Catholics pray to dead people to ask them to pray to God. No relationship will form if you don’t talk to God.

 My favorite thing about this objection is that both statements made are 100% true.  Which is why we as Catholics are more of a both/and rather than either/or kind of religion.  God is both infinitely merciful AND infinitely just.  Divine revelation is both in Scripture AND in Tradition (James 2:18).  We ask those we know are tight with Jesus for prayers AND have a personal relationship with our Lord.  In fact, it would be foolish to even bother talking to Saints if you weren't in a relationship with Jesus already.  That’s like asking your brother to talk to your dad for you, if you've never talked to him in your whole life.  That’s no way to get to know your father. 

On the idea of God/Jesus/Holy Spirit being your spiritual and heavenly Father, and all those faithfully departed being your brothers and sisters in Christ, we can draw a good analogy.  You have a family.  For this analogy, we’ll claim just a father and kid1 and kid2.  With this basis, let’s look at the combination of 2 positive/negative principles. Kid1 does/doesn’t talk to the father and kid1 does/doesn't ask kid2 to speak on kid1’s behalf (if kid1 does ask kid2 to intercede, this presupposes a healthy relationship between kid1 and kid2).  The chart would look like the following:

	Kid1 doesn't talk to father	Kid1 does talk to father
Kid1 doesn’t ask for kid2’s intercession	Kid1 will only ever possibly get to know kid2, never the father	Kid1 will get to know father, and possibly the kid2 as well
Kid1 does ask for kid2’s intercession	Father will hear kid2’s intercession for kid1, but won’t be able to properly respond without a pre-existing relationship with kid1	Father will hear kid2’s intercession for kid1, and be able to respond in kind due to relationship with kid1.  Kids1&2 also have a healthy relationship.

If you’ll look closely at the resultants of the combinations, the only negative ones are the 2 where kid1 doesn't talk with the father.  The two positive ones are in the kid1-talks-to-the-father column.  Therefore, like I started out with, a relationship between us and the Father is imperative. Now, looking at the 2 positives, both get to know the father, but one has a close brotherhood with someone who also knows and loves the father, while the other is very separate, secluded.  The New Testament is littered with occasions where the author refers to the Christian community he is talking to as “brothers and sisters.”  Surely they all don’t have the same mother, nor could they even mean the translation of kin (as in cousin), for they say it to everyone, Jew and Gentile alike.  Therefore, they must be brothers and sisters in Christ, for God is our Father.  We should act accordingly.  You aren't always nice to your siblings, but you love them and you would do a lot to them.  Don’t try and tell me you never talk to your siblings (assuming you have one).  The fact that you talk to your siblings doesn't mean you don’t know/love your mutual father.

But Dan, they’re dead.  I can understand talking to people still on earth and asking for their prayers, but the dead are dead.  Well, let’s look at how someone becomes a Saint, with a capitol S.  Lower case s saint means anyone who is in heaven.  Upper case S Saint is someone the Church has looked into, deeply.  They interview dozens of eye witnesses: parents, siblings, coworkers, fellow nuns/monks (if they are in an order).  After that, they pray about it and look for miracles.  If they find 2 that are legit (usually there’s several phonies), they are presented to the pope for canonization.  The pope doesn't make them Saints like Hollywood makes stars.  The pope declaring someone is a Saint is more like saying, “This person lived a holy life, and postmortem, has miracles attributed to them, therefore, we as the Church, can say with certainty, ‘they are in heaven’.”  There are many saints, but the only ones we know for sure are Saints.  Therefore, if a Saint is in heaven, they are in full communion with God.  The have seen God in His glory and sing his praises constantly.  Their will is in perfect sync with God’s will.  Therefore, what they will is also what God wills, thusly perfect.  Therefore, if they hear your petition, and they will it, then God must will it.  It’s kind of like asking your perfect sibling (yeah the doctor who has a beautiful wife and 3 kids and a nice house in the burbs…) if they’ll put in a good word for you to your dad.  If they do put in a good word, they do it because they think it is good for you.  And your perfect sibling knows exactly how to ask your parents too, he always seems to get his way.  This analogy, like all analogies, falls short of what is truth though.  The Father is actually perfect and He knows what is best for you.

As icons and images of saints go, you may think it is idolatry.  An understandable concern if you don't know what they are.  As far as images go, are you telling me you don't have any pictures in your house of your deceased grandmother.  Dan, that's not the same, she's family.  Yeah, well I'd like to think the saints are my family too.  But Dan, I don't pray to that image of my grandma, like you do when you pray with icons.  That may be true, but if your grandma is in heaven with God, would you not want her putting in a good word for you and praying for you?  Oh course you would.  Icons just help us to properly focus.

All in all, no man can call himself a Christian if he doesn't have a personal relationship with Jesus.  This relationship isn't something we can do, it is something we receive.  Our brothers and sisters in Christ are there to help us.  And one last note on prayer.  To pray, in English, means to beg, to ask, or to speak to God.  In Latin, the language of the Church, they have different words for different type of prayer.  There is a word for praying to the Trinity, and there are different words for praying to Mary, angles or saints.  By no means by praying to a Saint do we worship the saint, but rather, acknowledge how awesome they are and ask for their prayers to God, our Father.