Comparison of the Roman Catholic Church and the United Reformed Church
All Christian denominations celebrate Holy Communion in some form,
although how they do this varies. The two I have chosen to compare are
the Roman Catholic Church and the United Reformed Church.
In the Roman Catholic Church the act of worship is called Mass.
Catholics are expected to attend Mass. Only those who have been
Christened and then later confirmed can receive Holy Communion.
The Mass consists of six parts as follows :
The Foremass consists of the entrance, procession, and chant, which
are then followed by the confession, which includes a litany ( Kyrie
eleison) and ends with the Gloria. The Foremass ends with the opening
prayer or first oration.
The second part of the Mass is made up of readings from the Old
Testament or New Testament. This is followed by a chant called the
Gradual. The final reading is from one of the four Gospels and is
followed by a sermon.
The third part of the Mass is called the Offertory. The offerings of
bread , wine and other gifts are brought to the altar.
The next section is the Eucharistic Prayer.
The Communion is the fifth and probably the most important part of the
Mass. It starts with the Lord's Prayer ( Paternoster ) and ends with
the Communion for the Clergy and Congregation. Communion is where the
gifts of bread and wine are blessed and then received. The bread
represents Christ's body and the wine represents his blood. When they
take this bread and wine, Catholics believe that they are becoming one
with Christ and are renewing their faith. According to the Gospels,
Christ shared bread and wine with his disciples to symbolise them
becoming one body.
The final section of the Mass, the Concluding Rite, consists of a
final prayer ( postcommunion ), the blessing ( benediction ) and the
dismissal. A hymn may be sung as the clergy leave the church.
The United Reformed Church's approach to Holy Communion is different
Attending a non-denominational church we start out with worship and being free to sing and dance and let our spirits take over. This may come out as someone running around the pews, or on their knees, but while in the Catholic Church the environment was much different. It was a lot more structured and formal in a sense than that of the non-denominational church where I practice my faith. Another difference was the offering, or as the Catholic Church calls it, the Gift. I am use to this concept, but rather than taking Gifts at the beginning of the service they take it at the end; then came communion. This is where you take part in eating the bread and drinking the wine in symbolism of Jesus’ body and blood. This I was also familiar with, but was informed by the couple that I went with that they partake in com...
The period immediately following the Protestant reformation and the Catholic counter reformation, was full of conflict and war. The entire continent of Europe and all of it's classes of society were affected by the destruction and flaring tempers of the period. In the Netherlands, the Protestants and the Catholics were at eachother’s throats. In France it was the Guise family versus the Bourbons. In Bohemia, the religious and political structures caused total havoc for over thirty years; and in England, the Presbyterians thought that the English Anglican Church too closely resembled the Roman Catholic Church. Religion was the major cause of the widespread turmoil that took place throughout Europe between 1560 and 1660.
The major divisions of the Protestantism are Baptist, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Methodist, Lutheranism, Unitarianism, and Quakers (www.encyclopedia.com). Even the very first Protestant Reformers were unable to maintain a unity of faith or purpose. The divisions of Protestantism are just an example of the continued fragmentation of the churches. The tendency towards this divineness is a strength to the Protestantism religion.
The Eucharist is a Christian sacrament, additionally referred to as Mass, Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper. The Eucharist is a religious ceremony that takes place during every Catholic mass. First, the priest prepares the bread and wine in an act called “Preparation of the Altar.” Recalling the words of Jesus at The Last Supper, the priest then recites the Words of Institution:
... is to remember Christ, once again we are just confirming what has already bee said here. “The bread and the cup are not holy elements in and of themselves. But they do represent something that is very holy… recognizing it is a symbol of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us on the cross” (Laurie 2008:nn). Laurie above sums it up well, the wine and the bread are only symbols of what really happened on the cross 2000 years ago, we must not revere the symbols or the elements but Christ and His work on the cross
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.
