Catholic Baptism vs. Protestant Baptism

[clmowry]

I have a friend who recently told me when talking about religion that she once went to a catholic church and was scorned because she went to receive the Eucharist but she wasn’t catholic.

I know that is wrong and I told her why to my best effort and it was because she wasn’t baptized within the church but she was baptized in a protestant church.

She doesn’t understand a lot about it but she was like “it’s the same God” and I feel for her.

I tried to explain it but I I ran dry of good reasons and I want clarification and some insight from others.

How is protestant baptism different from catholic baptism? Is it invalid?

If one is baptized in the church but hasn’t attended mass since a child could they still receive the Eucharist if they start going again?

I’m very catholic and can usually explain a lot as I know a lot about my faith but I was bummed out as I couldn’t really offer a reason other than she needed to be baptized by a priest in the church to be able to receive Christ. And explaining how priests inherit their ability to administer the sacraments because Christ gave them the authority to do so.

She was very interested and respecting and listened but I felt I was leaving out stuff.

can anyone offer more insight?

The issue really isn’t an issue of Baptism.

The Catholic Church recognizes as valid any Baptism that takes place in the proper form (i.e. with water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.)

If for example, you were baptized by a Catholic priest as a baby, then you are still not able to receive communion until after you reach the age of reason, received your first reconciliation and are instructed in the Catholic teachings on the Eucharist.

There are many several basic high level issues involved:

To worthily receive the Body and Blood of Christ you need to understand what it is you are receiving. – Non-Catholics have many different views of the Eucharist varying from nearly identical to Catholics to being just a symbol with no real meaning.

Receiving the Eucharist in a Catholic Church is also a public testimony to your inclusion in the Catholic Church and what she teaches. – Which would seem to be a problem for a non-Catholic.

To receive the Eucharist you need to be free from mortal sin. – So if you have committed any serious sins then you would need to have gone to confession which would be unlikely for a non-Catholic.

Etc.

Chuck

 

[Wayward_Wind]

Hi everyone, as a former life-long protestant (Episcopalian) who converted Nov 21, 2010, I wanted to share my thoughts on some of the posts made above.

Be careful comparing Catholic beliefs to Protestant beliefs. By the very name “protestant”, Protestant’s have a history of voting with their feet and starting a new branch of Protestantism at the drop of a hat (or belief). There are as many different beliefs as there are branches.

With this in mind, when making comparisons between Catholic beliefs and the beliefs of our brothers in Christ, be more specific.

For example: "Catholic’s baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Some branches of the Protestant faith baptize only in the name of the Son. An example would be the United Pentecostal Church and some branches of the Baptist faith.”

 

[clmowry]

Hi everyone, as a former life-long protestant (Episcopalian) who converted Nov 21, 2010, I wanted to share my thoughts on some of the posts made above.

Be careful comparing Catholic beliefs to Protestant beliefs. By the very name “protestant”, Protestant’s have a history of voting with their feet and starting a new branch of Protestantism at the drop of a hat (or belief). There are as many different beliefs as there are branches.

With this in mind, when making comparisons between Catholic beliefs and the beliefs of our brothers in Christ, be more specific.

For example: "Catholic’s baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Some branches of the Protestant faith baptize only in the name of the Son. An example would be the United Pentecostal Church and some branches of the Baptist faith.”

For that matter I’m not sure we can properly call non-Catholics anything other than not Catholic.

I’m sure you can find many a non-Catholic Christians that will tell you they are not Protestant.

Trying to predict what a non-Catholic Christian might believe is a practical impossibility.

Pick a subject, any subject, and you can find just about any belief you want among the miriad of non-Catholic Christians.

Some non-Catholic Christians don’t baptize at all.
Some non-Catholic Christians don’t believe Christ was God.
etc. etc. etc.

I wonder what “Mere Chrisitanity” would consist of today?

All Christians believe…?

Can we even name one thing?

But I guess this is off topic…sorry.

