Catholic

Protestant

Salvation

Salvation occurs through a combination of faith and “works.”  “Works” officially are fasting, chastity, abstinence and asceticism.  More generally they are good deeds, participation in the Church liturgy, and gestures toward the Church such as donating money or property, or the purchase of indulgences.

Salvation requires active spiritual ministry of Church officers.

Salvation requires the institution of the Church to serve as intermediary between God and His followers

Justification (righteousness in God’s eyes) by faith alone; good works might be evidence of salvation status, but they have absolutely no effect on a final judgment.

Salvation is predestined by God alone in the form of Grace.  Humans are entirely corrupt (“totally depraved”) and utterly incapable of helping themselves.  This extends to the church, which is a fundamentally human institution and thus holds no influence over one’s salvation.

God’s call is irresistible: if he has predestined one for salvation, that soul will live righteously and be assumed into Heaven.  If God has predestined damnation, nothing the individual can do will change matters.

Church Structure

The Church is rigidly hierarchical.  Its head is the Pope, and it has various levels of Cardinals, Bishops, and Priests.

Ordination of priests is a sacrament.  Priests are believed to have spiritual powers, drawn directly from God, to serve as intercessors.

Some hierarchy for organizational functionality, but church officers have no spiritual standing beyond individual salvation.  Church officers are typically “elders” in the worshippers’ community.

Ministers preach and interpret God’s word as a result of their own worship and study of scripture.

Seek “Godly communities” that reflect a deep sense of submission to God’s will, as reflected in Old and New Testaments.

Seek freedom from government to organize and worship as God dictates; or, seek a government that reflects Protestant values and enables the creation of communal worship.

Worship

Church participation is necessary for salvation.  Due to their spiritual powers, priests can interpret scripture.  The translation of scripture out of the original Hebrew and Greek into Latin was a mystical event, thus scripture remains in Latin.  The center of the mass is the Eucharist.

7 sacraments

Besides priests, mediation between God and individual souls can take place through worship of Saints, their icons, or other material objects that carry a spiritual presence.

The paramount relationship is between man and God.  It is considered deeply individual and interior.

Encourages translation of scripture and individual study.  Readers of scripture seek “illumination,” a sense conveyed directly from God of the text’s meaning and its relevance to an individual.

2 sacraments: baptism and communion.  Eucharist is considered a symbolic rather than “real” presence, hence communion is not the center of the mass.  Most important is the sermon.

Reject any and all mediation.  Worship God alone.  Deeply suspicious of saints, icons, relics.