Protestant and Catholic Social Action

I will have to admit before I start this post that I am not Catholic so I do not know a lot about their Christian social action. I can just comment on the readings. After reading Thusen and Fisher’s readings on Christian social action I have noticed some similarities and some differences between Catholics and Protestants. One difference I did notice in the articles was that in the challenges that each of the religious groups faced. One big issue was the separation between church and state. The people did not want to elect Alfred E. Smith because he was a Catholic. He toured sweatshops and wanted equality between all people. He admired the ethnic and religious diversity around him, but the people still would not elect him. He lost by a landslide. He even expressed that he did not want his religious affiliation to interfere with the Constitution or the laws.

According to Fisher, some of the steps in changing social action came with what was going on in the world around us. He says John A. Ryan’s pioneering work made a Catholic response to the injustices that accompanied the rapid urbanization and industrialization of the United States. Ryan proposed some reforms that he believed would be reinforced with religion. This was also a challenge because the separation of church and state was a huge issue.

Dorothy Day was also an influential Catholic. She founded the Catholic Worker movement and insisted that the New Deal’s programs were too mild. She wanted spiritual dimensions to address human poverty and suffering. One thing that this article mentioned was that Day believed that few Catholics in the working class were aware of the social teachings on social issues. This kind of took me aback. I know that not everyone knows everything but you would think that if people say they are Catholic, then they would be aware of some of the issues so that they could defend them. I also think that this is changed over time. People seem a lot more educated on the issues they believe in.

The separation between church and state was a big issue in Fisher’s reading and I believe this is a lot different. In the public schools there really isn’t much of a change, but there are so many Catholic schools now that if people can afford it and really believe in Catholicism, they will send their children to a Catholic school. I know these schools are private and do not receive funding like public schools do but I do believe they receive some assistance. (I really don’t know.) Even if they do not receive assistance, it does not seem like there is much separation there because of the fact that it is a school and it is not allowed at the public schools. I am not sure if this is a very valid point. I will need to do some research. I am not Catholic and I did not go to a religious affiliated school growing up, so coming to Loras was a big change. One of my professors prayed out loud in one of my classes and later that day when I was talking to my mom on the phone I told her about it. I told her it was weird but really cool. It was weird just because I had grown up not being able to do that.

The article by Thuesen was a hard read for me so the list on differences will not be as long. One big difference I did notice between them and the Catholics was the fact that they had a lot of problems internally. There were/are divisions among the Protestants and they did/do not agree on everything.

To me, it does not seem as if Protestants are as strict as Catholics when it comes to the church. Catholics seem to separate themselves from other Christians and that is one thing that deters me from the religion. I do not understand why I cannot take communion with Catholics. We are both Christians, and both believe in the sacrifice that God made for us. We both believe that he died for our sins and will one day return. That is enough about that.

One similarity that I mentioned early is that the different groups are facing challenges. These churches are still facing problems today and that will probably never change. It is part of our ever evolving world. I do believe that both groups are making progressive changes. Politics had an influence on the two religious groups back then and they do today as well.