Difference between revisions of "Roman Catholic Church"

Revision as of 13:27, March 23, 2007

Catholic means "universal" and the phrase Catholic Church refers to the single universal Christian church founded by Peter.

The term "The Catholic church" refers to any one of several Rites, but in the United States is often used synonymously for the largest Rite, the Roman Catholic Church. Other Rites include the Byzantine, Alexandrian, Syriac, Armenian, Maronite, and Chaldean Rites. The Eastern rites have significant differences in liturgy, history, discipline and hierarchy from the Roman Catholic Church, but still recognize the primacy of the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) and are in communion with Rome.

These Eastern Rite churches are Catholic and do not belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church that split from the Catholic Church during the Great Schism of 1054.

"Catholic" can be opposed to "Protestant." Protestants regard themselves as Christians, but Catholics do not regard Protestants as authentically within the church established by Peter, and do not regard Protestant ministers as being validly ordained. Protestants would of course challenge this, but nevertheless agree that there is a wide separation between Protestant denominations and the churches that refer to themselves as "Catholic."

The Anglican Church (Episcopalian in the United States) occupies an odd situation, because it encompasses within it factions ("Low Church") that emphasize its Protestant aspects and factions ("High Church") that emphasize its Catholic aspects. Anglo-Catholics regard the Anglican church as part of the Catholic Church, and in the unbroken line of the Apostolic Succession. The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern branches take a position that could be described as saying that the Anglican Church is almost but not quite Catholic. There have long been unification overtures, and Anglican priests who wish to adopt Catholic Holy Orders are often provided with an abbreviated path to that goal.

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• The Reasons for the Second Vatican Council
• The Fathers, the Scholastics, and Ourselves