Are all Catholic churches alike?

[Alenee]

I don't want to get into what is right or wrong just wanting to know if all Catholic churches teach the same thing. In my experience, not one church teaches the same thing, be it Mormom, Catholic, Protestant (all denominations), SDA, etc. They all seem to have their base doctrine but from what I've seen none of them teach exactly the same thing. Is this true?

[Philothea]

Its a bit of a complicated question because of what happened in the 1960's.

 

Before the creation of the new worship services for Catholics in the 60's, you could definately say "Yes, all Churches do teach the same thing." Clergy and laity alike were censured and punished (according to Canon Law) for any straying from Catholic Doctrine. That pretty much ended in the late 60's, where now Fr. Smith was Fr. Bob and what Father Bob told you in confession about artificial birth control would be something totally different than what Father Tim in the next town over would say.

 

I know there are a lot of great and wonderful Catholics that go to the "new rite of worship" that I referred to, but the clergy of this "rite" do all teach different things. They may even appear to keep some of the basics, but when you talk to them, you realize that many of them like to put their personal thoughts into their theology.

 

I go to a Latin mass chapel now (think the land where Vatican II never happened)... and every Latin mass chapel is definately the same as exactly what the Church teaches, as far as doctrine. Their responses to the crisis started in the 60's may be different.

 

Personally, I hope and pray every single day for the complete restoration of pre-Vatican II Catholicism. I know this is an extremely unpopular hope and will probably make me very unpopular as well.

[LMA]

To add to Philothea's comments, technically, yes, there is one set of Church teachings and all priests are to uphold them and Catholics are to follow them. There are catechisms that teach the Church's teachings. However, to give a an example, some are trying to say that women should be priests and going as far as to ordain some women as priests. However, this is not church teaching and such ordinations are not valid. So, such a practice is not Catholic.

 

You will find people have "issues" with various Church teachings. I find that these "issues" come from a lack of good catechesis and understanding about the reasons behind the teachings. Many priests themselves don't have an understanding of church teaching. Many of them will tell parishioners that such and such is okay but just because a priest tells you something is okay to do, does not make it okay. You always have to read on what is the Church's teaching on that something. I know several examples of close relatives being told something was okay when it was not.

[Moxie]

The Catholic church is "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic". "One" means that we have the same beliefs. The clergy, being human and therefore sinners, might interpret a teaching incorrectly or outright disagree and preach against a specific teaching. That is why it is so important for Catholics to be well catechised, so we can easily spot errors.

 

If you are interested in what the Church teaches, you can find a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in most libraries or probably even online.

 

I'm sure someone on here can answer this question better then me.

 

I know there are a lot of great and wonderful Catholics that go to the "new rite of worship" that I referred to, but the clergy of this "rite" do all teach different things. They may even appear to keep some of the basics, but when you talk to them, you realize that many of them like to put their personal thoughts into their theology.

 

 

I really disagree with this statement. I know many, many great, faithful priests. I have nothing but hope for the Catholic church in the next generation. And I'm glad the Mass is in English.

[Alenee]

Thanks for the answers. I was worried it would be taken in the wrong way.

[8filltheheart]

The Catholic church is "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic". "One" means that we have the same beliefs. The clergy, being human and therefore sinners, might interpret a teaching incorrectly or outright disagree and preach against a specific teaching. That is why it is so important for Catholics to be well catechised, so we can easily spot errors.

 

If you are interested in what the Church teaches, you can find a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in most libraries or probably even online.

 

I'm sure someone on here can answer this question better then me.

 

 

 

I really disagree with this statement. I know many, many great, faithful priests. I have nothing but hope for the Catholic church in the next generation. And I'm glad the Mass is in English.

 

Carli,

 

I am assuming the post is in response the PMs we exchanged. Melissa has stated what the Church teaches.....it is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. Those are the 4 Marks of the Church.

 

Whether or not you find those that dissent.....which many people do.....it does not change the official teaching of the Church.

 

THere is one theology, in one body, with Christ at the head. The teaching body of the Church, the Magisterium which is made up of the Pope and the bishops of the entire world, teach the faithful. THeir teachings in faith and morals are binding on the conscience of Catholics.

 

It is completely unlike Protestantism in that teaching for most part isn't open to personal interpretation. Those that dissent, on birth control for example, are in error. Depending on the issue, it may fall into the area of mortal sin or venial sin.

 

As far as sole fide and sola scriptura.......those are absolutely dogmatic no-nos. You will not find those teachings in any Catholic Church I have ever been too......even parishes with the most liberal minded priests.

