We live in an age where you’re expected to treat all religions as equals, otherwise, you’re a hater. To many people, it doesn’t matter whether you’re Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, or whatever else, so long as you don’t try to put your faith on a pedestal.
But while we should respect members of other faiths — as many are sincere in their quest for truth — it is completely false that all religions are equal.
Nor are all forms of Christianity equal. Despite the fact that Catholicism is sometimes seen as merely another denomination of Christianity, there are major differences between Catholics and the rest of the Protestant world.
As the true Church established by Christ, the Catholic Church possesses gifts that no other Christian community has. And we shouldn’t shy away from holy boasting about that fact — not to inflate our egos, but to invite our non-Catholic Christian brothers and sisters to join us!
Here are just a few of the reasons why Catholicism is better than Protestantism.
1. We have Jesus physically present among us
It’s easy for Catholics to take the Eucharist for granted, but we shouldn’t. After all, what is more awesome than having the Second Person of the Trinity physically present with us?
Many Protestants, sadly, don’t have this real presence of Jesus because they don’t believe in it (they see Holy Communion as merely symbolic of Jesus’ body and blood). Other Protestants do believe in some form of sacred presence in the host, but the Catholic Church has decreed that Jesus is not really physically present in their rites due to their lack of a valid priesthood.
2. We have an authoritative hierarchy
Maybe you’re scratching your head over this one. Who wants to be told what to do? Sure, if you’re a Catholic, you may try to be obedient to the pope and your bishop. But you may not revel in it.
To see why having an authoritative teaching Church is so freeing, just look at the consequences of not having one. Most Protestants hold to the doctrine of Sola Scriptura — meaning they believe that Scripture alone is the sole rule of faith and ultimate authority for all Christians.
But while this may sound nice in theory, it hasn’t worked out for them practically. There are thousands of Protestant denominations and many teach contradictory things, yet claim their teachings come straight from Scripture.
Catholics, on the other hand, have the magisterium (the authoritative teaching office of the Church) to declare and define what truths are actually contained in the divine revelation present in Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. This is freeing because then we can know with certainty what the truth is without having to rely on our own judgments.
3. We have the saints and can talk to them
Catholics don’t worship the saints. This is a common misconception among Protestants. But we do pray to them, by which we mean we ask them for their intercession.
And why not? The saints are in heaven united with God and there’s no reason to think that they’re completely unaware of what’s happening on earth. We ask them to pray for us just as we would ask a close friend or family member here on earth to intercede with us.
The difference is this: Since the saints are in the presence of God, we are guaranteed that God hears their prayers.
This is just scratching the surface of all the unique gifts found in the Catholic Church. We invite any Protestant friends reading this to dive deeper into the rich teaching and ceremonies of Catholicism. We promise it will be an awesome journey!