Chuck

 

[JonNC]

Heyy,

Funny thing, my Study of Religion class decided to do some investigating for you. We found that Catholic believe in orginal sin while Protestants believe in recognising faith as an adult. The catholic belief of orginal sin and then the cleansing of it comes from the belief of need in salvation. This slavation can be either passed down by generations or renewed at a baptism in the Catholic Denomination. On the other hand, Protestants do not believe in the outer actions to process faith but do believe in the convenent of renewal therefore the reason for reinforcing the idea of adults getting baptised. This belief comes from the idea that Protestants believe faith is an uniting of Jesus and baptism is a represenation of that belief. Lastly, the Protestant faith believe that the ritual of baptism is a rebirthing into enternal life with Jesus in the Kingdom of God because any time before baptism is death then burial awaiting the rebirth.

Hope this helps!!
Alfie 1094

Hi Alfie,
I believe your comments above need clarification. First, there is not a Protestant faith. Even the term Protestant is, historically, a political term, coming from a political protest.
Today, it is used, often improperly, to group different western traditions loosely together, differentiated from Catholics. But, for the most part, that is where the similarity ends.

Even regarding Baptism, your statement is inaccurate. The largest non-Catholic western Churches - Lutherans, Anglicans, etc - who have direct roots in the Catholic Chrch, will tell you that Baptism is a sacrament that forgives sin and is necessary to salvation.
From the Augsburg Confession

1] Of Baptism they [Lutheran churches] teach that it is necessary 2] to salvation, and that through Baptism is offered the grace of God, and that children are to be baptized who, being offered to God through Baptism are received into God’s grace.

3] They condemn the Anabaptists, who reject the baptism of children, and say that children are saved without Baptism.

As for original sin, your understanding is also inaccurate regarding many western nonCatholics:

Again, from the Augsburg Confession

Also they teach that since the fall of Adam all men begotten in the natural way are born with sin, that is, without the fear of God, without trust in God, and with 2] concupiscence; and that this disease, or vice of origin, is truly sin, even now condemning and bringing eternal death upon those not born again through Baptism and the Holy Ghost.

As for participation in a Catholic Eucharist, nonCatholics should respect the guidelines set forth by the Catholic Church regarding reception (my Lutheran synod has essentially the same practice), and work for the day when we can all share His true body and blood around the same altars.

Jon

 

[MariaG]

Heyy,

Funny thing, my Study of Religion class decided to do some investigating for you. We found that Catholic believe in orginal sin while Protestants believe in recognising faith as an adult. The catholic belief of orginal sin and then the cleansing of it comes from the belief of need in salvation. This slavation can be either passed down by generations or renewed at a baptism in the Catholic Denomination. On the other hand, Protestants do not believe in the outer actions to process faith but do believe in the convenent of renewal therefore the reason for reinforcing the idea of adults getting baptised. This belief comes from the idea that Protestants believe faith is an uniting of Jesus and baptism is a represenation of that belief. Lastly, the Protestant faith believe that the ritual of baptism is a rebirthing into enternal life with Jesus in the Kingdom of God because any time before baptism is death then burial awaiting the rebirth.

Hope this helps!!
Alfie 1094

hey chaz
i agree with your friend when she said that “its the same God”, and it wasn’t the fact that she had been baptised protestant that stopped her from recieving eucharist but more the fact that she had different beliefs from those of Catholics as she is protestant
We are studying this in school at the moment and Catholics believe that baptism washes away the original sin from Adam and Eve whereas Protestants believe that baptism is a profession of faith. Catholics are generally baptised as infants while protestants are baptised as adults. Really the main difference between the two baptism and the reason your friend could not recieve eucharist in a protestant church is because the beliefs of the two denominations of Christianity are different.
Hope this helps

I can see a couple of people already corrected you, but it bears repeating. What you say is true for SOME denominations of Protestants. But is completely incorrect for your Sacramental Protestants.

While your religion class might be teaching you some general stuff, beware of making such sweeping statements about ALL Protestants because they usually sound as ignorant as the Jack Chick cartoons do about the Catholic Church.

Keep learning but try not to overgeneralize.

God Bless,
Maria

 

[Adrian_Ivashkov]

Heyy Alfiee…

Just thought i would let you know…

people seem to be disagreeing with your comment alot…

sorry but it seems kind of funny… no offense…

you should really start paying attention in class…

ciao
Adrian.

 

[MariaG]

Heyy Alfiee…

Just thought i would let you know…

people seem to be disagreeing with your comment alot…

sorry but it seems kind of funny… no offense…

you should really start paying attention in class…

ciao
Adrian.