 

If they weren't an issue....um, the reformation would not have caused a split. When I posted to you early that people have died over those two issues, they have. On both sides. Absolutely Catholics acknowledge Tradition as equal to scripture. And absolutely, we do not believe in being saved by faith alone.

 

That doesn't mean that there are Catholics out there that don't know that. The biggest damage from Vatican II was that catechesis of our generation suffered. There are numerous Catholics that don't know what they believe or why we do the things that we do. It does not change the fact that the teachings exist and are de fide--doctrines held to be revealed by God and so requiring the unconditional assent of faith by all.

[Faithr]

Well, there are different Catholic churches in that there are different rites. And some folks dissented from Vatican II and are Traditionalists or they could have dissented the opposite way and are 'Liberal' catholic churches. These are break aways from the Roman Catholic church. Maybe Philothea is of the Traditionalist group? I don't mean to offend or anything. But if one does belong to the Traditional Latin Rite church, they are not in union with Rome. Now there are lots of folks who are more tradtionally minded and like the Latin Rite and are in union with Rome. It can get confusing! It is all about whether you honor the authority of Rome.

 

So if you are talking about Roman Catholic (which also includes many rites such as Marionite, Byzantine, etc) you'd go to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and that would tell you everything that Catholics are supposed to believe in. The liturgies might differ in some ways, but the essential truths are the same.

 

However, as someone else pointed out, some people are really poorly catechized and some priests go off the deep end (they are human and sinners like everyone else). The climate of the 60's and 70's really polluted Vatican II and was a rather dark time for Catholicism. So we are still in recovery mode from that plus being so at odds with the current culture of metro-sexuality, materialism, culture of death stuff, that it ain't easy being Catholic! And it is worse because of all that poor catechesis for that last generation.

[Amy in NH]

I don't know about whether they all teach the same thing, but I do know that a friend of mine, being a Catholic, randomly chose a Catholic church in a new community she move into which had two Catholic churches in town. She was told she wasn't welcome because it was a "French" Catholic Church, and she wasn't French. She would have to go to the "other" Catholic Church.

 

:confused: The Mass was in English. I guess French Catholic isn't Catholic?

[Plaid Dad]

If the "French" Catholic parish is in communion with Rome, any Catholic in good standing should be welcome to worship and receive the sacraments there. I belong to a parish that is historically Polish (I'm not Polish), and I attended a Ukrainian Catholic church for a while (I'm not Ukrainian either). The ethnicity of the congregation should not make a whit of difference in who is allowed to worship there. I would call the diocese, particularly if the priest was the one who told her to go elsewhere. That's unacceptable. Is it possible, though, that someone simply thought she might be more comfortable at a parish that was not so strongly identified with a particular nationality?

[clwcain]

I don't want to get into what is right or wrong just wanting to know if all Catholic churches teach the same thing. In my experience, not one church teaches the same thing, be it Mormom, Catholic, Protestant (all denominations), SDA, etc. They all seem to have their base doctrine but from what I've seen none of them teach exactly the same thing. Is this true?

 

Carli,

 

They are supposed to teach the same thing and offer the same liturgy.

 

However, there are 22 churches in communion with Rome. They all have the same doctrine and they all accept the same dogmas. There are, however, 5 major and countless minor, variations in the liturgy offered. The details could fill volumes. But the short answer is that however different they appear, they are still essentially the same.

 

Anyone, Catholic or not, can find what the Church teaches in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is available online here (English, Spanish, Latin) or it can be purchased through Amazon or the like.

 

The Latin is the official text.

 

When a layman (non-clergy including professed religious not in Holy Orders) or cleric (deacon, priest, or bishop), on his own initiative, teaches something that deviates from the official teaching of the Church they are subject to censure as outlined in the Code of Canon Law.

 

In many cases, censure has not been publicly issued over the last 40-odd years, but that is because it is up to the local Ordinary (bishop in charge of the diocese) to guarantee that the Faith is preached correctly. That many are lax in their threefold duty to Teach, Govern, and Sanctify simply confirms that they are sinful men, like all of us, and in need of constant prayer and God's Grace.

 

It doesn't change the fact that Holy Mother Church speaks with one voice.

 

HTH

[dangermom]

 

In my experience, not one church teaches the same thing, be it Mormom, Catholic, Protestant (all denominations), SDA, etc. They all seem to have their base doctrine but from what I've seen none of them teach exactly the same thing. Is this true?

I'd like to know what you mean by including Mormons in this list--as far as humanly possible we do teach the same thing in every church. Unless you're asking about splinter groups like the Community of Christ? I mean, we all have the same doctrine, manuals, teachings, etc. One Sunday School teacher might have different opinions than another on some things, of course--being people we often have different ideas. But I'd be very curious to know what personal experience brought you to this conclusion.