Protestantism, Catholicism, and Salvation

During the Protestant Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries, many churches splintered off the Catholic church in protest against corruptions in its hierarchy. As the Protestant churches rebelled against the authority of the Catholic Church, they also began questioning the Church's teachings and forming their own. One of the most important and hotly contested teachings is salvation: what is it, and how do we obtain it? Because the Protestant churches are not unified under a single banner as the Catholic Church is, it is impossible to declare that Protestants as a whole believe in one method of salvation or another. Each sect has its own beliefs about how humans come to salvation. However, as an overall statement, many Protestant churches believe that good works do not contribute to Salvation, and only faith and God's love bring us into eternal communion with Him.

For example, the Calvinist Church, founded by French Protestant John Calvin, strictly adheres to the doctrine of predestination. Predestination argues that God chooses some people to be saved and go to heaven after their deaths, and some to burn in hell postmortem for their sins. Calvinists believe that no amount of good deeds can change God's mind, but that acting in a moral manner means that God has selected you for salvation. The United Methodists believe in a similar doctrine of predestination, as quoted from umc.org (United Methodist Church): "As such, God's decision to save us can be and is based on no conditions we can or could ever generate. God has chosen, based on God's own criteria, whom to save and whom not to save, long before we were ever born".

Unlike the United Methodist and Calvinist churches, the Lutherans and Baptists believe that humans have one avenue towards salvation, which is faith. Both churches teach that Christ died on the Cross to forgive the sins of humanity, and only through faith and love for Him can we be saved. Lutheranism and Baptist doctrines also teach, like United Methodists and Calvinists, that good works in this world do not assist our entry into heaven. Baptists, as opposed to Catholics, deny five out of the seven Sacraments, keeping only Baptism and the Eucharist; even then, they deny that Sacraments impart grace, and believe that the salvation through Baptism is merely symbolic, not an efficacious sign of grace.

More on:

the Lutheran Church: http://www.princeofpeacelutheran.org/belief.htm
the Baptist Church: http://www.baptistbasics.org/baptists/b003.php
the United Methodist Church: http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=4746357&ct=5571239

Catholic Rites

When the Apostles carried out Christ's Great Commandment, they spread the Word of God across the globe. St. Thomas went to India, St. Andrew went to Scythia, and St. Peter went to Rome, just to name a few. Each of the Churches that the Apostles set up was a legitimate follower of Christ's teachings, but each also incorporated the customs of the culture it served. Thus the many different Catholic rites were born. According to the Catechism, there are seven major Catholic rites: Latin, Byzantine, Alexandrian (or Coptic), Syriac, Armenian, Maronite, and Chaldean. Many people, even Catholics, assume that the Latin Church, or the Roman Catholic rite, is the only Catholic Church, and don't know about the other rites. I'm a member of  a Maronite church, and when I tell people, many of them just assume it's another Protestant or Orthodox denomination. However, the united Catholic Church recognizes the validity of Eastern rites as well as the Latin one. The Maronite Catholic liturgy incorporates all the features of the Latin rite, but some prayers and readings are read in Arabic and some are read in English. Even though the Roman Catholic Church may be the largest Catholic rite in terms of people, the Church recognizes the equal validity of all rites.  

The Importance of an Open Mind

In mass today, the priest's homily was about the importance of evangelism, in particular, the need to keep an open mind and an accepting attitude during dialogue with another person about your faiths. Evangelism is all about trying to convince others to join or rejoin the Church. His message was that, both logically and in practice, people respond more positively to an open attitude than a close-minded approach. At the beginning, the people that someone is trying to evangelize usually view their faith as more valid than Catholicism, just because they've held it for their entire lives. Acting intolerant of other faiths is an easy way to turn them off in regards to learning about the Catholic faith. If you don't care about my beliefs, why should I care about yours? In summary, the best way to start up dialogue and begin the evangelization process is to have an open mind and seek truth while remaining loyal to Christ and His word.