What is the difference between catholic and methodist

Christianity may be the single largest religion of the world with more than 2. The second big split or schism was a result of reform movements in Germany and France in the 16th century led by Martin Luther. This led to the establishment of Protestantism within Christianity. In 18th century, Protestantism itself gave way to Methodist Church because of the teachings of John Wesley.

There are several differences between the two denominations of Christianity that will be highlighted in this article. Though Catholics regard Bible as sacred, they place equal importance on Christian traditions. Wherever there are worshippers of Jesus, there is the Catholic Church. A Catholic believes Christ to be the son of God who took birth as a human being for the salvation of mankind. All the teachings and the sacrifice of Christ are contained in Bible and the sacred book, and Catholics believe Bible to be a source of all gospels.

Catholics believe in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, and this is considered to be the characteristic feature of the denomination.

All Catholics around the world are automatic members of this beautiful Church that is not only the oldest religious institutions of the Christians; it is also one that has shaped the destiny of much of the western world. Methodism is one of the many splinter groups that came to light after Protestantism took shape because of the reform movement started by Martin Luther.

Protestantism is represented by many denominations around the world that are followed by mire than 70 million people. Methodism shares the belief in Christ like all branches of Christianity but is distinct in its missionary work that is a result of a movement led by John Wesley and his brother in the 18th century. The basic tenet of Methodism lays in service to the people and the establishment of schools, hospitals, and orphanages and other similar institutions, and represents the desire of Jesus to serve the poor and the oppressed.

Because of the orderly manner in which John Wesley and his followers lived their lives, they were branded as Methodists by other Catholics of the time. Wesley did not form a new denomination and remained within the aegis of Church of England. It was only after his death that his followers formed the Free Church of England. Though Methodists came from all sections of the society, it was the preaching by Methodists among the laborers and criminals that converted thousands of Catholics into Methodists.

Both churches believe Jesus was human as well as divine, and that people are saved through faith in him; both churches teach that non-Christian people can also be saved. Both churches stress the importance of helping those in need, regardless of their religious affiliation. While these two branches of Christianity share some core beliefs, they also have significant differences.

Like most Protestant churches, the Methodist church celebrates two sacraments, baptism and communion. Methodists commonly refer to communion as the "Lord's Supper. Methodists allow any believers who choose to join in communion. Baptism in the Methodist church signifies new life in Christ and a joining with other believers.

Methodists baptize people of any age with water by sprinkling, pouring or immersing them. Catholics believe communion, generally called the Eucharist, is "the real presence of Jesus, who died for our sins. Only Catholics in good standing are to receive communion in the Catholic church. The relationships built between the Methodist observers and the Catholic participants at the Council contributed to a deeper mutual understanding between them.

Unitatis Redintegratio launched the Catholic Church into the ecumenical movement and became the interpretive guide to govern its participation therein. The promotion of dialogue, joint collaboration for the common good and spiritual ecumenism were set forth as the principal means by which Christian unity is to be fostered.

This includes treatment of ecumenism within the revised Code of Canon Law , a Directory of Norms governing Catholic involvement in the ecumenical movement first edition, ; revised edition , the papal encyclical Ut Unum Sint , and a large corpus of papal teaching and guidance from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Pope John XXIII identified the unity of Christians as one of the goals of the Council, and it has increasingly become a pastoral focus in successive pontificates. In Ut Unum Sint , Pope John Paul II insisted that the pursuit of Christian unity is not an addendum or an appendix but the way of the Church, an integral part of its essence and its pastoral activity.

Both communions acknowledge the change in relations that came with the Second Vatican Council. Our dialogue has spent forty years building on that fresh opening. Immediately following the Council, steps were taken to establish a theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the World Methodist Council. This dialogue began its work in In various ways the two communions have engaged in joint prayer, common witness, common mission and local dialogue.

Many new relationships have been built, and a spirit of mutual love has been nurtured, replacing the indifference or hostility that used to prevail between Catholics and Methodists.

As a result, there has been a shift from polemics to dialogue, from accusation to respect, and from ignorance to trust. The desire for unity has grown at the same time stronger and more widespread. Appreciation of the ecclesial character of each other has increased and has found tangible expression in our closer relations. Catholics and Methodists have viewed each other with a vision shaped by their respective understandings of the Reformation and of the blame which was attributed at that time and which continued to be attributed from then onwards.

The Methodist view of the Catholic Church changed during the twentieth century as did the Catholic view of Methodism. Part of this reassessment concerns our interpretation of the phenomenon of separation itself. He and his followers pursued their mission with great dedication despite the tragic consequence of ecclesial division.

