In researching a paper, I came across an article titled
Twelve Differences Between Catholics and Protestants.
The author did not say, in the article, what her affiliation was but
claimed to be neutral for this article. Here are her 12 "simple
differences" and some clarifications from a Catholic layman.
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| Pope Francis |
1. The Pope. Catholics
have a Pope, which they consider a vicar for Christ — an infallible
stand-in, if you will — that heads the Church. Protestants believe no
human is infallible and Jesus alone heads up the Church.
Of course the pope is a "difference" between Catholics and Protestants. The very name "Protestant" bespeaks of the protest
of certain men and their followers in the 16th century who left the
Church and founded churches on their own feelings, opinions, and
personal interpretation of Scripture, and protesting against the
authority and doctrine of the Church.
The pope is the vicar of
Christ. It is a title of honor as well as jurisdiction meaning that he
is the earthly head of the Church, representing our true Head, Jesus
Christ. Christ Himself appointed Peter as His vicar when He said, "Feed My lambs...feed My sheep"
(John 21:16-17). This authority has been placed in the hands of
subsequent popes with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Who is the Spirit
and soul of the Christ's Church.
The
pope however is not infallible in the way Protestants believe the word
to mean. Infallible does not mean he is sinless or never makes
mistakes. The pope goes to confession just like every other practicing
Catholic does. He is not perfect; he does sin.
Actually,
infallibility is a charism (a gift or grace from God in order to do
something God asks of us) given to the pope which makes it impossible
for him, as pope, to declare any error in doctrine. This infallibility
only
applies to proclamations of doctrine that he has prayed over, has run
by many theologians and bishops, and declared or proclaimed from the
"chair of Peter." While the pope's other writings and teachings are
considered authoritative, they are not all infallible.
An example of an infallible declaration is the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception by
Pope Pius IX in 1854:
...for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the authority of
Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own:
"We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most
Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular
grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus
Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of
original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly
and constantly by all the faithful." [emphasis mine]
Notice
the declaration (in quotes) and how it is meant to be for "all the
faithful." This type of proclamation is protected by the Holy Spirit.
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| St. Patrick's Cathedral, NYC |
2. Big, Fancy Cathedrals.
Catholics have them; Protestants don’t. Why? Catholicism says that
“humanity must discover its unity and salvation” within a church.
Protestants say all Christians can be saved, regardless of church
membership. (Ergo… shitty, abandoned storefront churches? All
Protestant.)
I
can only address some of the many reasons for the "big, fancy" Catholic
Cathedrals. 1) They were meant to model the Church after the Kingdom
of Heaven. When one steps into a cathedral (especially the vaulted,
medieval ones) you are meant to feel as if you stepped into that
Heavenly place. 2) The stained glass windows, statues, wall paintings,
mosaics and tapestries of the medieval and middle ages Cathedrals were
there to tell the stories of Scripture to illiterate worshipers. The
vast majority of the population lived just above poverty level, with no
time to sit and learn to read. (Even Emperor Charlemagne was
illiterate.) Statues and pictures of saints tell the stories of these
wonderful Christians who are a part of the family of God. In other
words, they are family portraits. 3) The artwork in the cathedrals was
both education for the people and gifts from the artists (or patrons of
the artists). 4) The cathedrals, generally, were built by the people
over a century or more as a gift to God--a form of worship to God.
I
would like to know where the quote "humanity must discover its unity
and salvation" within a church came from. I'm not sure what the author
is trying to imply here. The Catholic Church believes that Christ
founded one Church and meant it to stay one ("...and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it."). So, that is the unity, but it is not
about the building. The Church believes that salvation comes through
the Church, however tangentially. There is the salvation part, but that
is not about the building either. Maybe this is just a case of a
Protestant not understanding Catholic vocabulary.? Who knows.
While
it is true that there are crappy store-front Protestant churches, there
are also some pretty spectacular Protestant Churches such as the
Washington National Cathedral, the Episcopalian Cathedral in DC which took over a century to build in modern times.
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| St. Walburga |
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3. Saints. Catholics
pray to saints (holy dead people) in addition to God and Jesus.
Protestants acknowledge saints, but don’t pray to them.
It
is important to clarify here that Catholics do not pray to "holy dead
people". We talk to our living family members. When we pray to the
saints, it is indeed in addition to praying to God, but it does not
replace praying to God. One, we believe the saints to be alive ("He is
not the God of the dead but of the living" Mark 12:27) and with Christ
their Savior. Two, we pray to them to talk to God for us, just as we
ask the other members of the family of God on earth.
I
don't know which Protestants acknowledge saints (except in the generic we're-all-saints way) apart from Orthodox and
Lutherans, at least not in the same context. Many Protestants believe
that all "believers" (In quotes, because believers is whatever their
personal definition of a believer might be) to be saints. Therefore,
the meaning of the word doesn't even correlate.
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| Holy Water font |
4. Holy Water. Catholics only.
Here the author did not even explain if or why holy water is a problem. Why holy water? Yeah, that's a difference, of sorts...
