Episcopal/Catholic/Lutheran religions?

Question

I went to numerous Catholic masses, even went through RCIA program. I only went to one Episcopal sermon, and one Lutheran. I noticed that the Episcopal sermon is more like Catholic than Lutheran.
I was wondering, what makes the Lutheran and Episcopal church a bit different than Catholic. What Bible does the Lutheran use, and do either have much focus on Virgin Mary and do either do the Rosary? Any additional information will be greatly appreciated! Thanks a bunch!

Answer 1

Time for an information dump. lol

Episcopals and Lutherans differ from Catholics in the following ways:

* Little or no emphasis on Mary as mother of the Church, and explicit denial of any special role on her part as Mediatrix. The Rosary is rarely used by Episcopals and is seriously frowned upon by most Lutherans.

* A different understanding of the Communion of Saints. Lutherans and Episcopals believe that the legacy of the saints is the delivery of the Gospel and Sacraments to us, while Catholics agree but also believe that the saints have stored up a treasury of merit which is available to us for our sanctification.

* A different understanding of the relationship between salvation and sanctification. The the over-simplified version of this is that Catholics believe that if personal sanctification is not complete in this life, it must be completed after death before you can enter God's presence. Lutherans and Episcopals believe that even if further sanctification is needed, you will be in God's presence anyway because you are covered by Christ's merit.

* Episcopals believe that Baptism and Holy Communion are a different kind of sacrament from the other five, because those two are the ones normally required for salvation. Lutherans agree, but on this basis usually don't consider other five to be sacraments at all. (Some Lutherans consider Reconciliation a sacrament.)

* Episcopals agree with Catholics that Ordination is an actual transfer of authority, without which the administration of the sacraments is not valid. Lutherans believe Ordination is a beneficial institution for order and accountability in the Church, but that it contains no special power beyond that.

* Episcopal mass tends to surround you in a rich historical tradition; this is not as evident in most Lutheran services, though the same liturgical forms are used.

* Episcopals and liberal Lutherans (particularly ELCA) practice open communion. Confessional Lutherans (such as LCMS and WELS) practice closed communion like Catholics do. Some parishes actually verify, but it is usually on the honor system.

* While all three (except a small minority of Episcopals) believe in the Real Presence, no Lutherans, and few Episcopals, believe in Transubstantiation. The typical belief is that the bread and wine become Christ's body and blood without ceasing to be bread and wine. Therefore, Lutherans and Episcopals do not pray to the Eucharist, though both often perform other acts of adoration such as bowing or genuflecting during Mass, and many Episcopals do so at other times as well.


Hope this helps!

Answer 2

I was baptized an Episcopalian last year. I have gone to Catholic masses a few times in my life and I have gone to one Lutheran service once, but am thinking of going again just to check it out.

Episcopalians are very close to Catholic as far as the liturgy. A lot of people call Episcopalians "Catholic lite". Most Episcopalians do not pray to saints or worship Mary like a Catholic would. Most do not pray on "Catholic" rosaries - however, I purchased an Episcopal rosary online. It has fewer beads than the traditional Catholic rosary and the idea is the same as what the Catholics practice. However, how many Episcopalians use a rosary, I have no idea.
I believe that Lutherans, like Episcopalians, allow "open communion," meaning that if you're a baptized Christian of any denomination, you're welcome to partake in the Eucharist. (That's what they call Communion, the Lord's Supper, etc.) Catholics, however, consider a baptism from any other denomination invalid (as far as I understand) and will not let an unbaptized person or non-Catholic baptized person partake of the Eucharist. They also will not let a person who has unconfessed sins take the Eucharist, or that's what they say, anyway.
In the Episcopal church, in many, not all, Sunday services there is a "corporate confession" where the congregation says aloud a confession, something like, we confess that we have sinned against you, in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and left undone, etc. etc. before the Eucharist is "served". Of course we all know the Catholic tradition of individual confessions with a priest. The saying in the Episcopal church regarding that type of confession is, "all may, some should, none must."
I really hope this has helped you, as far as the Episcopal side of your question.

Answer 3

The Episcopal Church does not believe the Pope, College of Cardinals, etc is given authority from God or taht the leadership speaks infallibly in the teaching office. When the Archbishop of Canturbury, traditionally the head of the global Anglican Communion, speaks we view it as important and take it seriously but we do not view it as binding.

