The difference between the Catholic Church and the Assemblies of God

Catholics believe in the Seven Sacraments -The Sacraments of Initiation, The Sacrament of Baptism, The Sacrament of Confirmation, The Sacrament of Holy Communion, The Sacrament of Confession, The Sacrament of Marriage, The Sacrament of Holy Orders and The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.

The first three sacraments are called the sacraments of initiation. The Sacrament of Baptism removes the guilt and effects of Original Sin and incorporates the baptized into the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ on earth. The Sacrament of Confirmation perfects our baptism and brings us the graces of the Holy Spirit that were granted to the Apostles on Pentecost Sunday. The Sacrament of Holy Communion is the reception of Christ's body and blood, which sanctifies us and helps us grow in the likeness of Jesus Christ. The sacrament of Confession is in reconciling us to God, it is a great source of grace, and Catholics are encouraged to take advantage of it often, even if they are not aware of having committed a mortal sin. The Sacrament of Marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman for procreation and mutual support, is a natural institution. The Sacrament of Holy Orders is the continuation of Christ's priesthood, which He bestowed upon His Apostles. There are three levels to this sacrament: the episcopate, the priesthood, and the diaconate. The Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is administered both to the dying and to those who are gravely ill or are about to undergo a serious operation, for the recovery of their health and for spiritual strength.

Assemblies of God, however, believe in only 3 sacraments, Salvation, Divine Healing, Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the Second Coming. These mainly are the belief of Jesus coming back down to Earth, the belief that prayer to God heals, the belief that baptism in water and in the holy spirit and accepting Jesus Christ into your heart is the way into heaven and the belief of salvation from ours sins because of the death of Jesus Christ.

The term Catholic means universal, which the Roman Catholic Church was the most organized and largest Christian group.

The Catholic Church is different to Assemblies of God because of several reasons. The main reasons are the Assemblies of God  is very modern and plain, with little or no paintings or statues or other artifacts and the Catholic Church is of old design, made of rock and stone tiles, decorated by stain-glass windows, religious artifacts, statues and religious furniture. The only noticeable modern stuff was the lights and the speaker system. The biggest difference is that the members of the Catholic Church are the members of the original Christian Church founded by Jesus himself. The Catholic Church is a more structured  and formal belief system than the Assemblies of God. The Catholic Church is led by the Pope and the hierarchy of cardinals and bishops. The Mass is the primary form of worship, and the Eucharist (Holy Communion) is the focal point. Another difference is the length of services for the Churches. Assemblies of God services usually go for 1 - 1/2 hours and sometimes have a morning service, a late morning service and a night service. Catholic Church masses usually last less than 1/2 an hour in length but can go more. 

http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/p/The_Sacraments.htm

http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Our_Core_Doctrines/index.cfm

Hillsong Brisbane - Assemblies of God

 On the 20th of February I visited a Sunday Morning Service at Hillsong Brisbane. It was a big Church, not unlike my own Church. It was very similar to my Church except it was a bit more multicultural. It was a plain, modern church with cameras to record the sermon, had a stage with all of the professional instruments, lights and big projector screens. The people usually met up outside the church and greeted each other as they made their way into the main auditorium and they were very friendly. When everyone was seated, or a set time, they sung praise and worship, with a small choir and a band, as well as about 8 singers. Praise and Worship went for about 6 - 10 songs and after that was a whole church prayer, which was probably a replacement for prayer requests. After that was tithes and offerings while watching a video of where the money was going to, followed by a prayer for those tithes. They showed a video of where the tithes were going, which was a few small teams of flood relief volunteers to rebuild houses and clean up from the floods. After that was a few other videos about "Sisterhood", a girls only church and a video about Bear Grylls coming to Hillsong (Neglecting to mention that it was in Sydney, because I thought he was coming to Hillsong Brisbane). After that the main sermon started, the pastor was a guest from Mumbai, India. The church ended with one of those alter-calls where you closed your eyes and people who needed to get prayed for raised their hands. The main pastor of Hillsong prayed for them and then for the church. Then the musicians played music while the people left. Hillsong Brisbane is a pentecostal. The pentecostal movement broke out of the holiness movement about 100 years ago. Hillsong Brisbane was founded by Reginald Klimionok and later bought by the current pastors, Brian and Bobbie Houston. All in all, Hillsong was a bit different from my church and very opposite to the Catholic Church.

St Stephens Catholic Cathedral

On the 15th of February I visited a Tuesday Morning Mass at St Stephens Catholic Cathedral in the Brisbane city. The Church was old, made of stone and old wood. It was a little higher than the buildings around it, and it definitely stood out from them. Next to the church was the original St Stephens Catholic Church, which was a small chapel that could house around 60 people, which was too small. Inside it was decorated with pillars, arches, stained-glasswindows and religious artifacts. The Mass was very traditional, there were set things to say at set times, some of which you had to stand up and say it yourself. The priest's clothes were traditional green with a white cross down the middle. The most traditional thing about the Catholic Mass was Holy Communion. The priest would pour out a big gold goblet of wine and a plate of bread. Only Catholics were allowed it, so we didn't get any. The Priest blessed the people he gave the bread to and crossed them, which is touching their head, their sternum and then both shoulders one at a time, saying the Father (head), the Son (sternum) and the Holy Spirit (left and right shoulder). After eating the bread, they walked over to someone holding the gold goblet who held the goblet for the people to drink, and then that person wiped it with a cloth. From this I thought that the Catholic Church must be the Christian Religion that has the most diseases. We all got to go up to the priest and get a blessing with oil, who crossed them. The Catholic Church is run by the Pope, then the Patriarchs, then the Major Archbishops, Cardinals, Primates, Metropolitans, Archbishops, then the Priests. Overall, the Catholic Church was a new experience and I will remember it always. It was very different from my church, and the best part of it was the awesome stained-glass windows.
- Eden Gorry