heaven:
From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead. (CCC 1032)
By praying for the dead, Catholics are also following the examples set forth for them in Sacred Scripture.
Following the Example of Scripture - The Old Testament
From the Old Testament, a prominent example is of Judas Maccabeus and all his men who prayed for dead soldiers, that their sins of idolatry be forgiven:
All men therefore praising the Lord the righteous Judge, who had opened the things that were hid, Betooke themselves unto praier, and besought him that the sinne committed, might wholy bee put out of remembrance. Besides, that noble Iudas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sinne, forsomuch as they saw before their eyes the things that came to passe, for the sinne of those [who] were slaine. (2 Macc 12:41-42, 1611 KJV)
And when he had made a gathering throughout the company, to the sum of two thousand drachmes of silver, hee sent it to Ierusalem to offer a sinne offering, doing therein very well, and honestly, in that he was mindful of the resurrection. (For if he had not hoped that they that were slaine should have risen againe, it had bin superfluous and vaine, to pray for the dead.) (2 Macc 12:43-44, 1611 KJV)
And also in that he perceived that there was great favour layed up for those that died godly. (It was an holy, and good thought) wherupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sinne. (2 Macc 12:45, 1611 KJV)
Following the Example Scripture - The New Testament
One example that is often recalled is when St. Paul offered a prayer for mercy on Judgment Day for Onesiphorus, which many theologians suggest ocurred after Onesiphorus died:
May the Lord grant mercy to the family of Onesiphorus because he often gave me new heart and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he came to Rome, he promptly searched for me and found me. May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. And you know very well the services he rendered in Ephesus. (2 Timothy 1:16-18 NAB)
Another example is pointed out by St. Francis de Sales in 1 Corinthians, when St. Paul writes
Otherwise, what will people accomplish by having themselves baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they having themselves baptized for them? (1 Cor 15:29 NAB)
St. Francis de Sales (1567 - 1622) explains as follows:
This passage properly understood evidently shows that it was the custom of the primitive Church to watch, pray, [and] fast for the souls of the departed. For, firstly, in the Scriptures to be baptized is often taken for afflictions and penances; as in St. Luke chapter 12 [12:50]... and in St. Mark chapter 10 [10:38-39]... in which places our Lord calls pains and afflictions baptism. This, then, is the sense of that Scripture: if the dead rise not again, what is the use of mortifying and afflicting oneself, of praying and fasting for the dead? And indeed this sentence of St. Paul resembles that of 2 Maccabees 12:44: It is superfluous and vain to pray for the dead if the dead rise not again. (St. Francis de Sales, 368. Cited in Armstrong 2004, pp. 163-164)
REFERENCES
The Bible Museum. The Bible: 1611 King James Version: 1st Edition, 1st Printing, (Goodyear, AZ: The Bible Museum, 2006).
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. The New American Bible, (Iowa Falls: IA, World Bible Publishers, Inc. 1991).
Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994).
Armstrong, D. The Catholic Verses, (Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2004).
Catholic do not pray to 'dead people' unless they are saints.
No, Catholics do not pray to statues. Catholics pray to God, Jesus, and ask Saints to pray for them.
Communion of Saints hope that helped ya
Catholics can pray anywhere, they don't have a certain place where they can only pray. They pray in places like churches, their home, or wherever
Catholics do not pray through the priest. The priest prays and the congregation responds. Or the priest and the congregation pray together.
pray like normal
Catholics remember and pray for those who "Sleep in Christ" (those who believe) and are waiting for God to bring them to heaven.
.Catholic AnswerThere really is not special day, Catholics pray for the sick every day.
Catholics pray for the sick every day, there is no special day reserved for this.
We Pray The Prayers Jesus Taught Us. And We Pray As Often As We Want. And they pray twice when they sing!
I am a catholic and we pray in Church to show our respect to God
The Catholics pray to Saints. They believe they are in heaven with God and pray on our behalf as well.