A
Aelred_Minor
Guest
It seems to me that ecclesiological heresy is necessary to justify schism.Yes, Aelred, that was quite helpful, and only further supports my suspicion. Most of what you listed as “similarities” I would see as basic Christianity. The only churches that don’t have infant baptism these days are quite radical. The Chi-Rho is an ancient symbol of the faith. The use of something resembling the Roman Rite marks them as Western.
I suppose it is tempting to view churches as being “like Catholic” because they preserved part of the Roman Rite and some symbols after the Reformation. It may especially seen relevant when looking at “non-denominational” Christians that don’t seem to bear any resemblance to ancient Christianity whatsoever. I would suggest, however, that if you want to figure out who our closest “separated brethren” are you might start looking at the churches that are in schism with Rome that have yet to fall into heresy. By very definition, they believe the same things (or at least close enough to the same thing that they could be considered Catholic if they would heal the rift). Any Protestant Church by its very nature has accepted Sola Scriptura, which makes it essentially different and incompatible with Catholicism.
Regarding the Methodists, I think they are indeed more “spiritually akin” to Catholics than most other Protestants are, though I wouldn’t put them in the short list of non-Catholic Christians that are closest to us.