Why is the Catholic Church so upset about Denominations...?

Question

They like to claim that the Catholic Church has never split... Yeah right! They split off the Orthodox Church...

Answer 1

The Orthodox Church, having split in 1054, is still so doctrinally close to Catholicism, it is considered to be in "certain communion" with the Catholic Church. Orthodoxy is more Catholic than non-Catholic.

As far as the Protestant Reformation is concerned. Only a few of the Protestant demoninations actually separated from the Church. The rest are offshoots of the offshoots of offshoot, etc.

Havign said all this, when you consider that Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism all center on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, is there really this big split?

When you consider that Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants, are ALL CHRISTIANS...what is this split you speak of?

Answer 2

I'm a lifelong Catholic, and everyone knows that there was a schism between Eastern Orthodoxy and Rome. I've never heard anybody, not even the most die-hard Catholic, ever deny that, because it's historical fact. There's a reason that split is called The Great Schism. Centuries later, there would, of course, be the Protestant Reformation, and also the schism between Rome and the Old Catholic churches (most of which are not in communion with Rome to this day). Denominations of a different variety also existed soon after Christ's death, in the form of scores of mystery cults, Gnostic sects, and other groups. However, the ritual known as the Roman Catholic Mass was codified fairly early in the history of organized Christendom. The Church considers the presence of thousands of denominations not to be so much a threat as merely a symptom of the lack of unity among Christians everywhere.

Answer 3

It is almost a problem of definitions. As a Catholic and a Catholic of the Eastern Church, I do not, nor does the Church view the Orthodox Church a different denomination, nor has it ever done so. Further, although the Churches are not yet in full communion and have been in schism, the schism has never been complete. Even at its worst, communication continued and a lot more communication than is generally realized. For example, when the Russian people were starving under Stalin, the Patriarch of Moscow appealed to the Pope of Rome for help. The Pope organized a large relief effort. Stalin arrested the Patriarch and had him executed and the food rotted on the docks. Dogmatically, the differences are too trivial to keep the churches apart. It is more of an emotional issue now than anything else. Catholicism and Orthodoxy are not separate Churches, they are the one Church but in broken communion.

Protestantism is different. It actually changed the beliefs handed down by the apostles. Further, the fundamental principal of Protestantism is division. If you don't agree with someone, then you form your own church that meets your beliefs. You can shop for churches that match what you like. You can make God and the belief system into your own image. There are 46,000 Protestant denominations now. Protestantism holds snake handlers, pentecostals, Methodists, Lutherans, anabaptists, baptists, people who believe in predestination, people who believe once saved always saved, people who believe you must wash your feet to get into Heaven, people who believe only immersion counts, people who believe only worship on Saturday is correct and people who believe only daily worship is correct, there is even a denomination that professes only 144,000 can get into Heaven ever.

The principal of Catholicism is that we should all embrace as one and that the binding beliefs are those beliefs held since the apostles across the world and across time. They are not subject to vote and neither the Pope nor the bishops may alter them. That is where people misunderstand papal infallibility. It isn't that the Pope is right, it is that he can faithfully repeat all that is already believed by everyone in the first place. If there is disagreement, then it is assumed the Pope is wrong, since it violates the standard of universal belief across time. It must not only be professed by the Pope, but the bishops must agree, he must be in union with them and the laity must accept the teaching as valid.

Protestantism was invented by rationally taking the beliefs of the apostles and organizing them into different constructions. Any different combination is permissable. Catholicism and Orthodoxy irrationally accept the teachings as is and represent them, only using reason and rationality to try and understand what was presented, not to create it. Catholicism and Orthodoxy acritically accept what came from the apostles. Protestantism is the first attempt by men to critique the apostles using their own rules, rules that the apostles would never have understood.

In one sense that has been very positive. It has permitted a tremendous amount of critical scholarship. On the other side, the cost has been division and pain. The Church is not so upset about denominations as saddened by them as they refuse to be all embracing of their brothers and sisters.

Answer 4

It is because they could not overcome the inherent problems in it's own organization. Even though the threat of heretical "Gnosticism" supposedly destroyed, the inevitable fracturing of the universal church finally came to pass with Martin Luther and the Reformation of the Middle Ages. From this movement blossomed many different sects of Christianity, each with it's own religious doctrine, reflecting it's own views and society.

"All versions of Christ are interpretations," says doctor Joe Barnhart, a Christian scholar and the author of Religion and the Challenge of Philosophy. "Christ represents the identity of God in man." Thus, what was one, became many again, with Christianity finding itself in a self-defeating cycle of dogmatic conflict. This was the logical end to any system that becomes too rigid and organized, lacking fluidity. "Many more different approaches would spring up, probably as a direct reaction to
"the other's truth".

Pretty soon these, too, would become large organizations with each claiming to possess the "truth" to the exclusion of all else.

Answer 5

Remember the Catholic Church was the most powerful organization for many years. If you have denominations you start lossing your power over the ppl because now they have choices. Less People=Less money and Power...Power and Money the founders of modern religion.

Answer 6

(John 13:34-35) I am giving YOU a new commandment, that YOU love one another; just as I have loved YOU, that YOU also love one another. 35 By this all will know that YOU are my disciples, if YOU have love among yourselves.”

The Catholic church has been unable to comply with this simple requirement.
The moment they fragmented into denominations proved they are not God's chosen religion.
apart from the fact that they have been heavily involved in wars and politics.

Answer 7

Why is the Catholic Church so upset about Denominations?

Because they don't have enough of them - $20s, $50s, $100s - to pay for all the sex abuse lawsuits.


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Answer 8

Every sect likes to believe theirs is right and others' are wrong. That's why they break off in the first place. They think they have better ideas, but really, they're just different.

Answer 9

Because it undermines the definition of catholic----universal. Pax et Bonum.

Answer 10

the leaders at that time could have corrected their wrongs, but they didn't, and it has been downward ever since. pray to re-unify. thomas