Truth and Eternity

Totalitarianism 3

In secondary school and high school, I went to a Catholic mission school. At school, I had occasional contact with Christianity.

There are two types of Christianity: the Eastern Church and the Western Church. The Eastern Church is known as the Orthodox Church and is mostly found in Greece and Russia. It split with the Western Church due to doctrinal and other differences. Until the 16th century, the Western Church was exclusively Roman Catholic. However, the Reformation, led by Luther of the Augustinian Order and others, led to the creation of Protestant churches. Both the Eastern and Western Churches, and both Catholics and Protestants, believe in Jesus Christ. Although fundamentally the same religion in common, there are many differences in doctrines, ways of worship and church structures. The Catholic Church has a monolithic structure with the Pope at its head. The Pope is regarded as the successor to Peter, the disciple of Christ mentioned in the New Testament, and a pyramid-like structure is formed under him, with cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests and lay people. The Catholic Church throughout the world is incorporated into this structure, and in its doctrine, the Holy Tradition, the tradition handed down in the Church, is as much an object of faith as the Bible. Veneration of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, is also a distinctively Catholic doctrine. The Catholic Church has religious orders, which are communities of clergy who have taken vows of poverty, obedience and chastity. In contrast, the Protestant Church is a divided church that resists this monolithic organization. They believe only in the Bible and not in the Sacred Tradition.

Thus, there are various differences in churches according to denomination, but as a 13-year-old who had just started secondary school, I did not understand any of this. However, perhaps I could see the essence of it better when I did not understand it. This is because once you start being aware of superficial differences, you get caught up in them.

However, even then I could see that the atmosphere of the Protestant church chapel, which I had been familiar with, was different from that of the Catholic church chapel on my campus. Protestant churches place less emphasis on the visual arts and their chapels are often simpler. This is a result of the Reformation. However, the Catholic case is different. Because of their veneration for Mary and the saints, their statues are placed in churches. The school cathedral I attended was no exception.