Yesterday (Sunday, October 19th, 2014 AD) I went to church.
That would by itself be strange enough already, but there's something more. The church was a Catholic one. A cathedral, in fact. (FYI, I was raised in a Protestant environment. Hence, the strangeness.)
In the past I have, at times, been asked by my non-Christian friends about the difference between a Catholic and a Protestant. As with most questions worth answering, I can't answer it satisfactorily in a sentence. Why? Because I myself am still not sure about all the differences, despite having experienced both settings in my life.
Here's the answer most obvious to me: upon beginning and ending a prayer, Catholics tend to cross themselves (that is, they sequentially, with their hand, touch their forehead, then chest (heart?), then shoulders, one at a time), while Protestants do not usually do so. A superficial difference, I know, but then again, if you look deep enough, all differences are superficial, in a way.
There is, however, another thing which has been on my mind since I was in elementary school: the significance of Mary, Jesus' mom. The Catholic Church seems to put her in a very high place. I was reminded yesterday that in the Catholic world, Baby Jesus, not yet walking and therefore held by Mary, is portrayed in statues and images nearly as often as Beardy Jesus. Not so in the Protestant setting, as far as I observe.
Same goes with the saints. The word 'saint' in everyday Protestantism is nearly meaningless. We just call them by their names. Peter, Paul, Mary, John, and so on. Just ordinary people. Good and great people maybe, sure, but still simply human, just like us. Different with the Catholics, where the saints seem to hold some sort of offices or roles (which I'm not really sure) in the heavenly hierarchy.
Hmm.
I guess, for me, the general feeling I get from these observations is that the Catholics are more earthy, while the Protestants are more God-oriented. This does not mean that Catholicism is more atheistic than Protestantism, no. I mean that Protestantism seems more democratic, while Catholicism more monarchical. That might seem to contradict the first sentence of this paragraph, but bear with me for a while longer.
A monarchy is complex. It is not a state of affairs spontaneously generated. It is a product of civilization. A lot of people seem to view it as a simple top-down arrangement of power from one person to many. Top-down? Maybe. One to many? Sure. Simple? NO. In a monarchy, there is not only the king and the peasants, there are advisors, guards, knights, ministers, even fools and minstrels. A monarchy depends on the specialization of work. The people in a monarchy realize - and perhaps accept - that they have limited power individually, and they have to delegate - meaning trust - some work to other, more able people.
So, when I say that Catholicism is both earthy and monarchical, I do not mean that Catholics don't believe in a heavenly Father. It's just that the Catholics seem to have retained the rich cultural and traditional mindset of humbleness that feels quite pagan in nature. I like to imagine that it is this mindset that gave rise to the mythical gods and spirits in stories. Still monotheistic, but the Supreme God is just that, supreme, and lesser humans sometimes need greater intermediaries such as saints to commune with Him. Hence the emphasized role of Mary, as an example of the ultimate human surrender to God.
A democracy, on the other hand, is based on the belief that authority should be held by the populace, the masses; that the people should be allowed to decide their own goal and pursue it. Because it came later in history (at least in a formalized appearance), this might seem advanced, but the core ideas are very simple: I want, I am allowed to want, and I am allowed to do and/or have. The formalization process only consists of applying the simple principles already present in every brained animal (at least, as far as we know) to the plural setting, creating (almost as an afterthought) the clause, "as long as I do not impose on others." The rest are just logical consequences.
Thus the Protestants, being in nature more democratic, and for the first time in history empowered enough to exercise their belief (maybe because of the scientific advances that led to, among other things, the printing press and the industrial revolution), boldly did away with the complex bureaucracy of the Catholics and viewed themselves as able to righteously stand before God with no need for middlemen. Which is why the focus in their church is on Jesus, and Jesus alone, making the other characters, including Mary, simply secondary.
Well, maybe. Speculations, you know.
- Inspired by The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong and Miracles by C.S. Lewis-
