Dear Catholic Exchange,
Why do some Protestant churches use saints' names (e.g. St. John's Lutheran Church)? Do Protestants have processes for canonizing saints as the Catholics do?
Mrs. Carpentier
Dear Mrs. Carpentier,
Peace in Christ!
Thank you for contacting us with your question about why Protestants use the names of saints for their congregations and if they have canonization processes.
Although it is not possible to speak of Protestantism as a single entity (there are thousands of Protestant denominations), one relevant distinction is between fundamentalist or evangelical Protestants with a more recent origin and the older communities such as Lutheranism and Anglicanism. It is these latter denominations that are more likely to use the names of saints as titles for their places of worship, simply because they have retained more practices that are derived from Catholicism than Fundamentalists. However, the Protestant denominations do not canonize their members as saints. Rather, they utilize the names of saints, often Apostles, who have been canonized by the Church.
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