Catholic

Catholic (literally meaning: according to (kata-) the whole (holos) or more generally "universal" in Greek) is a religious term with a number of meanings:

Present-day usage

Whilst the term is usually associated with the Roman Catholic Church, which forms the majority of Christians, other Christians also lay claim to the term "catholic", including the Eastern Orthodox and those Protestant churches possessing an episcopate (bishops).

Related Topics:
Roman Catholic Church - Eastern Orthodox - Protestant

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In countries that have been traditionally Protestant, Catholic will often be included in the official name of a particular parish church, school, hospice or other institution belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, to distinguish it from those of other . For example, the name "St. Mark's Catholic Church" makes it clear that it is not an Episcopal or Lutheran church.

Related Topics:
Parish - Hospice - Episcopal - Lutheran

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This usage of the term "Catholic" has a long history. A millennium before the Protestant Reformation, Saint Augustine wrote:

Related Topics:
Protestant Reformation - Saint Augustine

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:"In the Catholic Church, there are many other things which most justly keep me in her bosom. The consent of peoples and nations keeps me in the Church; so does her authority, inaugurated by miracles, nourished by hope, enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me, beginning from the very seat of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after His resurrection, gave it in charge to feed His sheep (Jn 21:15-19), down to the present episcopate.

Related Topics:
Apostle - Peter

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:"And so, lastly, does the very name of Catholic, which, not without reason, amid so many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that, though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house.

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:"Such then in number and importance are the precious ties belonging to the Christian name which keep a believer in the Catholic Church, as it is right they should ... With you, where there is none of these things to attract or keep me... No one shall move me from the faith which binds my mind with ties so many and so strong to the Christian religion... For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church."

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: — St. Augustine (AD 354–430): Against the Epistle of Manichaeus called Fundamental, chapter 4: Proofs of the Catholic Faithhttp://www.ccel.org/pager.cgi?&file=fathers/NPNF1-04/augustine/bk_fundamental/bk1.html&from=CHAP4&up=

Related Topics:
354 - 430

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Earlier still, St Cyril of Jerusalem (circa 315-386) urged those he was instructing in the Christian faith: "If ever thou art sojourning in cities, inquire not simply where the Lord's House is (for the other sects of the profane also attempt to call their own dens houses of the Lord), nor merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the peculiar name of this Holy Church, the mother of us all, which is the spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God" (Catechetical Lectures, XVIII, 26).http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310118.htm

Related Topics:
St Cyril of Jerusalem - 315 - 386

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Those who apply the term "Catholic Church" to all Christians indiscriminately find it objectionable that a term that they see as designating the whole Church as an invisible entity should be used to refer to one communion only. However, the Roman Catholic Church, which normally refers to itself simply as the Catholic Church, publishing in 1992 a "Catechism of the Catholic Church", can basically be traced historically to the original Catholic or universal Church, from which various groups broke away over the centuries. It holds that there can be no such thing as the Church as an "invisible entity" only. Since the Reformation in the sixteenth century, Protestants (those who protest) have sought to restore a more primitive expression of the Church, with goals and beliefs that they believe to be more consonant with the early Church, based primarily on Scriptural texts. However, there was a more than a millennium between the "early Church" and the "Reformation", during which both Scripture and Christian teaching were maintained.

Related Topics:
1992 - Catechism of the Catholic Church - Reformation - Sixteenth century

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As well as the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches all see themselves as the "one holy catholic and apostolic Church" of the Nicene Creed. Others too who do not recognize the primacy of the Bishop of Rome and rank him only as an equal among Patriarchs, such as the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, use the term Catholic to distinguish their own position from a Calvinist or Puritan form of Protestantism. They include "High Church" Anglicans, known also as "Anglo-Catholics". Although the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches in general do not view the Anglican Churches as truly "Catholic", Anglicans themselves claim to have all the qualifications needed to be Catholic. Reformed Churches also consider themselves to be part of the Holy Catholic Church.

Related Topics:
Roman Catholic Church - Eastern Orthodox Church - Oriental Orthodox Churches - One holy catholic and apostolic Church - Nicene Creed - Calvinist - Puritan - Protestantism - Anglican - Anglo-Catholics

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