That the movement became separated from the Church of England is the result of many factors, both theological and non-theological. While the separation is regrettable, it is impossible at this distance to judge the parties involved and it would be undesirable to try. It was understandable that Catholics should see the separation of Methodists from the Church of England as one more example of the disintegrating impulse of the Reformation.

The Christian world was already divided and the restoration of unity was not yet an obvious counter movement of the Holy Spirit. The renewal of the Church through the Methodist preaching of scriptural holiness would eventually serve the goal of Christian unity. Catholics can affirm with confidence that it is good that this Methodist gift of working for scriptural holiness in all the world is one which has survived for all to share. Methodists have come to understand that the many divisions of the Church have weakened Christian witness.

They recognise that Catholics have a valuable approach to unity in diversity from which Methodists can learn. Catholic appreciation for the past is something which Methodists share, and yet Catholics have taken more seriously their continuity with the Church in early and medieval times than have Methodists. Methodists and Catholics are both committed to personal and social holiness and have developed an important sense of solidarity as they work together for social justice.

Separated Christian communities must eventually grow toward one another if they grow closer to Christ. They are formed by the Spirit to be one and not divided. Methodists and Catholics are kept from full communion by still unresolved doctrinal matters that the churches each believe are vital to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, we are conscious of the Holy Spirit drawing us towards deeper koinonia. All separations, therefore, are ever only temporary for those who seek to follow Christ, and can never be definitive. Christ alone knows the timing for the coming together of his followers. They only need to wait upon him and to respond whole-heartedly to the movements of the unifying Spirit.

What is the Church? And what is its purpose here on earth? Methodist or Catholic , the worldwide body of Christians, or even the collective leadership of the Christian community. The Church is the people that God gathers both locally and across the world, the people that belongs to God in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Gathering together in a visible community, united in faith and in love, is central to what Church means to most Christians. Dialogue between Catholics and Methodists is necessary because there is division among Christians, and this dividedness clouds our understanding of the Church.

There is much about the Church, however, that we can say together as Methodists and Catholics, and there are many elements of the Church that we recognise in each other. This chapter presents key aspects of our common understanding of the nature and mission of the Church.

The Church of Christ cannot be defined in the way that we might describe any other international organisation. There is more to the Church than a visible community of people who share a particular view of the world, its origins and its destiny.

The Church is indeed a visible reality; its visibility is essential to its nature and mission. But there is more to the Church than meets the eye, and only the eye of faith can discern its deepest reality, its invisible mystery. St Paul was deeply conscious of the intimate, nuptial bond between Christ and his bride, the Church.

The Greek word mysterion was eventually rendered by sacramentum in Latin translations of the Bible and in Latin patristic writings. This holding together of the invisible and the visible is essential to our understanding of the Church as Catholics and Methodists.

It is rooted in Christ himself, the invisible Word made visible in the flesh, fully divine and fully human. As Catholics and Methodists, we confess that the life and actions of the pilgrim Church have at times made it particularly difficult to look beyond its visibility to the invisible presence of God. The Church is a community of weak and vulnerable human beings who often fail and fall, alone and together.

The Church is always in need of purification and renewal cf. There is a danger of presenting an idealised picture which bears little resemblance to the visible reality of the Church as it has journeyed and struggled through history.

And yet we believe that God remains faithfully present to the Church, and calls us to holiness, whatever our human frailty and sinfulness. The mystery of the Church is rooted in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and in the mystery of the saving life, death and resurrection of the Incarnate Word. By the unitive power of his Spirit of love, the Father draws us into a communion of life with his own beloved Son. In Christ, we become the adopted sons and daughters of God the Father, members of his royal and consecrated family, the Church.

John , John ; and it was by his Incarnate Word that the Father began his work of new creation and gathered together the scattered children of God.

Luke After the resurrection this community shared the new life conferred by the Spirit, and very soon came to be called the Church. Baptized into the faith and proclaiming the crucified and risen Lord, the members were united to one another by the Spirit in a life marked by the apostolic teaching, common prayer, the breaking of bread and often by some community of goods; and those who were converted and drawn to them became part of this koinonia.

Christ is the true vine, and we are his branches, bearing fruit because he lives in us and we live in him cf. John With him the corner-stone The living stones conjoin; Christ and his church are one, One body and one vine. O Thou who this mysterious bread Didst in Emmaus break, Return, herewith our souls to feed, And to thy followers speak.

Unseal the volume of thy grace, Apply the gospel word, Open our eyes to see thy face, Our hearts to know the Lord. For Methodists and Catholics, the call to holiness and the call to be the Church belong together, and spirituality and theology are inseparable. The Church is summoned by the personal call of the Risen Lord.

