Why are there so many sects?
Not long ago, married ministers with children showed up in our neighborhood. They baptize people in a large pool of water. They sing arms outstretched, they clap their hands... No Mass, no confession, no Communion, no Virgin Mary. They hope to cure people by the imposition of hands. They try to lure Catholics into their religion.
A true Catholic believes in the Church, the only Catholic and Apostolic Church. To her is bestowed the Spirit of Christ, the "fullness of grace and truth", declared the Second Vatican Council (Ecumenism, 3). Why then look elsewhere?
All through the centuries, for different reasons, some Christians parted with the Church founded upon the rock (Mt 16: 18) of Peter and his successors, the Popes of Rome.
In Eastern Europe, the Orthodox Church severed their ties with Rome in the 11th century.
In Western Europe, Anglicans and Protestants did the same in the 16th century.
After rejecting the authority entrusted by Christ to Peter and his successors, Protestants soon experienced dogmatic rambling and disunity among themselves.
In the course of his life, Luther himself failed to keep his disciples united. Calvin faced the same problem with the Reformed Churches he had founded. Protestant denominations have multiplied, and there are Lutherans, Calvinists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Methodists, and many more.
As well as the main Protestant denominations, numerous sects and independent communities are further signs of a disintegration due to the rejection of papal authority.
Countless Christians are full of good will and zeal in the service of Christ. However, they lack all the light and all the graces bequeathed by the Lord to the Catholic Church. We Catholics ought to take advantage of the values found among our separated brothers. But, above all, let us live our own values and pray for unity.