Expert: Michael Clark, Ph.D. - 2/27/2007

Question
Latley I have been exploring how diffrent prepaterian beleifs are diffrent from catholic beliefs.  Im wondering if you can expand on a few topics:
1.) communion & Transubstantiation
2.) The authority of the church (top down/bottom up authoity)
3.) Tradition of the catholic church

-currently I am prespaterian but I am currently exploring my faith and I have attended mass and it really interested me.  Can you tell me some of your experiences about your transformation into catholosism?

Answer
Kyle, I was a baptized Anglican who explored many different religious paths before feeling called into Catholicism. It was mostly a spiritual call. The whole idea of churchgoing was foreign to me as I never went as a kid.

I'll outline the Catholic beliefs and you can compare to the Presb.

1) For communion the bread and wine is believed to be transformed in essence into the body and blood of Christ. Normally just the bread is taken by laity, but this can act as both body and blood. It's not just a symbol. It's transformed by God in heaven into Jesus' body and blood. The external appearance doesn't change (the "form") but the internal essence does.

2) The Pope is the chief servant of Christ. He is only infallible when speaking ex-cathedra. There is a lot on this on the web, so I won't repeat it here. Try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

3) For Catholics Tradition (i.e. the Church's teaching) and Scripture go hand in hand with equal weight and authority. Neither can contradict the other. They're said to exist like two branches on the same tree.

For more details about Catholicism and your specific questions, try these links:

http://www.catholic.com/

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/index.html

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm