Having been going to a Methodist Church most of my life, visiting a Catholic Church was different for me. It was more different than I thought it was going to be. There was a change in perspective of beliefs, as well as customs. However, certain aspects in the two churches remained similar.
I attended a Catholic Church called Our Lady of the Highways Catholic Church. Mass started at 10am each Sunday morning. I go to a small church so the size difference was a change, as there were many people who went to the Catholic Church. During Mass I could already see the similarities between the two churches. We both believe in the Trinity: Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. All Christians see Jesus as our savior. His sacrifice serves to save us, forgiving us for our sins. It was God’s work through Christ that let this happen. The priest talked about salvation. I recognized that both the Methodist and Catholic Church say that anyone can fall from God’s grace. It is possible for people to reject Christ as their savior even after salvation or conversion, which can lead to the person going to hell.
Catholics have more Sacraments than Methodists. Methodists include Baptism, and Communion, whereas Catholics include: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Matrimony, Anointing of the Sick, and Holy Orders. There is a difference in the understanding of the church. The Catholic Church believes that they are the true Church of Christ, whereas the Methodist Church believes that there can’t be one true church but the people who believe in Christ forms the church.
I remember when I first walked in I commented on how very beautiful the place looked. It was so decorative and colorful. There were many statues and paintings of not just Jesus bu...
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...really enjoyed. I felt like I was close with them. The people of the congregation stood up to shake each other’s hands and hug each other. Many of them were saying a specific phrase, “peace be with you.” Everyone was just walking around with big smiles on their faces greeting each other. I really enjoyed this moment because it was something we used to do in my church before the pastor changed.
I enjoyed my time at Our Lady of the Highways Catholic Church. I learned many things that day. I was able to appreciate their different customs and see new things. Though Communion was something I knew was going to happen at the Catholic Church, I wasn’t really comfortable being there because I felt like I was intruding. It was something meant for their members of the Catholic Church so I just stood there watching them. It was a different experience for me, but I enjoyed it.
This experience was really out of my comfort zone. It was hard to be an outsider and not prepared for what was to come and not speaking one of the languages used to understand the entire service. This service learning project gave me the opportunity to try a new church and gain a deeper respect for a different religion. Everyone at the service was very educated on speaking the sacred texts and participating in the rituals practiced. I hope to have gained a better understanding for those who are new to religions and are nervous to come to a worship service. I will make more of an effort to be welcoming and accommodating to those who are new to our church.
The Message- It can be very tricky, because people can interpret the greeting of guests in a number of different ways. You can interpret it as genuine kindness; however it seems that not a lot of people outside of the Church look at it as that. As Believers, we mean no harm and are only trying to hand out greetings to those that made it to the service, but in the eyes of a lost person, they see this event as a chance for the Christians to point out all the non-believers, and you would feel like a terrible outcast. As all believers know we are always under temptation by the devil, and I feel that the greeting of the guests gives us ample opportunity to sin or parade ourselves in front of others, damaging the view of what non-believers observe from time in Church. This opens the door for Will to Power, a movement that is sweeping through our current post-modern culture. The Will to Power is defined as the idea of human reason and objective truth, along with all institutions and their value systems and human relationships, and the art and ideologies they produce, all these things are expressions of the primal will to power. Everything is a mask ...
The first difference, and what may be considered the biggest difference between the Catholic and Protestant Church, is their views on the authority of the Pope. The Catholics have a Pope, the current Pope being Pope Francis, who lives in Vatican City in Rome and is a member of high importance to the Catholic Church. He is viewed as the head of the church and is believed to be the “Vicar of Christ” which is basically a...
...t also with acceptance as one of their own, although I never wore a Tallit or Kippah. This was a very peculiar position since I have never been so accustomed to this sort of kindness. By the end of the Jewish service, not only did I respect and appreciate their faith much more, but, in a way, I began to grow a love for it as well. While I felt no negative feelings towards the service, the most positive aspect would, most definitely, be the warmth I felt from everyone inside the Synagogue and from the presentation of the building itself. At first glance, I was not able to fully appreciate the decorations in the room, but the longer I observed I began to realize each decoration represented something significant. Overall, if I learned anything important this day it is that one thing holds true: I can still appreciate ideas and concepts even if I do not agree with them.
My first visit was a simple observation visit. I met with Gary and Dina at the Kingdom Hall for the 1pm Bible Talk service and the Wa...