Here are some points on holy water:
--Water
was used to ceremonially wash the body before entering the Temple in
Jerusalem and it was a custom in the early Church as well.
--Holy water is used for baptism.
--Holy
water fonts are available in Catholic Churches to remind us of our
baptism and ceremonially cleanse us upon entering the nave (the main
body of the Church).
--Catholics are sprinkled with water at certain Masses, reminding us of our baptism and our baptismal promises.
--On
the altar, the priest pours a small amount of holy water in the
chalice, indicating the water which came from the side of Christ along
with His blood.
--The priest purifies his hands (ceremonially washes) before the Eucharistic prayers.
--It is a sacramental, not magic.
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| Fr. Morris, seen on TV |
5. Celibacy and Nuns. Catholics only.
Celibacy was advocated by Christ and soon followed by the Early Church.
The disciples said to him, 'If that is how things are between husband and wife, it is advisable not to marry.' But he replied, 'It is not everyone who can accept what I have said, but only those to whom it is granted. There are eunuchs born so from their
mother's womb, there are eunuchs made so by human agency and there are
eunuchs who have made themselves so for the sake of the kingdom of
Heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.' (Matthew 19:10-12; emphasis mine)
The writings of the Church fathers show that, in the early Church, married priests were not
the accepted norm in the main centres of Alexandria, Antioch and Rome.
They were considered a "problem" that existed in the outlying regions.
By the
third century there were almost no married priests and several
councils put
the issue to rest until around the 9th century when many bishops and
priests
took wives and had children. The state of the priesthood fell to an
all time
low. A huge problem emerged with priests "willing" Church property
to
their families. Up to that point, the principle of celibacy was
never
completely surrendered in the official enactments of the Church. In
1123,
celibacy was made official. Although, throughout history there have
been
scattered instances of abuses of the Canon Law, the Roman Catholic
Church
has consistently stuck to this position on celibate priests. (Catholic Bridge, "Why Can't priests get married?")
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| Ingrid Bergman in Bells of St. Mary's |
In
this day and age of clergy divorce, adultery, and "Preacher's
daughters", the importance of singular dedication to God and their
calling should be very apparent. What some anti-Catholics do not
understand is that there are married priests in the Catholic church.
Yes, they are the minority, but they do exist. Celibacy is a discipline
in order for priests and other religious to dedicate their whole lives
to God without the distractions of spouse, children, and family
responsibilities. Men who become priests are responsible for a much
bigger family--Christ's family.
In point of fact the Catholic Church is not the only church with nuns. Both the
Anglican church,
and the Orthodox church have nuns, and the Lutheran church has
"deaconesses". I don't know much about Protestant nuns but Catholic
nuns are women dedicated to Jesus Christ alone. They spend their days
praying for the salvation of the world and doing good (humanitarian)
works. This can only be a good thing.
6. Purgatory: Catholics only.
Yes and no.
Purgation or
Purgatory is not only Scriptural but traditional.
1030 All who die in God's grace and
friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their
eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to
achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to
this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from
the punishment of the damned. (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
Revelations 21:27 tells us that nothing impure will enter Heaven.
Purgatory
is simply a place or state of being in which Christians are cleansed or
purged of all stain of sin before entering Heaven. It is neither a
second chance, nor a place or state without hope. Anyone who is in
Purgatory or in the state of purging knows that they will be in Heaven
once the cleansing is complete. Since it is after this life, time does
not exist there, so we cannot say that you spend a certain amount of
"time" there because time doesn't exist there.
There
are other Christian sects that believe in purification before Heaven but
will not call this state or process Purgatory in opposition to the
Church. So, actually there are Protestant sects that do indeed believe
in it, they just don't call it that.
7. Scripture: The
be-all, end-all for Protestants is “the Word of God.” For Catholics,
tradition is just important as scripture — maybe even more so.
What the blogger fails to point out is that Scripture is
part of Catholic Tradition. It is the most important part of the Tradition of the Church. It is extremely important to the Church and her members.
"Therefore, the study of the sacred page should be the very soul of
sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too - pastoral preaching,
catechetics and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the
liturgical homily should hold pride of place - is healthily nourished
and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture." (CCC 132)
Protestantism that I have personally experienced has traditions of their own that is every bit as important as Scripture. Scripture alone as the "be-all, end all" is a protestant tradition not based in Scripture.
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| One of my favorites for Children |
8. Catechism: Protestant kids memorize the Bible. Catholic kids get catechism.
It
is not quite as black and white as that. The "catechism" that Catholic
kids "get" includes Scripture. While Catholic Children don't memorize
large chunks of Scripture word for word, they learn whole sections and
stories by heart. Ask any Catholic kid about Creation, Moses, the
Prodigal Son, or the Wedding Feast at Cana, the Last Supper, or the
Passion of Christ, I bet you'd be impressed. The catechism is a concise
outline of the Faith passed down for twenty centuries which includes
Scripture. Children learn their Faith and learn why the Church believes
what it believes. The Catechism, including the children's version, is
filled with the rich gift of Scripture. While many Catholic children
can't spout memorized Scripture on demand, properly catechized children
can tell others about what is in the Bible and what we believe about it.