He says to each of us: Come to me, Follow me, and Go in my name. We are transformed by the touch of his presence and become new people, ready and able to follow him and to live a new life in Christ.

Jesus knew he was sent by the Father. None of this is possible for the Church apart from the vivifying, empowering and transforming presence of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit inspired the prophets, promising a new beginning, a new creation, a new covenant. In that new beginning, the Holy Spirit overshadowed the Church, bringing the new life promised by Christ, the new Adam.

The Spirit is the invisible bond of communion cf. Within the Church, the Spirit is the bond of communion and connection across both space and time. Joel , giving us even now a foretaste of the heavenly banquet and an anticipation of eventual full communion with the Holy Trinity. Unchanging from generation to generation, the Spirit is the living continuity of the Church, making possible that memorial of Christ by which we participate here and now in the life, death and rising of the Lord, and anticipate his return in glory.

The Holy Spirit is the Witness to Christ in the world John , anointing all believers for the work of witness and the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Gift of the Spirit to the Church brings many gifts to serve its unity and mission. Relating us to one another and to Christ our Head, the Holy Spirit gives coherent shape and variety to the people of God. Within that people as they are, and for that people as they shall be, the Holy Spirit invites us all to share in the service of the One who came to serve.

From the first call of Jesus to his Apostles, to be called is to be gathered — into local communities churches and into one universal communion the Church.

There can be no such thing as private and individualistic Christianity. To be Christian is to be joined together in Christ, to belong to the community gathered around the Risen Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because our communion is grounded in the holy love of the living God, it is a sharing together in a life of holiness and mutual love.

This dynamic of connection and communion belongs not only to local disciples gathered together in community, but also to the worldwide community of those local communities united together as one Church, the Body of Christ.

The Church of Christ is truly present and effective in some way in all local congregations of the faithful who are gathered together by the preaching of the Gospel and for the celebration of the Eucharist cf.

But to be truly ecclesial, each community must be open to communion with other such communities. Individual Christians and their communities are essentially linked together in a web of mutual and interdependent relationships. Similarly, neither individual Christians nor individual churches function effectively in isolation, but are dependent on a larger whole. And what is true of individual Christians and churches is also true of regional and national churches.

Baptism is the gateway to communion in Christ, and so to those relationships which constitute the Church of Christ. Catholics and Methodists firmly believe that Christ wills one visibly united, universal Church, even though they may differently identify the structures needed for such full communion.

The Church is called to be an effective sign to the world of the saving and gathering purpose of God for all humanity, and a foretaste of our final gathering by God in heaven. Visible unity is essential, therefore, to the nature and mission of the Church.

As Catholics and Methodists, we are committed to pursuing together the path towards full visible unity in faith, mission and sacramental life. Communion is much more than co-existence; it is a shared existence. Mutual sharing is at the heart of a life of holiness CLP, 3. Communion involves holding in common the many gifts of God to the Church. The more of these gifts we hold together, the more in communion we are with each other. We are in full communion when we share together all those essential gifts of grace we believe to be entrusted by God to the Church.

Methodists and Catholics are not yet fully agreed on what constitutes the essential gifts, in the areas of doctrine, sacraments and structures. We already share together in the Gift of the Holy Spirit, who is the source of our communion in Christ. Methodists and Catholics are already in a real, though imperfect, communion with one another cf. A visible community which is in koinonia with God cannot but be marked with visible signs, however imperfect, of the invisible presence of God the Holy Trinity.

The mystery of the Church bears the marks of the mystery of God. But we are a pilgrim people, and those marks are both gifts and goals, already present but not yet fully realised. This striving after perfection in the God-given marks of the Church implies an ecumenical imperative.

All Christian churches should pray and work toward an eventual restoration of organic unity. If the Church lives in union with Christ, it will bear visible signs of his saving mystery. Christ proclaimed that the kingdom of his Father was near at hand. This proclamation was the heart of his message, and therefore lies at the heart of the mission of his Church. Christ worked miracles as signs of the inbreaking power of the kingdom of God, which he embodied.

By joining heart and hand, we assert that personal religion, evangelical witness, and Christian social action are reciprocal and mutually reinforcing. As Christ reached out to touch and restore the lives of the outcasts of his society, so the Church is called to reach out in his name to touch and transform the lives of the untouchables and marginalised of our world.

Christ called his disciples to be servants of all Mark The Church is called to a communion in the death of Christ, dying with him, crucified with him. Like the Risen Lord when he appeared to his disciples, the Church will be marked with signs of crucifixion, as testimony to our doubting world of the living love of the Risen Lord CLP, 2.

