What is the difference between Protestant and Catholicism?

Answer 1

Christ, consecrated Priest by divine anointing, founds the worship of the new Law with the offering, once and for all, of the Sacrifice of his blood and the institution of his sacraments. He leaves to his Church, when departing at the Ascension, the power to continue validly to the end of the world the worship he has inaugurated. Until the end of the world, during Mass celebrated by the priest by virtue of the power received, in the sacrament of Orders and offered by him in the name of Christ and of the members of his mystical Body, the very Sacrifice of Calvary is made sacramentally present in our midst, as if the two thousand years that separate us were suddenly wiped out, in order that we might, in our turn, enter into personal participation with the redeeming drama, and that the mystery of our redemption may be present to us. "Opus nostrae redemptionis exercetur", the Liturgy says. Until the end of the world, as at the Last Supper the bread and wine consecrated by the Lord were changed into the Body and Blood that were about to be offered on the Cross, so the bread and wine consecrated by the same words uttered by the priest are changed into the Body and Blood of the glorious Christ. It is he, the Lord of glory, who is present under the humble sacramental signs to give himself to us in nourishment and fully associate us, by this, fact, with the unity of his mystical Body, Thus until the end of the world Christ in glory continues to touch us through the rays of. his blood-stained Cross. This is the point, the place, the centre where the heart of the Church beats; this is the supreme gift that with his corporal presence the Lord Jesus makes us. The Apostle writes that "the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was being betrayed, took bread, and gave thanks and broke it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, given up for you. Do this for a commemoration of me" (I Con, XI, 23-24). A testament made to be preserved by love, not to be reinvented by men. And such, in fact, is the Faith of the Church in the West among Catholics and in the East among the Orthodox. THE EUCHARIST ATTRACTS TO ITSELF THE WORSHIP AND THE LOVE OF THE CHURCH The Eucharist attracts and raises to itself, the whole worship of the Church. The Eucharist contains Christ substantially, the other sacraments let only a ray, of his love pass into us. Baptism, the. sacrament of initiation, is ordained to the Eucharist, the sacrament of consummation. Confirmation triumphs over our hesitations when we defer approaching it. Penance and Extreme Unction prepare us, unworthy as we are, not to receive it unworthily. Marriage is a kind of reflection projected on the spouses, of the union of Christ and of the Church which is made and effected in the Eucharist (St. Thomas, III, q. 65, a. 3) And the Eucharist draws and raises to itself all the love of the Church. The charity that Christ pours out from on high and which is coloured passing through the sacraments, has as its secret law to direct Catholics towards the point where, here below, is its centre, its source, its home, in order that they may become more inflamed and eager at every new contact. THE SACRAMENTAL CONDITION OF PROTESTANT COMMUNIONS What happens in Protestant communions? We will not consider here the moment at which the break took place. We will consider them just as they present themselves to us in the full uprightness of their intentions and of their professions of faith. How will the Catholic theologian view them? In most cases, they have kept the Baptism of Christ, which every person can confer validly. Then, too, the marriage that two baptized persons contract with each other is considered as sacramental from the Catholic point of view. It follows that two authentic sacraments of the new Law can continue to exist among Protestants. Consequently the charity of God which wills all men to be saved continues to be shed on them, passing through two sacraments, and will be, as it were, coloured by the latter, becoming, to an equal extent, more fully conforming to Christ. In the zones of progressive membership that Christ disposes around his one Church, those in which Baptism is validly conferred are nearest to the centre. THE LAST SUPPER IN THE PROTESTANT COMMUNION But in the Protestant communions the original faith in the eucharistic mystery collapsed right from the beginning. A new spirit appeared. The Catholic and apostolic Faith confesses that the realism of the mystery of Incarnation is communicated by Christ to his Church, so that the latter, in the likeness of the Word become flesh, is at once divine and visible. According to the new belief, on the other hand, only the invisible kingdom is divine; the human and the visible are not part of its structure, its constitution; they remain exterior, extraneous, superimposed; they can only designate it, represent it from outside. The spiritualism of the apostolic Faith is fundamentally a spiritualism of supernatural transfiguration of matter by the Spirit, of the visible by the divine. The spiritualism of the new faith is fundamentally a spiritualism of the separation of matter and spirit, of the visible and the invisible, of the human and the divine. Read in this second perspective, the narration of the Last Supper is transformed. What the Eucharist brings us under the sacramental signs, is no longer either the immediate reality of the bloody sacrifice of the Cross or the immediate reality of the corporal presence of the glorious Christ. It is the immediate reality of the bread and the immediate reality of the wine, that designate, that represent these mysteries and bring us to the latter through their mediation. Therefore, it follows, the celebrant no longer needs a mysterious power of a supernatural order and conferred by the Bishop's laying on of hands, in order to change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. It