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| Vatican Council II |
9. Authori-tay: In
Catholicism, only the Roman Catholic Church has authority to interpret
the Bible. Protestants hold that each individual has authority to
interpret the Bible.
Yes,
the Church has the authority to interpret Scripture. Christ sent the
Holy Spirit to His Church at Pentecost for this very reason. He guided
and inspired men who wrote the Scriptures, who taught the Scriptures,
and interpreted the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit-guided Church gave the
Bible as we know it to the world--even the Protestants. And, there has
been nearly 2,000 years of Catholic theologians, scholars, and councils
studying and interpreting Scripture, why would an individual believe
they've come up with something new? That is the height of hubris.
The
error of individual interpretation of Scripture is what gave us the
"33,000!" (I'm quoting the blogger, now) different Protestant
denominations, churches, or communities--however they want to
distinguish or name themselves. There are protestants fighting
protestants. Just one example would be the importance of baptism for
salvation: one groups says it is necessary, others say you're just
getting wet.
10. Sacraments: Catholic
are the only ones to have the concept of the seven sacraments (baptism,
confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, holy
orders, and matrimony). Protestants teach that salvation is attained
through faith alone.
Ironically,
those that claim that their only authority is Scripture don't or won't
understand that the only place that the words "faith alone" are found in
Scripture, they appear in the negative.
"So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2:17, NAB)
"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." (James 2:17, KJV)
Faith produces fruit or it is dead, after all, "
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." (James 2:19, KJV)
These
sacraments are beneficial in the order of grace and all seven were
instituted by Christ. God's free gift of grace helps us with our faith,
and our faith gets stronger with each sacrament we partake in.
The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace,
instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life
is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are
celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. (CCC 1131)
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| Mary, Mother of God |
11. Holidays: Catholics have 10 Holy Days of Obligation (which mean they must go to Mass). Protestants are more like, “Just come to church on Christmas, that’s all we ask.”
This blanket statement is much too general.
Yes,
the Catholic Church in America has 8 Holy days of Obligation (2 of the
original 10, Epiphany and The Body and Blood of Christ, have been
transferred to Sundays)
in addition to our Sunday obligation. The reality is that all Catholics are obligated to go to Mass every single Sunday of the year. The other eight days are
in addition to the Sunday obligation.
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| The Nativity (Christmas) |
The
ten (the eight with the other 2 now on Sunday) days are: Mary, Mother
of God (January 1), Epiphany (Sunday after January 1), Ascension (either
the sixth Thursday of Easter or the seventh Sunday of Easter depending
on the diocese), Body and Blood of Christ (Second Sunday after
Pentecost), The Assumption of Mary (August 15), All Saints (November 1),
Immaculate Conception of Mary (December 8) and Christmas Day (December
25).
As
for Protestants, I don't agree with the blogger's blanket statement.
In the Baptist church in which I grew up, it was expected, if not an
outright rule, that all good members of that church went to church on
Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evenings. Also expected
was attendance to any "revivals" and extra prayer meetings. You were
told in the minister's message how you couldn't be a good Christian if
you didn't give time and money to God. I'm sure that this "obligation"
is still true in many Protestant churches today.
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| The Eucharist and Heaven |
12. Communion: In
Catholicism, the bread and wine “become” the body and blood of Jesus
Christ, meaning that Jesus is truly present on the altar. In
Protestantism, the bread and wine are symbolic.
While
true, this is a broad generalization. The Catholic Church does believe
in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The main reason is
because we believe Christ words literally. We believe He meant what He
said:
Then he took bread, ...saying, '
This is my body given for you'...He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, '
This cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for you.' (
Luke 22:19,20)
Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matthew 26:26-28)
Also,
in the Orthodox and Lutheran traditions the bread and wine are more
than symbolic, but expressed in a different way than the Catholic
Church.
I,
personally, feel sorry for Protestants who claim they believe in what
Scriptures say, yet ignore what Scripture actually says. If communion
is just bread and wine (actually grape juice in most Protestants
circles), what was the point of doing it in the first place? Just going
through the motions seems a lot less efficacious than believing in
Christ's words.
Conclusion:
Christians have a lot more commonality than differences. We all are
sincerely trying to follow Christ and His teaching. Our Lord taught us
to love God and love one another. Do I think Protestants are wrong on
many levels? Yes or I would not be a Catholic today. I have found
Christ, His Church, His family. I am completely in love with my Savior
and I believe that I am doing my best to follow Him and help my children
know and follow Him. Other Christians waste a lot of time, money,
effort, and hatred on fellow Christians. It is sad, really, because
that is not what Christ intended. We are all God's children and we all
deserve respect.
