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There are many differences between the Catholic Church and nondenominational churches.

Nondenominational churches (as their title suggests) are not affiliated with any particular denomination. This means that there is nothing distinctive about their theology or their governance that aligns them with any particular denomination. The Catholic Church, however, has a very distinctive theology and governance that separates it from other Churches or ecclesial communions. It follows from this that nondenominational churches do not have many of the things that make the Catholic Church distinctly Catholic. This includes things like:

  • The pope, bishops, or a formal hierarchy
  • Seven Sacraments
  • The Sacrifice of the Mass
  • Prayer to the saints
  • Devotion to Mary
  • The four Marian dogmas
  • Sacred Tradition
  • Apostolic Succession
  • A distinction between mortal sin and venial sin
  • A belief in Purgatory
  • The use of statues and icons

In virtue of being nondenominational, they vary greatly in theology from church to church, but in general, nondenominational churches tend to focus on the basic Gospel message and do not stray very far beyond that. The Catholic Church, of course, preaches the Gospel as well, but She also preaches many other things that, while not specifically the Gospel message as such, are still true and thus must be taught and believed. This would include many of the items listed above.

Nondenominational churches may or may not also differ with the Catholic Church on various issues of morality, such as abortion, contraception, homosexual marriage, divorce, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, capital punishment, etc. How much any nondenominational church differs with the Catholic Church on these matters basically depends on the nondenominational church in question. Some may differ greatly with the Catholic Church on these matters, while others may be perfectly aligned with us.
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14y ago
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15y ago

There is no difference. There are several smaller Presbyterian denominations; the major one is the Presbyterian Church USA. This is one of the major Protestant denominations in the United States, and descended from the Reformed tradition established by Jean Calvin (as opposed to the earlier "Evangelical" tradition established by Martin Luther, the Anglican tradition that began with Henry VIII's establishing the Church of England, and the Anabaptist/Peace Church movements).

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15y ago

Christian churches can be denominational, but not all are.

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Q: What is the difference between a denominational church and a Christian church?
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