is enough that he should be designated by the community-or that he should designate himself-in order to present to the Lord, on behalf of the community, the bread and wine that are signs of the Body and Blood of the Saviour. We wish to stress this point: the characteristic sacramental powers of Baptism, Confirmation, Orders, are conferred only by consecration, never by delegation, far less by the mere desire to possess them and exercise them. THE CATHOLIC POINT OF VIEW ON THE VALUE OF PROTESTANT COMMUNION Such is Communion reconstituted by Protestant piety. The scriptural accounts, detached from their first traditional context and transposed to the context of a spiritual experience that was innovating, will continue nevertheless to make something of their exceptional solemnity felt. The celebration of Communion is represented to us, by those who speak of it with most fervour and emotion, as the privileged moment in which the Christian community beseeches the Lord to appear in their midst, at their table, as he appeared on Easter Sunday to console them and assure them of his forthcoming return (Oscar, Cullmann, "Christologie du Nouveau Testament", page 183). How could we be indifferent in the presence of such a faith when, in another order, we feel respect for the celebration of the Jewish Passover, even today? Similar celebrations have, in our view, the value, not indeed of the sacraments of the new Law, but of what theology calls sacramentals. By reason of the light they contain, they direct souls, unconsciously, no doubt-but here is the secret of Jesus-towards the point where, as once in his Incarnation, he comes in the Eucharist to touch the world bodily. INTERCOMMUNION To accept intercommunion between the Catholic Church on the one hand and the Protestant communions on the other is-let us be quite clear about it-to accept the equivalence of the Catholic Eucharist and of the Protestant Communion. In complete good faith, the Protestants in favour of intercommunion will say they believe what we believe and that they can therefore be admitted to our Eucharist. The reason is that they regard all that distinguishes us from one another when we speak of the real presence of Christ, as secondary, incidental, destined to disappear one day, and therefore negligible in practice. If they really believed in this real presence as we affirm it, they would come to it, they could no longer bear even for a moment to be separated from it. But they do not think of it, they desire reciprocity, and that the celebrations of Communion be recognized as equivalent everywhere. A little book "Le pain unique", published at Taizé and distributed by the "Editions du Swuil", sums up in three key words three ways of understanding the real presence: "transubstantiation (the Council of Trent), consubstantiation: (Luther), concomitance (Calvin). "According to the doctrine of transubstantiation, the substance of the bread and wine, that is 'what makes bread and wine be what they are as earthly nourishment', this substance is changed and becomes a new being: the body and blood of Christ; there is a change of substance. "For the doctrine of consubstantiation, the substance, the deep being of bread, and wine continues to exist, but is closely united with the substance, the deep being, of the body and blood of Christ, as in the case of molten iron the metal and the fire are closely connected. "For the doctrine of concomitance, the bread and wine remain what they are, but, on the occasion of the Eucharist and of communion they become a vehicle of the real presence of Christ. The body and the blood of Christ, his humanity and divinity, are united in the act of eating the bread and drinking the wine of the Eucharist. "This last conception has sometimes evolved to the extent of separating the real presence of Christ from the species of the bread and wine, in such a way that often, in Protestantism, holy communion has become a kind of agape on the occasion of which the presence of Christ was affirmed. In this case one can no longer see what difference there is between Christ's promise: If two or three are gathered in my name, I am in their midst and Christ's words at the Supper: This is my body... this is my blood". Immediately before this exposition of the conceptions of Luther, of Calvin, of the Council of Trent, the author writes: "We can note here the essential agreement of these three positions: Christ is really present in the Eucharist. Nevertheless, there is a divergency in the conception of the way and manner in which this real presence takes place" (p. 59). The Catholic Church will never accept the essential equivalence between the doctrine of the Council of Trent and the conflicting doctrines-at variance also with each other-of Luther and of Calvin. The day on which the Church were to accept it, she would cease to exist, she would become Protestant. For the Church there will always be a gulf between this eucharist which, under the sacramental signs, brings us immediately the redeeming Sacrifice and the body itself of Christ, now risen, and the other eucharist which proposes to us immediately bread and wine, taking us back to the memory of Christ and his mysteries. All attempts-however generous they may be supposed to be, and even if they are as happily ecumenical as they appear it first sight or presumably authorized, is it is claimed-all attempts to proclaim the essential objective equivalence of the apostolic Eucharist received from the Saviour and handed down in Scripture and of the Eucharist re-interpreted after long centuries in the context of an innovating and divergent spiritual experience, are radically invalidated in advance by reason of the very nature of things. The Eucharist of the one Church of Christ-however numerous may be the children who belong to her without yet knowing her and without the Church herself being able to recognize them fully-is divine. It is untouchable and adorable.

