Roman Catholics and Protestants?

I grew up in a Midwest city where the majority of Christians were Lutheran or Roman Catholic. I can’t recall there being a lot of tension between the two groups, but there were certainly differences. Being in the Lutheran “camp,” Reformation Day was a big deal. We would always start worship on that day singing, “A Mighty Fortress,” Luther’s best known hymn. The sermon would always be something about the importance of the Bible.

But there were differences. I remember another song we Lutheran kids would sing. Not in church, but privately, we would serenade our Roman Catholic buddies. It went something like this.

‘Ol Marty Luther
Good ‘ol Marty Luther
Played by the Reformation Band
He wrote the 95 theses
They tore the Pope to “pieceez”
I think the Reformation’s grand

‘Ol Marty Luther
‘Ol Marty Luther
Played by the Reformation Band
‘Ol Marty Luther
‘Ol Marty Luther
I think the Reformation’s grand

There you have a bizarre jingle (where the heck did that come from?) that is a trace of the left over radiation from the Big Bang of the Reformation. By the time I was a child, though, Catholics and Lutherans had basically gotten over the earlier tensions (I remember hearing stories of my grandparent’s generation having Protestant and Catholic families almost disown children who married a Catholic/ Protestant, ala’ Romero and Juliet), but we knew we were still different.

Are there basic differences in the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches? Most assuredly. One hesitates to make generalizations, but at the same time some observations may be helpful to answer questions by those who aren’t Christian, or for that matter, the many Christians who may not understand the differences. Considering the Roman Catholic Church is on center stage now, it will be timely to address this in the next couple of posts.