Unfortunately, al may paying attention and the teacher might not know the difference.

 

[Dimitri_Belikov]

Unfortunately, al may paying attention and the teacher might not know the difference.

Could be… Could also be that ‘alfie’ needs to stop talking.
Or maybe the information provided to ‘alfie’ wasn’t rightt… How will we ever know.

 

[Dimitri_Belikov]

Heyy Alfiee…

Just thought i would let you know…

people seem to be disagreeing with your comment alot…

sorry but it seems kind of funny… no offense…

you should really start paying attention in class…

ciao
Adrian.

I agree with you! For once. Just say away from you know who.

 

[BillDing]

Ok now everybody knows how I feel about this mystery teacher (yum) so just lay off. No offense MariaG and thanks for sticking up for my pal Alfie.

Alfie I think you’ve done a great job posting on this forum, it’s very brave. So you’re not entirely accurate, you were simply doing what your teacher asked and probably did not have enough time to go into the nuanced understandings of Christian baptism.

We get it, different flavours of Protestantism have different understandings of baptism. By the sounds of it, you guys were looking at Believer’s baptism which harkens back to Anabaptist - one of the (many) branches of Protestantism. It is very different to Catholic understandings of baptism, check out this link:
traditioninaction.org/Questions/F041_ValidBaptism.html

I think this has been a doubly useful task for you guys because you can appreciate how easy it is to give and take offense when it comes to these sorts of issues - starting to understand how schisms come about now?

Clearly your brilliant teacher has deseigned many rich lessons in this deceptively simple task - is it possble that such perfection exists in this temporal world…

Anyway, just wanted to congratulate Alfie, and Adrian, stop laughing I can here you here in Canada all the way from Russia.

Stay cool homies,
GB
Bill
P.S MAriaG I too find Chick’s cartoon’s amusing!

 

[Rogerteder]

I didnt read all the posts, so I dont know if this has been said. In regards to the title of this thread “Catholic Baptism vs. Protestant Baptism.” There is no Protestant baptism. All valid baptism is Catholic.

 

[steve_b]

Hey Chaz

Tell your friend not to worry. In Catholicism, Baptism is very important in the faith as when children are baptised, they are given salvation from their sins and therefore cannot receive communion unless they are baptised. In contrast, Evangelical religions or protestant churches remain to think that Baptism is only a public or out wards recognition and profession of faith. Even though there is no major reason why she couldn’t’ RECIEVE communion, it is respect and recognition of the faiths of Christian denominations.
Please pass this onto your friend

Hope this was helpful!

coolkid101

:doh2:

Since when do we have a double standard for Catholics and non-Catholics coming to the Eucharist?

 

[steve_b]

To Chaz0426,
I have been researching this topic in detail and have come to some interesting conclusions that may help to understand this situation.
There are a few differences in relation to baptism in the Catholic Church views this as a sacrament and the Protestant Church sees it as a testimony.
Also, the way that Catholics are baptised is also different and is conducted with different beliefs. Catholics perform baptism to wash away sin and to find salvation whereas the Protestants do so a profession of faith.
Due to the belief that as an infant, the child is not able to understand such a sacrament, Protestants are only baptised as adults and are fully submerged in water, like the was Jesus was baptised.
This represents’ death’ and that you have been reborn.
Although these seem to be only minor differences that should not impact Protestants from receiving Eucharist from a Catholic Church, the way that inner beliefs are expressed as outer actions is different because like with baptism, Protestants view Eucharist as a symbol.
I hope this helps with your research, stay cool!
From Mrs McCoolio

The differences are NOT minor. That’s why the Church doesn’t have open communion. It would be a total disrespect for the Eucharist.

 

[Rose_Hathaway]

So…
the whole point of this forum is that people are confused as to the differences in doctrines regarding Catholic vs Protestant Baptisms?
Well…
Protestants believe that baptisms are an outward sign of faith. Also Protestants are baptised as adults because the denomination believes that they have to be old enough to conciously choose the path to God to be baptised.
Catholics believe that baptisms are the purging of original sin from the body. Most people in the Catholic church are baptised as infants because the denomination believes that God works through the community to produce faith in the child, the child can’t consciously choose to follow the path to God.