Answer 2

The main difference lies within the way that Catholic's view communion and the way that Pentecostal's view communion. Catholics believe in the doctrine of transubstantiation. This means that they believe that the communion starts out as bread and wine and transforms into the body and blood of Jesus. Pentecostals see communion as being the symbolic body and blood of Jesus, but only being bread and wine (this view is not to be confused with the doctrine of consubstantiation). Catholics view communion as a sacred and holy ritual. The Eucharist, as it is called, is a holy sacrament in the Catholic Church. Often times Catholics and other liturgical churches (especially Orthodox Churches) will criticize non-liturgical Protestant churches (including Pentecostal churches) of not guarding the communion as well as it should be guarded. For example, within the Catholic Church a priest must consume any leftovers of the Eucharist as to not throw away something deemed holy. Catholics and Pentecostals may sometimes use different materials in terms of food. Catholics strictly use wine, while some Pentecostal churches use Grape Juice. There is a debate as to whether or not grape juice is indeed proper to use, after all, Jesus said to use wine. Catholics use thin wafers as the bread. Some Pentecostal churches use crackers and others use actual bread.

Answer 3

Roman Catholic AnswerThe Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the first century to bring God to the people and the people to God. The Protestant "churches" were founded by individuals sixteenth centuries after Christ according to their own personal beliefs.

Catholics believe that God the Son became incarnate in a human body through the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Virgin Mary to save mankind from their sins. He established His Church and appointed Apostles (Bishops) and Peter (Pope) to guide that Church on earth and He guaranteed to be with It until the end of time. Catholics believe that you only have one choice in life: to love and serve the Lord, or to reject Him and be separated from Him forever in Hell. Every other choice you have in life comes down to that, is this following Jesus or rejecting Him.

Protestants reject Christ because they reject His Body: the Church. They believe that they are their own little Pope and that they can decide how to follow Jesus themselves. Thus they fragment into many "denominations" as they decide how they want to follow God, ignoring what He, Himself has said, and interpreting for themselves what is right or wrong. Thus they believe that they have more choices than following God or not, they believe that they have the choice to decide HOW they are going to follow God.

Answer 4

The main difference between Roman Catholic and Protestant services in in the celebration of the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper. In Roman Catholic doctrine, the Eucharist must be offered by a priest in the line of succession from the Apostle Peter, whereas in Protestant doctrine, believers may approach God without priestly intercession.

Answer 5

Catholic AnswerThe Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the first century to bring God to the people and the people to God. The Protestant "churches" were founded by individuals sixteenth centuries after Christ according to their own personal beliefs.

Catholics believe that God the Son became incarnate in a human body through the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Virgin Mary to save mankind from their sins. He established His Church and appointed Apostles (Bishops) and Peter (Pope) to guide that Church on earth and He guaranteed to be with It until the end of time. Catholics believe that you only have one choice in life: to love and serve the Lord, or to reject Him and be separated from Him forever in Hell. Every other choice you have in life comes down to that, is this following Jesus or rejecting Him.

Protestants reject Christ because they reject His Body: the Church. They believe that they are their own little Pope and that they can decide how to follow Jesus themselves. Thus they fragment into many "denominations" as they decide how they want to follow God, ignoring what He, Himself has said, and interpreting for themselves what is right or wrong. Thus they believe that they have more choices than following God or not, they believe that they have the choice to decide HOW they are going to follow God.

The biggest problem with the "protestant faith" is that it wants to hold to "the Bible alone" while ignoring the fact that a) there was no Bible (as in New Testament) written for two generations after Our Blessed Lord left the earth, b) we did not even have a Bible, as it is now, contained in one book, until the CATHOLIC Church decided which books would be in the New Testament, and which wouldn't, in the fourth and fifth centuries. In other words, the Bible is a product of the Catholic Church and came out of the Tradition, it is entirely dependent on the Catholic Church for its authority to begin with, so you can hardly use the Bible against the Catholic Church to found another Church.

Answer

This is a great question, because the Catholic Faith and the Protestant Faith are very different entities, even though both believe in the same God.

The main differences between Catholicism and Protestantism lie in:

1) The Locus of God's authority. This is to say where is the authority of God on

Earth to be found?

2) The nature of Salvation.

Catholics believe God's authority is to be found in three distinct but related areas: The Bible, Sacred Tradition, and the Universal Church headed by the pope and bishops. In short, Catholics believe that the role of the Bible is testimony, the role of Tradition is testimony, and the role of the Church is to judge between controversies, and clarify matters pertaining to the Faith.

Catholics believe that Salvation comes from Christ alone, through Grace alone, for the Glory of God alone, but that human merit is part of the equation. In short Catholics believes that Grace is operative in human works, and therefore human works are saving.

