Catholic V Church of England - main differences please

[SecondhandRose]

My children go to a Catholic school although we are C of E. Please can anyone tell me what the basic differences are?

Also can I go to Mass and go up the front and do whatever it is they do (putting something in their mouths)?

Some of the Mums were honouring Mary with flowers during May, why would this be? Someone said to me that Mary is very important in the Catholic faith.

I'm sorry I sound such a thicky but I'm too embarrassed to ask at school and I know I can always rely on you.

hmb, no not at all offended. See what you mean. Thanks.

SecondhandRose, I don't think that your school would mind at all about learning about Catholicism. (I'm lapsed Presbyterian, so don't really know, but have read up on religious schools and their aims). I agree with hmb in that you shouldn't become Catholic if you don't feel the need, but there's no harm in learning about it.

Agree with Tommy, too. Ask at your local parish. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to answer all your questions, even if you didn't want to take a course. (But the course sounds good, too!)

Do a search on Google for Catholicism and then do a search within these results for Paganism.

That should set you on a road of discovery.

You will also come to realise that as the Protestant church ( we are protesting Catholics)came out of the Catholic church then all the teaching of various festivals came from them, you will find that they all without exception have a pagan root to them.

I write this not to cause offence but to enlighten

Try this link for information on the "Host"

www.aloha.net/~mikesch/monstr.htm

Enlightened and interested in more.

www.aloha.net/~mikesch/

Repeat no offence intended just answering the question and helping to enlighten souls

I know I'm a bit late but I just had to add my tuppence worth!
Purgatory - is just the name for a place where souls went to when they departed. Not everyone goes to Heaven, that is the reserve of saints and prophets, us mortals aren't nearly so good enough to go straight to Heaven. As the Bible is unclear about what happens to us, the Church decided to call this state Purgatory.
Talking to the Dead - when you are dead you are dead. There is no coming back until the last day when Jesus said that the dead will rise from their graves and all will be judged according to the Book of Life, according to what he/she has done. The Bible does state that communication with the dead is not possible. However Mary is not dead, she is in Heaven along with the other 'higher bodies' Saints and Prophets and so forth. We assume they can hear us, though I'm not sure why. I think it was Elijah and some other geezer who joined Jesus on the mountain in front of the apostles that time, so we know they can come back from Heaven to Earth. Jesus did say that we should pray to the Father through him, and people have just assumed that we can also pray to the Father and Jesus through other mediums such as Mary. Personally I don't, just in case, besides I like to get straight to the point when I'm praying and not dally around talking to someone else!

So praying to Mary and the Saints is not talking to the dead as they are not dead, they are in Heaven. Truly dead people cannot hear you and cannot talk back. Not as far as the Bible says anyway. God doesn't allow it. The only other people who can communicate with you are those on the opposite end of Heaven, they can masquerade as anything and anyone, even an angel (which is what they originally were anyway).

So now you see why I don't believe in ghosts or mediums or spiritualism. That and my own personal experiences and Derren Brown!