Catholic

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Catholic - derived, through Latin, from the Greek adjective , meaning "general", "universal"^* - when used as a specifically Christian religious term, can have a number of meanings:

In common parlance the term most often refers to the members, beliefs, and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. This Church includes the Latin Rite and twenty-two Eastern Rite Catholic Churches, all in full communion with the Pope (Bishop of Rome). The Eastern Catholic particular Churches in communion with the Pope include the Ukrainian, Greek, Greek Melkite, Maronite, Ruthenian Byzantine, Coptic Catholic, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, Chaldean, and Ethiopian Rites.
Most Reformation and post-Reformation Churches use the term Catholic (sometimes with a lower-case c) to refer to the belief that all Christians are part of one Church, regardless of denominational divisions. This "universal" interpretation is often used to understand the phrase "One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" in the Nicene Creed, the phrase "the catholic faith" in the Athanasian Creed, and the phrase "holy catholic church" in the Apostles' Creed.
It is used to refer to those Christian Churches which maintain that their Episcopate can be traced directly back to the Apostles, and that they are therefore part of a broad catholic (or universal) body of believers. Among those who regard themselves as "Catholic" but not "Roman Catholic" are members of the various Eastern Orthodox Churches (such as the Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox), the Oriental Orthodox, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Anglicans, and some small groups such as the Old Catholic Church, the Polish National Catholic Church, the Independent Catholic, the Ancient Catholic and Liberal Catholic Churches, as well as Lutherans (though the latter prefer the lower-case "c," and, like Anglicans, stress that they are both Protestant and Catholic). These various Churches that regard themselves as part of a broad Catholic Church are distinguished primarily by their use of the Nicene Creed, in which believers acknowledge the "one holy catholic and apostolic Church." The Nicene Creed is of course also used by the Roman Catholic Church.
It can mean the one Church founded by Christ through Peter the Apostle, according to 18-19: "And I tell you, you are כיפא (Kepha) (Aramaic for "rock"), and on this rock I will build my Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’" In Roman Catholic theology, this is understood to mean specifically the Roman Catholic Church.
Some use the term Catholic to distinguish their own position from a Calvinist or Puritan form of Reformed-Protestantism. These include High Church Anglicans, known also as "Anglo-Catholics", 19th century Neo-Lutherans, 20th century High Church Lutherans or evangelical-catholics and others.

Methodists and Presbyterians believe their denominations owe their origins to the Apostles and the early Church, but do not claim descent from ancient Church structures such as the episcopate. Neither of these Churches, however, denies that they are a part of the catholic (literally, "about whole", sometimes translated as "universal") Church.

History of usage

Early Christians, such as Saint Ignatius of Antioch (who was martyred in about 110), used the term to describe the whole Church, as opposed to the local Church, and excluding adherents of sects or heretical groups.

A letter that Saint Ignatius wrote to Christians in Smyrna^* in about 107 is the earliest surviving witness to the use of the term "catholic Church" (Smyrnaeans, 8). By it Saint Ignatius designated the Christian Church in its universal aspect, excluding heretics, such as those who disavow "the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again" (Smyrnaeans, 7). He called such people "beasts in the shape of men, whom you must not only not receive, but, if it be possible, not even meet with" (Smyrnaeans, 4).

The use of the term "Catholic" to distinguish the "true" Church from heretical groups is found also in Saint Augustine, who wrote:

"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.

"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.

"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."

— St. Augustine (354–430): Against the Epistle of Manichaeus called Fundamental, chapter 4: Proofs of the Catholic Faith^*

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).^*

A contemporary of Augustine, St. Vincent of Lerins, wrote in 434 under the pseudonym Peregrinus a work known as the Commonitoria ("Memoranda"). While insisting that, like the human body, Church doctrine develops while truly keeping its identity (sections 54-59, chapter XXIII), he stated: "^*n the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense 'Catholic,' which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors" (section 6, end of chapter II).

Present-day usage

The term "Catholic Church" is usually associated with the Church that is also called the Roman Catholic Church, and whose over one billion adherents are about half of the estimated 2.1 billion Christians, while other Christian denominations also lay claim to the description "catholic", including the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Protestant Churches possessing the historic episcopate (bishops),

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 Denominations. For example, the name "St. Mark's Catholic Church" seeks to make clear that it is not an Anglican or Lutheran church.

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 church only. However, the Roman Catholic Church, which holds that there can be no such thing as the Church as an "invisible entity" only, or grouping of separated churches, normally refers to itself simply as the Catholic Church, as shown in its publication of a "Catechism of the Catholic Church". It can be traced historically to the original Catholic or universal Church, from which various groups broke away over the centuries. The Assyrian Church of the East, Oriental Orthodoxy and the Eastern Orthodox Church all make the same claim in their own favour.

Though normally referring to itself simply as the Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church accepts the latter description in its relations with other Churches. There are some instances of its application to itself, in internal documents, of the adjective "Roman", to indicate the central position for it of the see of Rome. An example is its self-description as the "Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church"^* in the 24 April 1870 Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith of the First Vatican Council, a document in which it also refers to itself five times as simply the Catholic Church. This practice of calling itself simply the Catholic Church is in application of the belief that not all who claim to be Christians are part of the Catholic Church - a belief that goes back to Saint Ignatius of Antioch, the earliest known writer to use the term Catholic Church - and that communion with the Roman Pontiff is essential for membership.

