Referring to ‘A Concise History of the Catholic Church’, T. Bokkenkotter, ‘The Catholic Church’s history from the very beginning has been punctuated with terrible crises: the persecutions by the Roman Empire, the rise of Arianism, the barbarian invasions, the struggle over lay investiture, the Schism of the East, the Great Schism. But it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that Luther’s revolt was the most devastating of them all. Never before was there so widespread and sudden a desertion of its altars, and never before had so many priests and nuns abandoned their cloisters, almost overnight. When it was all over, half of Europe was lost to the Roman obedience, and the unity of Christendom was but a fading memory’.
I believe the great loss within the unity of Christianity is the loss of the sacred, the loss of heaven on earth – the Mass.
Protestant Sunday services, more so outside Lutheranism and Anglicanism, is so extremely different than universal Christianity – the Latin and Orthodox form of worship, and the profound and personal contemplation of the Lord when communing Him.
Also reflecting the profound crisis within the Church, it took 28 years after Luther’s split to pull itself together which eventually brought about the Council of Trent – this reforming Council to take 18 years to accomplish with a 10 year interlude.
Regarding Luther’s stand on justification, ‘Trent refused any compromise. The bishops denied man’s total corruption by original sin and asserted our justification was not actualized by faith alone but also by hope and charity as well. Moreover, charity had to be expressed in good works carried out by the co-operation of the human’s will with God’s grace.’
‘Scripture and Tradition were declared both necessary in determining the faith of the Church…the dogmas of the divine validity of the seven sacraments, the hierarchical nature of the Church, the divine institution of the priesthood, the traditional teaching on transubstantiation, and the sacrificial character of the Mass’.
As Catholic, we do not follow single charismatic leaders, but rather in the Tradition of faith, that which is passed down to us by the apostles.
And the years approaching the Reformation, there were already movements within Germany and elsewhere that sought deeper spirituality, secular priests working among the laity by living out the beatitudes and corporal works of mercy.
I enjoy our Lutheran members here. They are usually quite light hearted.