I am pretty sure some one has already said this, but im just clarifying…

 

[JonNC]

So…
the whole point of this forum is that people are confused as to the differences in doctrines regarding Catholic vs Protestant Baptisms?
Well…
**Protestants believe that baptisms are an outward sign of faith. Also Protestants are baptised as adults because the denomination believes that they have to be old enough to conciously choose the path to God to be baptised.**Catholics believe that baptisms are the purging of original sin from the body. Most people in the Catholic church are baptised as infants because the denomination believes that God works through the community to produce faith in the child, the child can’t consciously choose to follow the path to God.

I am pretty sure some one has already said this, but im just clarifying…

Roes,
A warm welcome to CAF.

On the bolded part, Lutherans would reject this statement regarding Baptism without equivocation.

Jon

 

[clmowry]

So…
the whole point of this forum is that people are confused as to the differences in doctrines regarding Catholic vs Protestant Baptisms?
Well…
Protestants believe that baptisms are an outward sign of faith. Also Protestants are baptised as adults because the denomination believes that they have to be old enough to conciously choose the path to God to be baptised.
Catholics believe that baptisms are the purging of original sin from the body. Most people in the Catholic church are baptised as infants because the denomination believes that God works through the community to produce faith in the child, the child can’t consciously choose to follow the path to God.

I am pretty sure some one has already said this, but im just clarifying…

Roes,
A warm welcome to CAF.

On the bolded part, Lutherans would reject this statement regarding Baptism without equivocation.

Jon

Yeah, its not really safe to say “Protestants believe…”.

If my time on this forum has taught me anything, it is that it is hard to find a subject that all denominations agree on.

Chuck

 

[diggerdomer]

So…
the whole point of this forum is that people are confused as to the differences in doctrines regarding Catholic vs Protestant Baptisms?
Well…
Protestants believe that baptisms are an outward sign of faith. Also Protestants are baptised as adults because the denomination believes that they have to be old enough to conciously choose the path to God to be baptised.
Catholics believe that baptisms are the purging of original sin from the body. Most people in the Catholic church are baptised as infants because the denomination believes that God works through the community to produce faith in the child, the child can’t consciously choose to follow the path to God.

I am pretty sure some one has already said this, but im just clarifying…

There’s more to many Protestant’s belief about baptism, it’s not necessarily ONLY an outward sign of faith. Depends on which specific Protestant denomination you’re referring to.

Yes, Catholics believe baptism absolved/removes original sin. But also, so much more.

Catholics recognize Christian baptism, so other baptized Christians are received into the Catholic Church without “rebaptizing.”

All Protestants I know celebrate infant baptism.

 

[zz912]

This thread seems to be very popular with first-time posters. Are we sure someone’s not messing with the thread? Especially with so many people that all seem to be studying the same topic right now? Espcially with many similar mistkaes?

 

[Dimitri_Belikov]

So…
the whole point of this forum is that people are confused as to the differences in doctrines regarding Catholic vs Protestant Baptisms?
Well…
Protestants believe that baptisms are an outward sign of faith. Also Protestants are baptised as adults because the denomination believes that they have to be old enough to conciously choose the path to God to be baptised.
Catholics believe that baptisms are the purging of original sin from the body. Most people in the Catholic church are baptised as infants because the denomination believes that God works through the community to produce faith in the child, the child can’t consciously choose to follow the path to God.

I am pretty sure some one has already said this, but im just clarifying…

Ahhh. Roza. You have too much time on your hands.

You need something more fulfilling to keep you busy. Plus. II thought you were an atheist?

 

[Mrs_McCoolio]

This thread seems to be very popular with first-time posters. Are we sure someone’s not messing with the thread? Especially with so many people that all seem to be studying the same topic right now? Espcially with many similar mistkaes?

Yes this thread is very popular right now with first time users because we are all from the same study of religion class so we are hence studying the same topic. Posting on this thread has been a very good educational experience for us all
And yes we are making mistakes because we are only learning and we may not get everything right that is exact and correct with every denomination. As we learn I am sure that we shall increase our knowledge on this topic.
No disrespect to anybody is intended through our mistakes.
Keep it cool
Mrs McCoolio