Divergent usages

As noted, in addition to the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East all see themselves as the "one holy catholic and apostolic Church" of the Nicene Creed. Anglicans and Old-Catholics each see themselves as a Communion within that one Church, and Lutherans see themselves as "a reform movement within the greater Church catholic." The Orthodox do not recognize the universal primacy of the Bishop of Rome (i.e., the Pope), but do rank him as primus inter pares ("first among equals") among the five major ancient Christian Patriarchates (super-metropolitical archiepiscopal Sees) of Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome. Anglicans and Old-Catholics accept that the Bishop of Rome is primus inter pares among all primates, but they embrace Conciliarism as a necessary check on what they consider to be the "excesses" of Roman Ultramontanism. The Catholic Church's view of the Bishop of Rome is that he is not only primus inter pares, but that he is also given a special charism as the "Successor of Peter" to serve as universal pastor to the entire Church. The Catholic Church summarizes this view with the ancient quote, "Where Peter is, there is the Church."

Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians (in general), and the Assyrian Church of the East each recognize the "validity" of each other's Eucharist (Mass or Divine Liturgy), and of the holy orders of their respective priesthoods and episcopate. The Roman Catholic Church, on the other hand, considers Anglican Holy Orders to be "null and void," as declared by Pope Leo XIII in his Bull Apostolicae curae. Beginning with the Encyclical Letter Saepius officio of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in response to Apostolicae curae, Anglicans, for obvious reasons, have steadfastly rejected this claim. At present, Old-Catholics and many Lutheran churches are in full communion with the worldwide Anglican Communion, including full exchange of clergy and participation in each other's ordinations (including episcopal consecrations). Although there were several statements made by a couple of Orthodox leaders in the early 20th century giving hope to High Anglican clergy that their priestly orders would eventually be recognized as valid by the Orthodox, today there is little variance among Orthodox patriarchs and metropolitans on the validity of Anglican Orders. As with the Catholic Church, today the Orthodox churches universally require ordination to the priesthood for Anglican clergy that convert to Orthodoxy, evidencing the prevailing Orthodox view that the Anglican liturgy is non-sacramental in nature. Recent decisions by various Anglican/Episcopal bishops to ordain women to the priesthood and to the episcopate have rendered any hope of formal ecclesiastical union with Orthodoxy (from the Orthodox point of view) a moot point.

Thus, for example, in an emergency, when no Roman Catholic priest is available, a Roman Catholic may, under canon law, receive the Holy Eucharist and receive absolution from an Orthodox priest, but not from an Anglican priest. This also means that if an Episcopal or Anglican male priest converts to the Roman Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church confers ordination on him (in its view, for the first time) and excludes women from Holy Orders. This divergence of belief is a considerable block to greater unity, in spite of substantial progress in ecumenical dialogues between Anglicans and Roman Catholics since the Second Vatican Council.

Recent historic ecumenical efforts on the part of Roman Catholic Church have focused on healing the rupture between the Western ("Latin" or "Catholic") Christian Church and the main body of the Eastern ("Greek" or "Orthodox") Christian Church. Before he was incapacitated with a degenerative illness, Pope John Paul II often spoke of his great desire that the Catholic Church "once again breathe with both lungs," thus emphasizing that the Catholic Church seeks to restore full communion with the separated "Eastern" and "Oriental" Christian Churches.

After the first rupture in the Catholic Church in 1054 between East and West, a brief reunification took place in the mid-15th century at the Council of Florence. The present Pope (Benedict XVI) has stated his intentions in restoring full unity with the Orthodox. From the Catholic standpoint, almost all of the ancient theological differences have been satisfactorily addressed (the Filioque clause, the nature of purgatory, etc.), and the experience of the Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with Rome has shown that the eventual reunion will not mean a "Latinization" of the Eastern Churches.

Capitalization

Capitalization is no sure guide to denominational affiliation. It may indicate formal affiliation with the (Roman) Catholic Church or it may not. Capitalization may merely indicate a wish to stress the holy and solemn nature of the spiritual body of believers and a desire for all Christians to be one.

It would be anachronistic to attribute significance to capitalization or lack of capitalization in printings of texts dating from before the last few centuries or in translations of those texts, since the originals were written in unmixed majuscule or minuscule letters. Translations even of modern texts into English often follow the usage of the original language. For instance, since French normally capitalizes only the first word of the title of an entity, the adjective "catholique", following the noun "Église", has a lower-case initial. Texts in Latin generally follow this usage, not the English practice.

Avoidance of usage

Some Protestant Churches avoid using the term completely, to the extent among many Lutherans of reciting the Creed with the word "Christian" in place of "Catholic". ^*^*^* The Orthodox Churches share some of the concerns about Roman Catholic papal claims, but disagree with some Protestants about the nature of the Church as one body. For some, to use the word "Catholic" at all is to appear to give credence to papal claims.

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History of usage

Present-day usage

Divergent usages

Capitalization

Avoidance of usage

See also