Protestants often express the idea that salvation is by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone. This assertion views justification as specific point upon which God declares that you are righteous—a point where you enter into the Christian life.
In contrast, the Roman Catholic Church views justification as a process, dependent on the grace you receive by participating in the Church—which is seen as a repository of saving grace. Svigel explains the Catholic perspective:. Svigel explains:. It contains the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ. And that becomes the spiritual and physical nourishment.
As you partake of it, it becomes part of you, transforms you, and makes you more and more righteous. Martin Luther likened this to the idea of a red-hot iron in a fire—united, but not changed.
Bock says:. Jesus Christ surrounds the elements. In this understanding, the elements are symbols which remain ontologically unaffected by the ritual. So, should — and can — Catholic doctrine change? An illusion in most religions is that their beliefs and rituals are unchanging — and this is the same for most Christians.
Instead of seeing the faith as dynamic, most Christians slip into thinking their particular focus of attention is not only immune to change but somehow perfect — the last word to be said on a topic. This is a ritual whose symbolic focus is that of people gathered around a common table, eating portions of a broken loaf and drinking from a common cup filled with wine.
What each ritual element is taken to mean has been controversial for centuries — but the basic set of symbols seen as linked to the Last Supper of Jesus is common to all the churches. The various meanings given to this meal make it more a moment of visible tension between churches rather than the moment of coming together they all claim they want it to be.
Put crudely, this means that if you are a Protestant you are not invited to eat at a Catholic service. It also means that a Catholic, even if welcome at a Protestant Eucharist, should refuse to share fully in the meal by eating and drinking.
This practice of keeping denominations separate was standard policy for centuries — but, with the rise of the ecumenical movement in the 20th century, it began to seem out of place. This division had deepened over the centuries through religious conflicts and wars. It all started when Reformation took place, years ago, as Martin Luther tried to reform the Catholic Church.
His attempt to do so instead led to a schism in the church. On October 31, , the publication of his Ninety-Five Theses, which outlined various abusive practices of the church, is considered the founding event that led to this division in Germany and the creation of the Evangelical Church. Read more: Martin Luther's daring revolution: The Reformation years on.
In , a year of commemoration of the Reformation was characterized by an ecumenical approach. In the past, Protestant churches had celebrated major Reformation anniversaries by worshiping Martin Luther as a hero — but in recent years that approach changed. Through various events, both sides paid tribute to Martin Luther while emphasizing their will to overcome divisions. On March 11, , a central reconciliation service was held in the city of Hildesheim to jointly mark years since the Reformation.
The goal in recent years has been to reach better understanding and find common ground between the two churches. A new united church is, however, far from being realized — and it is doubtful that it ever will. To describe their relationship, the expression "reconciled diversity" is used by both sides.
Many of the aspects that were reformed by Luther at the time still divide both groups to this day. Catholicism and Protestantism have distinct views on the meaning and the authority of the Bible. For Protestant Christians, Luther made clear that the Bible is the "Sola Skriptura," God's only book, in which He provided His revelations to the people and which allows them to enter in communion with Him.
Catholics, on the other hand, do not base their beliefs on the Bible alone. Along with the Holy Scripture, they are additionally bound by the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church.
Catholics and Protestants have a different view on the nature of the church. The word "catholic" means "all-embracing," and the Catholic Church sees itself as the only true church worldwide, under the leadership of the pope.
In contrast, the Protestant Churches which have emerged from Reformation, also called "Evangelical," which means "according to the Gospel," do not make up one united Church. There are rather several tens of thousands of different denominations around the world. With Newman, I agonized over conversion.
Two of his ideas were pivotal for me: his theory of doctrinal development and his articulation of the problem of private judgment. On these two ideas hung all the claims of Rome.
T he issue of ecclesiastical authority was trickier for me. I recognized the absurdity of a twenty-year-old presuming to adjudicate claims about the Scriptures and two thousand years of history. The implication is that reason is unreliable in matters of revelation. Finally, the infighting among traditionalist, conservative, and liberal Catholics made plain that Catholics did not gain by their magisterium a clear, living voice of divine authority.
They received from the past a set of magisterial documents that had to be weighed and interpreted, often over against living prelates. But I did not remain a Protestant merely because I could not become a Catholic.
While I was discovering that Roman Catholicism could not be straightforwardly identified with the catholicism of the first six centuries nor, in certain respects, with that of the seventh century through the twelfth , and as I was wrestling with Newman, I finally began reading the Reformers. What I found shocked me. Catholicism had, by this time, reoriented my theological concerns around the concerns of the Church catholic. My assumptions, and the issues that animated me, were those of the Church of history.
My evangelical upbringing had led me to believe that Protestantism entailed the rejection of these concerns. But this notion exploded upon contact with the Protestantism of history. Catholicism had taught me to think like a Protestant, because, as it turned out, the Reformers had thought like catholics.
Like their opponents, Protestants had appealed to Scripture and tradition.
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