The Church is called to be an Easter community, marked with the joy of the Resurrection of our Lord. Like Mary of Magdala and the Apostles, Christians today are told not to look for Christ among the dead, but to proclaim him to the world as risen and alive:.

Go, tell the followers of your Lord Their Jesus is to life restored; He lives, that they his life may find; He lives to quicken all mankind. The Apostles after the crucifixion were understandably afraid and shut themselves away in the upper room. The Church may be tempted to do the same in the face of societies and cultures whose attitudes can range from apathy towards the teaching and values of the Gospel to active persecution.

The Risen Lord came to the Apostles with words of peace to dissolve their fear, and breathed his Spirit upon them. Christians and their communities can all too easily focus entirely on their fellowship and worship, to the neglect of mission and witness. In that way we truly become a community of faith and love, anticipating and journeying towards our final destiny with and in God.

Sharing the mission of the Son and of the Spirit in the world is central to our common understanding of the nature of the Church. The nature and mission of the Church are inseparable. Methodists and Catholics affirm together a fundamentally Trinitarian teaching on the nature and mission of the Church, drawn by the Father, commissioned by Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Although God is not limited to such ways of working, we joyfully affirm together that God freely chooses to work through the service of human communities and individuals, empowered by his grace.

Only the presence of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for the Church to be a sign or sacrament of the Risen Christ for our whole world. During our dialogues, we have each grown in our understanding and appreciation of the means of grace with which the other is so fruitfully endowed. Our common Baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is our sacramental bond of unity, the visible foundation of the deep communion which already exists between us and which impels us to ever deeper unity with each other and participation in the life and mission of Christ himself.

The innermost reality of the Church is its invisible communion with the Risen Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. Communion with the person of Christ commits us to communion with the mission of Christ. The Incarnate Word speaks through the Church, carrying forward and handing on his saving work from generation to generation. Come, let us join our friends above That have obtained the prize, And on the eagle wings of love To joys celestial rise: Let all the saints terrestrial sing With those to glory gone; For all the servants of our King, In earth and heaven, are one.

One family we dwell in him, One church, above, beneath, Though now divided by the stream, The narrow stream of death: One army of the living God, To his command we bow; Part of his host have crossed the flood, And part are crossing now. The Holy Spirit is the source of our communion with the Apostles and the Church through the ages, enabling the Church to hand on the apostolic faith afresh to the world of today and of the future.

The Church does not live in the past, and we cannot simply repeat what past generations have said and done. The Spirit of Truth works in a dynamic of continuity and change, shaping and enriching the memory of the community, telling the Church of the things to come, and leading it into the future with hope.

Preserving the Apostolic Tradition has been at times a struggle for the Church. The treasure of the mystery of Christ is held in the earthen vessel of the daily life of the pilgrim Church, a community always in need of purification and reform. All true renewal and reformation in the Church is the work of the Holy Spirit, who enables the community of the faithful to hear the Word of God and to move forward together in life, faith and witness.

We affirm together the essentially dynamic nature of the pilgrim Church, which is not only continually in need of renewal but also on a journey into holiness and truth, led by the unerring Spirit of Holiness and Truth. In other words, there must be growth in holiness. They are for the service of the communion and mission of the Church. Among the visible elements are the means of grace so central to the life of both our traditions, especially Baptism and the Eucharist as well as other rites which could be said to have a sacramental nature.

For Catholics, these gifts of the Spirit include the episcopate in apostolic succession, and the Petrine ministry of the Bishop of Rome. For Methodists, they include Christian conference. The same Spirit is at work among all the baptised, across the generations and throughout the world.

The whole community is anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. They lack fidelity to Christ, they are lukewarm in the worship of God, they do not show love toward one another, they fail in missionary outreach. Apostolic communities need people to do for their own time what the apostles did in theirs: to pastor, teach and minister under the authority of the Good Shepherd and Teacher, the Servant Lord. Previous reports of this Joint Commission have dealt with the topic of ordained ministry and authoritative leadership.

All forms of ministry are communal and collegial. They seek to preserve and strengthen the whole community of faith in truth and love, in worship and in mission. In both Churches, oversight is exercised in a way which includes pastoral care and authoritative preaching and teaching.

Methodists and Catholics can rejoice that the Holy Spirit uses the ministries and structures of both Churches as means of grace to lead people into the truth of the Gospel of Christ. Clearly our increasing mutual understanding and our growth in agreement on questions of ministry do not exclude the fact that there are areas of serious divergence which require further exploration and discussion. Central to Methodist teaching on the Church is the role of Christian conference in which lay people alongside ordained ministers authoritatively discern the will of God and the truth of the Gospel.

