One Church

[John_Paul_III]

What seperates us Catholics from Lutherans?

What seperates us Catholics from the Church of England?

I know about Luthers thesis and that the King wanted a divorce, but today what are the issues that seperate our churches?

What needs to take place for us to be united again the same way the orthodox are to the Catholics?

The Orthodox disagrees with several doctrines of the Church but to my understanding has not walked away from the 7 sacraments, and its these 7 that make us one united Church.

 

[rbrooks]

The arrogance of man is what seperates catholics from other “churches”. To be blunt and simple about it. It is not catholics who remain seperate, it is all others. JP II was very open to talking to other faiths and reaching out in love to them. Benedict XIV, I am sure, will not be any different.

It is how individuals “interperate” Scripture and their beliefs. Primarily what they agree with and disagree with, I.E. contraception, divorce, communion, confession, etc…

It is sad, but it always comes down to man.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

John Paul III:

What seperates us Catholics from Lutherans?

What seperates us Catholics from the Church of England?

I know about Luthers thesis and that the King wanted a divorce, but today what are the issues that seperate our churches?

What needs to take place for us to be united again the same way the orthodox are to the Catholics?

The Orthodox disagrees with several doctrines of the Church but to my understanding has not walked away from the 7 sacraments, and its these 7 that make us one united Church.

The Eastern Orthodox are not “One” with the Catholic Church. They do have valid Sacraments because they took care to preserve apostolic succession in their Ordinations. What separates Lutherans and the Church of England from the Catholic Church is that they are alternate churches set up in opposition to the One Western Catholic Church. What generally caused the original break is no longer present today. Nothing prevents any individual Christian from returning to unity with the One, Holy, Apostolic and Catholic Church!

 

[mdaoust]

Asking for the specific differences is quite a broad question, but you could start with the lack of apostolic succession. It is the lineage of apostolic succession that gives the Church the authority that it has. When the King of England broke away from that Apostolic succession and began to institute his own bishops, the validity of the priesthood was broken.

Modern protestentism is different than it was back in Luther’s day. I think the doctrinal differences today are significantly different. But whenever we talk about differences in Christian faiths, it must always come down to a recognition of the authority of the Catholic Church. All other doctrines can flow from this. If we deny this authority, then we must work on each doctrine individually, which would take more than a lifetime.

 

[awalt]

I heard a discussion on the radio yesterday, speaking about John Paul II (it was actually a CA Live broadcast from the summer). The speaker said that John Paul, being a positive person instead of always focusing on all the sin etc., was asked why God allows so many denominations, as clearly all but 1 are wrong.

JP said in response that while in some cases sin was one reason that we have so many different denominations, that there is a bigger reason - he believed that God allowed all these denominations to happen, to force His church to unfold more of the truth, in a fuller, clearer way, and to evangelize more. If God had prevented these schisms from occurring, and we were in a world where everyone believed in the Church and Christ, there would be little need for us to do the apostolic work that God commands.

I had never heard this before, and it really made sense to me. JP was a wonderful man.

 

[forthright]

rbrooks:

The arrogance of man is what seperates catholics from other “churches”. . . .It is sad, but it always comes down to man.

ditto - everyone is waiting for the other guy to give in. Any denomination would be ecstatic if another denomination gave in and said, “You guys were right all along,” but it’s not in human nature to admit error and fault. What we need is more strong and faithful Catholics out there so that one by one the non-Catholics can see that we have preserved the true faith. I seriously doubt there will ever be a complete reconciliation with any denomination (perhaps Eastern Orthodox, but even that’s a stretch). If we are to regain unity, it will happen one person at a time until the remaining denominations dwindle to nothing.