I have never felt more welcome and loved in my entire life, the energy in that room from all these people was incredible.This was the day I began my transition into adulthood, I made a commitment to this community, to God. I turned my life around, I started working harder in school, I matured, and had a positive outlook on my situation. Because of young life I learned
Being catholic since I was born, I know a lot of the history and traditions of the Catholic Church. I took part in a program called Religious Education at my church from 1st grade to 8th grade and performing my First Communion and Confirmation. I am going to tell a little about each religions tradition behind Communion and how it is done. Then I am going to compare and contrast Communion of the Catholic Church and the Methodist Church. The Communion rituals are similar in how it is performed, but there are a few significant differences.
Like discussed earlier Catholics and Christians believe that the Conformation, and Baptism matures the soul and helps people reach adulthood. Baptism usually occurs at a very young age but is not bound by a person’s age. In Baptism, water is used to purify and symbolizes the washing away of sins. It is also described a person being born again because the cleansing of a person with water symbolizes the death and rebirth of that person. Also, when a person becomes baptized they accept God and have faith in God and all his teachings. Confirmation is like a continuation of Baptism because the faith in God of that person is confirmed. Along with confirming one’s faith confirmation gives a person more responsibilities. A large part of bei...
Catholicism. There are three major differences in the teaching of the two. Christianity teaches by scripture and what the bible says, where Catholicism teaches by tradition. They believe that the church is the judge of the truth. They also believe that salvation comes from doing works and that people can’t be sure of eternal life. Christians believe that salvation comes from admitting your sins, asking for forgiveness, and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. Catholics believe that Mary is the mediator between God and man, whereas Christians believe that Jesus Christ
Although the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church ultimately had more differences which ended up causing their split, they once had quite a few a similarities. The churches shared “many of the same prayers and liturgies” (“Eastern Orthodox”, 2001 para.1). Both the Eastern and Western churches had a difference in opinion in defining and numbering sacraments but they did agree on what the seven major sacraments for their churches should be. They also agreed upon that the male clergy should consist of bishops, priests, and deacons.
...ery emotional responses such as tears. However, this should not be a discouragement because all Catholics are very sensitive to this dramatic difference in celebrating God and it does take time to get use to. Mainly it must be known that whether Protestant or Catholic we are worshipping to the same God. By taking a step back and analyzing the differences in religious celebration of this mystery, one can realize the true similarities between the too. In this realization Catholics will be able to fully appreciate and identify with Protestant religious ceremonies.
Episcopalians go to church every Sunday, and it’s setting and how the service is carried out is as formal as the Catholic Church. Episcopalians go through their liturgies, readings, song and prayer just like Catholics and receive the Eucharist also. Unlike the Catholics they don’t believe in transubstantiation (wine and bread becoming the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ). Episcopalians respect the Eucharist for all it symbolizes (Jesus Christ dying for follower’s sins), but they do not believe it is the actual blood and body of Jesus. Episcopalians receive the Eucharist about every other week (Havens), and kneel down before the cross when they do so. Episcopalians celebrate Seven Sacraments (same as Catholics) which are: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Anointing of the Sick, Matrimony and Holy Orders (Beaven). The most holy time of the year for them is Lent which leads up to Easter. Another really important time for Epi...
First, Catholics believe in “The Holy Trinity”. The Holy Trinity is a combination of three things. First there is God, the father then Jesus, the son and lastly the Holy Spirit. To the Catholics, God is the being that made us. Jesus is God’s son, who suffered and was buried for the fulfillment of the scriptures. Lastly, The Holy Spirit is the spirit sent down by God to live inside of us. Any one of Catholic faith also goes to a church or a parish. Any follower who goes to a parish or church is called a parishioner. There are many rules to follow when it comes to being Roman Catholic as well. Anyone who is Roman Catholic must abide by the Ten Commandments, which is a list sent down by God for his followers. The list contains commandments that state how wrong things like stealing, gluttony and many more dishonest acts are. There are many other instructions
The people there were all extremely nice and would try to help me understand. They understood and accepted the fact that I wasn’t religious, but was showing interest in their faith. There were not as much people there as I had expected, but that might have been because it was a smaller church. It also wasn’t as racially diverse as I had expected. I thought that because it is the world’s biggest religion, that it
Religion is a big topic in America and other countries. My family is Roman Catholic. Once my family hosted a foreign exchange student from Indonesia and he was a Muslim. It was interesting to learn about his culture and his religious beliefs. We will compare and contrast Roman Catholic and the Muslim religions.