MeganC, after much meandering you have come to the heart of the matter... John 1. While Protestants hold up the Word of God written, Catholics hold up the Word of God made flesh. Is there a difference? Yes... in completeness (again, John 21:25).
What a joke......
The Catholic church appeals to *tradition*, not Christ.
And your analysis of what the Protestants hold up is flawed (as expected from a Catholic) as well. Catholics simply have no practical working knowledge of what Protestants really believe.
Protestants appeal to Scripture as the sole point of authority for what they believe, knowing that it points to Christ, who is the only one exalted in the non-Catholic denominations.
Catholicism appeals to tradition, the writings of this, that, and the other *church father*, dictates passed down from elected popes, etc. and exalts all kinds of people and objects to the point where Christ is lost in the shuffle.
Protestants hold up the Word of God as written, true. In such things as the Ten Commandments those Words were literally written by the Hand of God. We also hold up the fact of the Word made flesh and we reflect on the words of Jesus and His Apostles, as well.
And we stop right there.
Some Catholics, as is witnessed in this very topic, go into heretical beliefs when they place the authority of men above the authority of God and Jesus. To say that the RCC is of greater authority than God or Jesus is quite the statement of hubris.