Protestants by contrast generally limit the authority of God to Scripture. They may grant (depending on the sect) authority to the Church, but the Church exercises a mere human authority, and is therefore fallible. Protestants take the same attitude towards tradition. If Protestants grant authority to Tradition at all, it is a mere human authority, and therefore fallible.

From what I have read, and heard in formal debates, it seems the crux of the argument for Protestants is that Scripture alone is that which is Theopneustos. Because Scripture calls nothing else Theopneustos, but itself, the authority of Scripture must be Supreme. (2 Timothy 3:16)

The fallacy in this argument is not that Protestants hold Scripture as the Supreme Authority, or that Protestants hold that Scripture alone is that which is Theopneustos. The fallacy is this thinking is assuming that becasue Scripture calls nothing else "Theopneustos" it therefore cannot or does not function with the authority of God, or cannot be given the divine charism of infallibility. Catholics grant that Scripture Alone is that which is Theopneustos, but Catholics ask "Where does Scripture say that only that which is 'Theopneustos' speaks or functions with the authority of God?"

In regards to salvation, Protestants abhor the notion that there is any human merit before God, or that humans can "merit" salvation. They see this as Pelegian. They therefore teach that before God there is no human merit, and human merit plays no role in Salvation.

Catholics would respond that such a notion in the end winds up denying the Incarnation. In short, God saved us by becoming human, and God's humanity in Christ was the means by which we encounter the Divine. God's own humanity was the means of our salvation. In Christ, man restores to man the gift of Divine life. Therefore in Christ, there IS human merit before God, and in Christ human works played an essential and vital role in the salvation of the world.

Since Christ is the head of the Body, the Church, then salvation must work the same way in the Church, and in those in communion with the Church. This is to say that humanity united with divinity in one person together accomplishes salvation. All of the works of every individual united with the eternal work of Christ has merit, precisely because it is joined with the work of Christ. If Christ is truly joined to the Church in a mystical way, then HIS life must be present in the Church. Since the Life of Christ is to merit salvation, then Church by her communion with Christ, and the power of Christ within her must also merit salvation (in a secondary way of course.) Any other belief winds up denying the fundamental union of Christ with his Church. If Christ is not in union with the Church, then humanity is not saved.

A BIG difference.

Catholicism and Protestantism are two different branches of Christianity. "Catholic" means universal; the current usage came into play in the 4th century, and the distinction between "Catholic" and "Protestant" did not come about until the Reformation.

Answer:

Catholics believe in transubstantiation, meaning that the bread and wine is really Jesus Christ; some Protestants believe in consubstantiation (eg, Anglicans), a similar concept, but most Protestants celebration "communion" as a symbol of the Last Supper.

The Catholic Church sees the Pope--the Bishop of Rome--as the inheritor of the mantle of St. Peter, but the Protestant churches do not.

Catholics believe in Purgatory whereas Protestants do not.

Protestantism focuses on the Bible as the source of Christian authority ("sola scriptura"); Catholicism values tradition, emerging out of the collective wisdom of the church and the oral tradition from Christ's age onward.

The Catholic Bible includes the "Apocrypha" as legitimate inspired books; the Protestant Bibles do not consider the Apocrypha legitimate books.

The difference between Catholics and Protestants are legion. In short, we have the fullness of Faith as evidenced by a Church that was founded by Christ Jesus, a Church that had an unbroken line of Bishops going back to its founding (over 2000 years), and a Church that has seven Sacraments instituted by Christ Himself.

Answer 6

Answer from a Catholic

The Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the first century to bring God to the people and the people to God. The Protestant “churches” were founded by individuals sixteenth centuries after Christ according to their own personal beliefs.

Catholics believe that God the Son became incarnate in a human body through the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Virgin Mary to save mankind from their sins. He established His Church and appointed Apostles (Bishops) and Peter (Pope) to guide that Church on earth and He guaranteed to be with It until the end of time. Catholics believe that you only have one choice in life: to love and serve the Lord, or to reject Him and be separated from Him forever in Hell. Every other choice you have in life comes down to that, is this following Jesus or rejecting Him.

Protestants reject Christ because they reject His Body: the Church. They believe that they are their own little Pope and that they can decide how to follow Jesus themselves. Thus they fragment into many "denominations" as they decide how they want to follow God, ignoring what He, Himself has said, and interpreting for themselves what is right or wrong. Thus they believe that they have more choices than following God or not, they believe that they have the choice to decide HOW they are going to follow God.

Answer 7

All Catholic communion is believed to be transfigured to the actual body and blood of Christ. Many protestant treat it as symbolic, but some believe in the transfiguration.

Answer 8

Catholicism is under the authority of the Pope, who is the successor of St. Peter the Apostle, while Protestants do not believe in Apostolic Succession.

Answer 9

Roman Catholic AnswerI should think the main difference is that protestants do not believe in the Eucharist at all.