Shia and Catholic Sacred Acts, Rites and Symbols Scope of Practice; Similarities and Differences

Shia and Catholic as two pivotal religions in Islam and Christianity especially bear considerable similarities in the area of sacred acts, symbols and religious rites. Pointing this out can prepare the ground for religious talks and convergence. To this end, the present paper uses a descriptive-analytic approach, to compare Shia and Catholic sacred acts, symbols and religious rite; and highlight their similarities and differences. One of the similarities is that each one of them submits to the fact that sacraments are not restricted to definite affairs. Therefore, abiding by the conditions, religious scholars are allowed to generalize religious rites to the indefinite affairs.
Furthermore both Shia and Catholic are confronted with opposite interests that assume any interference of common sense in rituals and sacraments as an instance of heretical practice.
Despite these similarities there are some differences between these two religions, as well. Instantly there are few definite rites in Catholic, hence they cannot be compared toShia.
Above all, this fact indicates the special role of sacraments and religious rituals in Shia and their maximum reliability.