As such, there is simply more diversity in belief among Episopalians. Our priests can and do often marry. There are grounds on which one can be divorced. We believe birth control is value-neutral. We do not require that you subscribe to the Immaculate Conception or Assumption.

Both religions have a great focus on living a life of faith and not just believing the right intellectual ideas. Both involve sacramental liturgy that is meant to bring us into communion with God. For the most part all three denominations believe taht church should seem different than the outside world, even sometimes at the expense of feeling too serious and ritualized.

I hope you find a home among these great choices!

Answer 4

There've been a few thorough answers, but I wanted to put my two cents in and clarify a few things.

1) Bibles

For Bibles, there's generally a great deal of flexibility among most Lutherans and Episcopalians. Traditionally the King James translation of the Bible has been popular among English-speaking Protestants, but both denominations have generally become more flexible about acceptable different translations. The Episcopal Book of Common Prayer includes a list of Bibles that are acceptable to use during worship, but this is not binding on what you want to read privately.

The Catholic church has its own Bible called the New American Bible for the American English translation. It includes many notes with Catholic interpretations of scripture and includes the deuterocanonical books of the apocrypha.

2) Virgin Mary

Lutherans, like many Protestants, universally reject the idea of any sort of adoration/prayer for Mary. (Catholics call it adoration, Protestants view it as prayer and worship). This generally applies to all the saints as well. Catholics believe you can call to the saints to intercede on your behalf in heaven. Protestants believe this is a form of prayer and that prayer should only be to the Lord.

Episcopalians are more difficult to classify. They can be divided into three groups:

-High Church (sometimes called Anglo-Catholic) which is strongly influenced by Roman Catholicism

-Low Church, which is more strongly influenced by Protestant views

-Broad Church, which occupies a middle ground between the extremes.

High Church Episcopalians are much more likely to incorporate intercession of saints, rosaries and such into their practices, but even they do it in relatively low numbers compared to Roman Catholics. In contrast, Low Church Episcopalians would find it unacceptable.

Also, I want to state that Mary is not considered a mediatrix or co-mediatrix by the Catholic church. The Catholic church teaches that she can intercede and pray for members of the church, but salvation is through Jesus alone. This is frequently misunderstood by Protestants.

3) The Eucharist

Catholics believe in transubstantiation, which is the belief that the bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Christ. It is literally transformed.

When King Henry VIII originally founded the Church of England (of which the American Episcopal Church is a member of) he kept the teaching of transubstantiation. Later, the Church of England adopted 39 Articles which included the rejection of transubstantiation. Today, this is not considered particularly binding and some High Church Episcopalians do believe in transubstantiation. In general, Episcopalians are asked to believe in the "real presence of Christ" in the eucharist, but it's largely left to the individual to decide how they view this.

Lutherans take a slightly different view. Luther taught that the bread and wine remained fully bread and fully wine while also being fully the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

I hope that helps!

Answer 5

Here is a useful comparison chart. If you assume that the Catholic would check every box (given that it is from a Catholic website), you can see points of differences with Lutherans, Anglicans (conservative Episcopalians) and other denominations.
http://www.saintaquinas.com/christian_comparison.html

A major Catholic difference with Lutheranism would be the question of faith alone saves (contradicted by the sheep and goats parable in Matt 25) and scripture alone (contradicted by II Thess 2:15, which says that the Gospel is passed on by word of mouth as well as letter.

The Episcopal Church is currently in schism over the question of whether to ordain practicing homosexuals. Though there is a faithful Anglican remnant close to original Christianity, the denomination is that far from Christianity.

Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 6

Well I'm a Lutheran and the Episcopal from what a gather and personal experitize they use three books during the service. I went a Catholic serivice and it seemed longer and the Lutheran's use the King Jame's version of the bible.

Answer 7

They all use the same bible but have a different view on what different things mean and what is more important. Lutherans don't focus much on Mary nor do the rosary.

Answer 8

Catholics believe in Real Presence of the Eucharist, i don't know if Lutherans/Episcopalians do.

Catholics also do the type of confession described above(but only can do for venial sins, mortal sins must be confessed 1on1)

lost.eu/21618

Answer 9

One interesting aspect is that after Vatican II (1962-1965) all three use the same liturgy Novus Ordo. In some cases you could confuse any three with the other.

Answer 10

Catholic only have the pope, epis and luther do not.

They are very similiar.