16. THE
QUESTION WAS:
What is the official name of the Church that is led by the pope?
a.
The Catholic Church
b.
The Roman Catholic Church
c.
The Vatican
THE
ANSWER IS…. A….The Catholic Church…..yes, the official name is, and
always was, “The Catholic Church.” It was the official name of the church in
the first centuries after Jesus. It was the name attached to councils and
documents throughout the centuries, and if you look at your official catechism,
you’ll see the cover says “Catechism of the Catholic Church.”
There is only one ancient
Catholic Church. The title “Roman” is redundant. If you look at the writings of
the Early Church Fathers, we find that by necessity, the term “Catholic Church”
referred only to the Church and doctrines united to Rome, and only to a Church
that was authoritative through the succession of the apostles.
Certain sects that broke off
the Catholic Church a millennium and a half later, were not surprisingly, eager
to perpetuate the prefix “Roman” because they wanted to believe in their hearts
they somehow were still Catholic too. It bothered them that our Catholic Church
was the original church, and that we had the name of the original Church, and
who can blame them? Traditionally, there was nothing odd about referring to the
Catholic Church as the Roman church. The new
thing was using both the words Roman and Catholic together, as if the name needed a
modifier.
That said, some of us Catholics
have picked up the term ourselves and many don’t mind it nowadays.
Many use it interchangeably. The term has even been used on a few official
documents.
If the term is used to emphasize our unity to the first Church in
Rome, there isn’t anything wrong with it. But when those unfriendly to the
Catholic Church use it to imply that the Catholic Church is just one of several
Catholic churches, or if they insist on ALWAYS using the prefix whenever they
say the word "Catholic," this is not
done in good faith. Of course, some people just use the term because they hear
others using it and have no idea of the background or history of the term,
which, unsurprisingly, was started in the 1600s, and not by Catholics.
Using the term “Roman Catholic”
can cause confusion though. That’s because some of the Catholic Church conducts
Mass under the Roman rite, but others conduct Mass under other rites that are
just as part of the Catholic Church as the Roman rite. For example, Byzantine
Catholics, which use the Byzantine rite, are completely in union with the
Bishop of Rome (pope), even though they would not be referred to as “Roman” Catholics.
Then there are the ancient
Chaldeans, who practice their Catholics faith in Iraq, which happens to be home
to the ancient city of Ur, from whence Abraham came. The Chaldean Catholic Churches
in and around Baghdad are IN UNION WITH THE POPE, but you wouldn’t call them
“Roman Catholics.” These Chaldeans
still inhabit what made up the ancient land of Mesopotamia, known as the
“cradle of civilization” and actually conduct Mass in the ancient language of
Aramaic, which was the native language of Jesus.
At a Byzantine Catholic Mass, the biggest difference you’d probably notice is the way the sign of the cross is done. After touching the forehead and heart, Byzantine Catholics touch their right shoulder before their left shoulder instead of vice versa. Also, instead of signing with their whole hand, they sign with the index and middle fingers. The two fingers symbolize the two natures of Christ: divine and human. Byzantine Catholics of course share all doctrines and sacraments with the rest of the Catholic Church, and are IN UNION with the pope.
Another difference is that infants in the Byzantine Rite are baptized and confirmed (they call it the Mystery of Chrismation) the same day. You can read about other Byzantine Rite stuff at http://www.byzantines.net/faq/
List of Churches in Union with Rome
Finally, the Catholic Encyclopedia describes the term "Roman Catholic" like this:
"A qualification of the name Catholic
commonly used in English-speaking countries by those unwilling to recognize the
claims of the One True Church. Out of condescension for these dissidents, the
members of that Church are wont in official documents to be styled "Roman
Catholics" as if the term Catholic represented a genus of which those who
owned allegiance to the pope formed a particular species."
Tip of the day: When surfing
the Web, I have noticed that sites that insist on using the word Roman before
all references to “Catholic” or “Catholicism” tend to be unfriendly to
Catholics, to say the least. One way Protestants can help us move forward in
ecumenism is to make a conscientious effort to use the terms “the Catholic
Church” and “Catholics” in conversations, without attaching a prefix all the
time.
Read more about the Catholic Church at these
web sites:
http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/churb3.htm
http://www.cin.org/archives/apolo/200005/0113.html
http://www.turrisfortis.com/church.html
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13121a.htm (the
term “Roman Catholic”and its ill-intentioned origin)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03449a.htm (the
term “Catholic”)
Here St. Augustine, a Father of Christianity,
speaks lovingly and in awe of the Catholic Church:
"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, down to the present episcopate. And so, lastly, does the name itself 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."
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