Protestant & Catholic: The Disparity Beyond Dogma

The differences between Protestants and Roman Catholics are normally defined in terms of doctrine--papal in fallibility, Marianism, the nature of the church. But there is a difference that lies deeper than dogma: the basic approach of men to prayer and piety. It is possible, for example, that a Southern Baptist could become intellectually convinced by the claims of Catholicism. Yet, accustomed as he is to a tradition of free prayer, Bible-centered sermons and mighty hymns, he might still feel alien to a church that offers its believers private confession of sins to a priest, solemn Mass with incense and chant, and worship mostly confined to set liturgical forms.

Amidst all the talk of Christian unity, relatively little has been said about the differences in spirituality and worship that could keep the churches apart even after doctrinal problems have been resolved. Last summer, a group of top-ranking Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic theologians met at St. John's Benedictine Abbey in Minnesota to compare and contrast the pieties of their churches. The papers from this unique conference appear in the current Worship, a monthly journal on liturgy published by the monks of St. John's.

Growth v. Pilgrimage. Karl Barth has pointed out, said Presbyterian John Oliver Nelson, that the difference between Catholics and Protestants begins with the first word of the Creed. For the Protestant, credo is a creative assertion and a declaration; for the Catholic, a statement of acceptance and assent. It is no wonder, then, added Dean John Coburn of Massachusetts' Episcopal Theological Seminary, that even the language of spirituality in the two traditions differs. "In the Catholic world," he said, "spirituality is interpreted to be the growth in grace that comes in the life of an individual member of a family in response to the grace infused in baptism; sin is gradually overcome by discipline and participation in the church's sacramental life." For the Protestant, on the other hand, spirituality is a "relationship" or "encounter" with God, in which God's word, preached by the minister, still dwells among men. The emphasis is not so much on growth to fullness, but on pilgrimage.

Much of the difference, suggests Benedictine Father Jean Leclerq, stems from the great influence that monasteries have had on Catholic life. In monastic spirituality there is a strong emphasis upon withdrawal from the world, ascetic practice, corporate worship through the liturgy--ideals that were all carried over into the life of Catholic laymen. Along with doctrine, Protestantism strongly rejected this otherworldly spirituality. Puritanism, notes Congregationalist Historian Horton Davies of Princeton, dismissed liturgy "as a lame man might a crutch when he believed himself healed," in favor of free prayer, the Bible and simplicity. Davies quotes from a 1641 Puritan attack on Anglican Prayer Book worship as the work of "mere Surplice and Service-Book men, such as cannot doe so much as a Porter in his frocke; for he doth Service, and the Priest onely sayes service." But Davies adds that behind these polemics lay a strong theological conviction that set forms of worship deprived people of the gift of prayer and could not meet the differing needs of congregations.

Also rejected by the Reformation was the Catholic concept that it is possible to get spiritual help through others besides God. Even today, notes Quaker Douglas V. Steere of Haverford, Protestants are highly suspicious of any claims "that would declare, or even imply, that the priest, or the saints, or the Virgin, or the institutional church stand as an indispensable intermediary." Thus Protestantism puts a stronger emphasis upon individual responsibility in prayer and worship than does Catholicism.

Right to Question. In summing up, Benedictine Theologian Kilian McDonnell said that Protestants have a right to question "the noisy efficiency of much of Catholic devotional literature, the ritualism of much Catholic prayer." Equally objectionable is the "raging objectivism" of Catholic theology that emphasizes Christ's real presence in the Eucharist and ignores what is of greater importance to Protestants--"the continual presence of Christ in the believer." On the other hand, Catholics can rightly argue that "there is a profound dislocation of a sacramental nature found within Protestantism." But true Christian spirituality, McDonnell argues, requires both framework and freedom. "Without the framework the way is easily open to a prayer which is emotional, subjective, pompous; without freedom prayer becomes mechanistic, frigid, oblivious to the needs of the local church."

Encouragingly, there is evidence that the spiritual differences between the two traditions are lessening. Many Protestant churches are in the midst of a liturgical revival that is restoring sacrament to a place of equality with the preached word. The decrees of the Vatican Council have already removed some Protestant objections to Catholic worship and encourage greater study and use of Scripture by laymen and priests alike. Last week, three English clergymen--an Anglican, a Roman Catholic and a Methodist--jointly recommended still another change in worship that could help bring divided Christianity closer together. They proposed that their churches draw up a common table of Bible lessons, which would be read by all churches on Sundays. With that, they declared, "we should surely be hastening the day when once again we possess 'one mind in Jesus Christ.' "

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