Protestant and Catholic Faiths QUESTION from Richard Farquhar May 2, 2000 Having never been told the differences between these two faiths within Christainity and coming from an area prodominately Protestant I fing myself in a new city surrounded by Catholics. During this period I have found myself listening and often agreeing with the beliefs of the Catholics I meet and wish to know the fundamental differences between the two and why they exsist before making a decision that could change my life in such a dramatic way. Thank you for your time.
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, O.L.S.M. on May 3, 2000 Dear Mr. Farquhar:
I describe in some detail the differences between Protestants and Catholics in the introduction to the Index of Recommended Books that is linked at the top of the Index Page of this forum.
The URL for that page is: http://www.saint-mike.org/warfare/public/sw-recommended-bks.html
However, there are far more similarities than differences.
The main point is that the Catholic Faith has the FULLNESS of the Christian faith. Protestants have the Readers Digest version -- that is an abridged version.
The Bible itself tells us that the Bible DOES NOT contain all the teachings of Jesus, and St. Paul tells us to obey all that we learn from Scripture and Oral Tradition.
The Catholic Church passes down from generation to generation many teachings or explanations of teachings that come from Jesus and the Apostles but were not written in the Bible, but were taught by the Apostles.
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