Today, at the end of class, we talked about the differences within a religion and how everyone in that religion do not all have the same beliefs or the same traditions. One example that was used was the differences between Catholics and Episcopalian as denominations of Christianity. We also then touched on the topic of the stereotypical nun. I have found both of these topics interesting as I went to an Episcopalian elementary school and then a Catholic high school, while also being Methodist. Even though these are all denominations of Christianity, they are still very different. I have had the unique opportunity to have a first-hand experience with these three of these denominations and have been able to find many similarities and differences between them. Keep in mind, I was only in Catholic mass about once a month and attended an Episcopal service once a week in elementary school (K-8), so I do not know everything about what was happening or some if it was changed due to age, mostly in elementary school.
Overall, the three denominations have a very similar structure to their services and their beliefs, as they are all Christian. Focusing more on the worship service aspect of each denomination, I think that Catholics and Episcopalians have more in common than either with Methodists. I think that both Catholics and Episcopalians recite very similar responses during the services, especially during the sacrament of communion. Both of these denominations, or at least in the schools where I was, the sacrament of communion was practiced during every service, whereas at my own church, communion is only practiced once a month. This difference could be only between the different Churches and not the denominations themselves, but I still thought it was interesting. In all three denominations the Our Father is recited every time we gather. The Our Father is a common thing among all Christians, as we also saw Middle Eastern Christians reciting it today. Catholics and Episcopals recite the Our Father the same way but in the Methodist Church, it is said differently. The Protestant Churches and the Catholic Church say the Our Father differently and this confused me as a young kid. (I would always mix them up but you can read about why they are different here).
I know that I have made it seem like Catholics and Episcopalians are the same but they are not. One difference is that in the Episcopalian church female priests are allowed, and they may marry and have children. In this sense, the Episcopalian church is similar to the Methodist church. I will not go into further detail about this now, as I know this is a long blog post, but I did want to mention that I did have nuns as teachers in elementary school and they were all very nice and did not fit the stereotypical nun image. But they were Episcopalian nuns and not Catholic nuns so that may have played a part.