There remain aspects of teaching and ecclesial elements which Catholics regard as essential to what we must hold in common in order to have full communion and to be fully the Church of Christ. These include a precise understanding of the sacramental nature of ordination, the magisterial role of the episcopate in apostolic succession, the assurance asserted of certain authoritative acts of teaching, and the place and role of the Petrine Ministry. It is there, at the Eucharist, doing what Christ instructed us to do as a memorial of him, that we celebrate the mystery of faith.

It is essential that these issues be further explored. As we celebrate the Eucharist, called together by the Father, the Risen Lord makes us more fully what he wills his Church to be, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Together these affirmations already provide a rich foundation from which we can face the remaining issues in the hope that one day Catholics and Methodists will be able to gather together in full communion around the table of the Lord.

The Church of Christ is a pilgrim community, journeying together from sinfulness to holiness as God in his grace leads us forward. Polemics reveal priorities, though the polemical context itself can obscure what is held in common. The very considerable agreement reached over the years of our recent dialogue, amply summarised in Chapter Two, indicates that Catholics and Methodists do, in fact, hold in common many beliefs and priorities regarding the Church. It is time now to return to the concrete reality of one another, to look one another in the eye, and with love and esteem to acknowledge what we see to be truly of Christ and of the Gospel, and thereby of the Church , in one another.

Practical proposals for that exchange follow in Chapter Four. Before giving an account of how we respectively see one another, it will be helpful to indicate some perspectives that are developing in this time of grace to the benefit of our mutual appraisal. On the contrary, faith and sacramental life, to take first those two features, are deeply interwoven, in accordance with the ancient principle, lex orandi, lex credendi as we pray, so we believe. Much of Methodist belief is actually to be found primarily in the liturgy and in hymns cf.

In some cases, it remains implicit. In contrast, a feature of medieval scholastic theology was that it became rather detached from its liturgical moorings. The Liturgical Movement had a profound influence across the Christian family in the twentieth century, not least on our two communions, and we rejoice now to share a strongly liturgical methodology in formulating our statements of belief and in the teaching of doctrine.

Likewise, faith and mission cannot be separated in either of our traditions and that linkage is one of the main reasons for the resonance between our ecclesial lives that Catholics and Methodists often feel and that we are now seeking to explore and express. Regarding the relationship between the individual and the community, an important difference of starting point has tended to characterise Catholics and Methodists.

On the one hand, Catholics start with the community, the Church as a whole, the bride of Christ, in whose life the individual participates. In other words, Catholic ecclesiology goes from the community to the individual, and regards the whole as greater than the sum of its parts. The blessings and the salvation enjoyed by each individual Christian are a participation in the blessings and salvation that Christ won for the Church Ephesians Each individual is saved by being taken up into that greater whole, just as each local church, likewise, participates in the mystery of the universal Church.

The Church is not a federation of previously existing local churches, and neither is the community a collection of already existing individual Christians. On the other hand, Methodism tends to reflect the focus upon the individual which characterised many of its sources and to say that the Church is constituted by a particular collection of individual believers.

In other words, Methodist ecclesiology goes from the individual to the community, and regards the whole, at least in its earthly manifestation, basically as the sum of its parts. This rather more existential and episodic approach is, of its nature, far less concerned than Catholics tend to be with fundamental structural considerations such as historical continuity and succession, though the pronounced Methodist emphasis upon the connectional principle must not be forgotten in this regard.

Far from being conflictual, these respective emphases should be perceived as being necessarily complementary. The Church needs precisely those structures that enable individual Christians and local churches to achieve their true identity in and through communion. The one and the many, the individual and the community, achieve their identity simultaneously in the life which is patterned after the Trinity.

Related to the previous point is the fact that Methodists and Catholics have tended to adopt different approaches in defining the Church. A movement from both of these positions has been evident in recent times. Methodists would gladly make a reciprocal statement along the same lines. Moreover, with an eye to the difference between our communions mentioned above, many Methodists are nowadays feeling the need for a more substantial definition of the Church.

Concern with essential visible structures has been a strong feature of Catholic teaching on the Church, whereas Methodism has placed more emphasis on spiritual features, especially holiness, than on permanent structures. Reflecting on apostolicity as a mark of the Church, Catholics tend to think first of apostolic succession , and Methodists of mission. Despite this difference of emphasis, there is a significant move towards convergence. In fact, both Catholic and Methodist churches are now concerned with structures and with holiness and mission, and indeed with the relationship among them.

The idea of a sacrament is ideally suited to holding together internal and external, visible and spiritual, and both Catholics and Methodists have begun to speak of the Church itself in a sacramental way.