Every year, on the day before Easter, one of the biggest and most important masses of the year happens on that night. The mass is called the Easter Vigil. The Vigil brings out the true and full nature of the Catholic Church and all of its people. It celebrates Jesus Christ, as he rises from the dead and ascends into heaven. Since this mass is so large, it is split into four parts. The first, the Service of Light, and is the most solemn part of the mass the Church celebrates. The second part is the Liturgy of the Word, in which you listen to a reader who reads from the books of the Bible such as Genesis and Exodus. The third part of the celebration is known as the Celebration of the Rites of Initiation. At this point people become part of the Church and receive such sacraments as Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation. The fourth part of the vigil is the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The Liturgy of the Eucharist is the climax of the Easter Vigil. The Easter Vigil is the biggest mass in the Church and it requires four parts in the Service of Light, The Liturgy of the Word, the Celebration of the Rights of Initiation, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, but also requires much more faith and concentration to fully appreciate it.
Catholics and Protestants share a fair amount of fundamental ideas and concepts from the Christian faith, but there are critical differences which continue to make prominent and contrasting differences between their beliefs and practices. Those differences are just as important in defining the religions today as they were during the Protestant Reformation. In the sixteenth century, the Protestant Reformation began and religious leaders such Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and others that protested against some of the practices and abuses of the Catholic Church. The protest is actually what spawned the name of Protestantism; the root of the word is Protestantism is “protest.” The main purpose for the protests was to reform the church from within; they saw a need for reformation to eliminate the blatant corruption and the abusive practices, such as “indulgences.” But as the years passed by, it became abundantly clear that their movement was unable to coexist with the Rome Catholic ideology, so those with Protestant beliefs/views broke away and organized their own church hierarchy and structures, this purge from Catholicism and new
The second sacrament is the Holy Eucharist. Catholics also call this Communion. This Sacrament, just like baptism, was seen several times in the bible and was given to Catholics directly from Jesus. The ritual practice of the Eucharist comes from Christ at the last supper. According to the book of Matthew,
Today there are many types of Protestants and Roman Catholic Churches. For example Anglicans, Lutheran, Calvinist, and there are many more, but during the sixteenth century those churches were the major reforms of the Protestant and Roman Catholic Reformations. You may ask yourself why? Well the purpose of this essay is to find out what caused the reformation, How did the reformers attempt to change the church and what where the effects on the reformation.
The Reformation was a decisive period in the history not only for the Catholic Church, but also for the entire world. The causes of this tumultuous point in history did not burst on the scene all at once, but slowly gained momentum like a boil that slowly festers through time before it finally bursts open. The Reformation of the Church was inevitable because of the abuses which the Church was suffering during this period. At the time of the Reformation, a segment of the Church had drifted away from its mission to bring Christ and salvation to the world. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church had gradually become weaker because of abusive leadership, philosophical heresy, and a renewal of a form of the Pelagian heresy.
Through the various calls for response made by the priests, “let us be attentive”, “let us pray to the Lord”, “peace be with you” and “servant of God” tradition is linguistically demonstrated. Each of these and other prayers was concluded with a response or “Amen” typically by the priest or the choir. Also, we saw reminders of God’s beauty in the images of those who loved and served the Lord throughout the ages as painting on the ceilings and walls.
2. The Roman Catholic church did its best to regulate the belief of Catholic Christians from the early church to the Reformation, labeling some beliefs orthodox and some heretical. Discuss at least two examples of instances before 1500 in which the church attempted to control belief and then discuss the career of Martin Luther. Why was Luther able to successfully break with the church when previous dissenters were not? Be sure to support your answer with evidence from our class sources.
As I was attending mass, I noticed, it was very organized. There was a lot of sitting and standing, where I found myself struggling to understand. I noticed that they read some passages from the bible and sang a lot of psalms and hymns. The only thing that was familiar to me was the Eucharist.
The Mass is celebrated in order for us, his followers, to receive God’s grace within a place of worship. The Mass serves as a form of intimate unification between God and all of his worshippers and disciples that make up the Mystical Body of Christ. This is only possible