Catholicism

"Catholic" redirects here. For Christians who recognize the authority of the Bishop of Rome (Pope), see Catholic Church. For the whole body of Christians, see Christian Church. For other uses, see Catholic (disambiguation).

Catholicism (from Greek καθολικισμός, katholikismos, "universal doctrine") and its adjectival form, Catholic, are used as broad terms for describing specific traditions in the Christian churches in theology, doctrine, liturgy, ethics, and spirituality.

"Catholicism" and "Catholic" in this sense refer to the practices of various Christian churches. This sense is to be distinguished from the use of these words to refer to the Catholic Church, that which is in full communion with the Holy See of Rome,[1] as well as the Eastern Orthodox Church (commonly called the "Orthodox Church"), Anglican Catholic, and churches of the Anglican Communion which all consider themselves within the universal and apostolic church.

In the sense of indicating historical continuity of faith and practice from the first millennium, the term "catholic" is employed by many other historic churches which claim to be "heirs of the apostolic faith".[2] These consider themselves to be catholic, teaching that the term "designates the historic, orthodox mainstream of Christianity whose doctrine was defined by the ecumenical councils and creeds" and as such, most Reformers "appealed to this catholic tradition and believed they were in continuity with it."[3]

Within the Anglican Communion, the Oxford Movement promoted Anglo-Catholicism, which reemphasized the importance of doctrines such as the Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and apostolic succession.[4][5]

The Catholic Church teaches that Protestant churches are not in fact real churches as they do not have apostolic tradition of ordinations, and therefore, do not have valid Eucharist, nor are they in full communion with the successor of Saint Peter, the Pope. It does however recognise the shared apostolic tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Whilst it maintains that all salvation comes through the church, this leaves scope for the salvation of other Christians with an imperfect communion with the Catholic Church, i.e. Protestants.[6]

History of the term "Catholic"

The earliest evidence of the use of the term Catholic Church is the Letter to the Smyrnaeans that Ignatius of Antioch wrote in about 108 to Christians in Smyrna. Exhorting Christians to remain closely united with their bishop, he wrote: "Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."[7][8]

From the second half of the second century, the word began to be used to mean "orthodox" (non-heretical), "because Catholics claimed to teach the whole truth, and to represent the whole Church, while heresy arose out of the exaggeration of some one truth and was essentially partial and local".[9] In 380, Emperor Theodosius I limited use of the term "Catholic Christian" exclusively to those who followed the same faith as Pope Damasus I of Rome and Pope Peter of Alexandria.[10] Numerous other early writers including Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 315–386), Augustine of Hippo (354–430) further developed the use of the term "catholic" in relation to Christianity.

Divergent interpretations

Many individual Christians and Christian denominations consider themselves "catholic" on the basis, in particular, of apostolic succession. They fall into five groups:

  1. The "Roman" Catholic Church, which sees full communion with the Bishop of Rome as an essential element of Catholicism. Its constituent particular churches (Western and Eastern) have distinct and separate jurisdictions, while still being "in union with Rome".[11]
  2. Those, like the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox, that claim unbroken apostolic succession from the early Church and identify themselves as the Catholic Church.
  3. Those, such as the Old Catholic, Anglican and some Lutheran and other denominations, that claim unbroken apostolic succession from the early Church and see themselves as a constituent part of the Church.[note 1]
  4. Those who claim to be spiritual descendants of the Apostles but have no discernible institutional descent from the historic Church and normally do not refer to themselves as catholic.
  5. Those who have acknowledged a break in apostolic succession, but have restored it in order to be in full communion with bodies that have maintained the practice. Examples in this category include the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada vis-à-vis their Anglican and Old Catholic counterparts.

For some confessions listed under category 3, the self-affirmation refers to the belief in the ultimate unity of the universal Church under one God and one Saviour, rather than in one visibly unified institution (as with category 1, above). In this usage, "catholic" is sometimes written with a lower-case "c". The Western Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, stating "I believe in ... one holy catholic ... church", are recited in worship services. Among some denominations in category 3, "Christian" is substituted for "catholic" in order to denote the doctrine that the Christian Church is, at least ideally, undivided.[13][14][15]

Catholic Church

In its Letter on Some Aspects of the Church Understood as Communion, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stressed that the idea of the universal church as a communion of churches must not be presented as meaning that "every particular Church is a subject complete in itself, and that the universal church is the result of a reciprocal recognition on the part of the particular Churches". It insisted that "the universal Church cannot be conceived as the sum of the particular Churches, or as a federation of particular Churches".[16]

The Catholic Church considers Protestant and Anglican Christians who are not in communion with the See of Rome to be "non-Catholics". It does not consider their churches to be genuine churches and so uses the term "ecclesial communities" to refer to them. It considers a "valid episcopate" and Eucharist as necessary prerequisites for being a church. Because the Catholic Church does not consider these church bodies to have valid episcopal orders capable of celebrating a valid Eucharist, it does not classify them as churches "in the proper sense".[17][18][19] The Church's doctrine of infallibility derives from the belief the authority that Jesus gave Peter as head of the church on earth has been passed on to his successors, the Popes. Relevant Bible verses include [Matthew 16:18]; "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Latin and Eastern Catholic churches

Main article: Catholic Church
Ruins of gothic Catholic church in Liptovská Mara (Slovakia).

The Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches together form the "Catholic Church",[20] or "Roman Catholic Church",[21] the world's largest single religious body and the largest Christian church, as well as its largest Catholic church, comprising over half of all Christians (1.22 billion Christians of 2.1 billion) and nearly one-sixth of the world's population.[22][23][24][25] Richard McBrien would put the proportion even higher, extending it to those who are in communion with the Bishop of Rome only in "degrees".[26] It comprises 24 component "particular Churches" (also called "rites" in the Second Vatican Council's Decree on the Eastern Catholic Churches[27] and in the Code of Canon Law),[28] all of which acknowledge a primacy of jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome[29] and are in full communion with the Holy See and each other.

These particular Churches or component parts are the Latin Rite or Western Church (which uses a number of different liturgical rites, of which the Roman Rite is the best known) and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches. Of the latter particular Churches, 14 use the Byzantine liturgical rite.[30] Within the Church as a whole, each "particular Church", whether Eastern or Western, is of equal dignity.[31] Finally, in its official documents, the Church, though made up of several particular Churches, "continues to refer to itself as the 'Catholic Church'"[32] or, less frequently but consistently, as the 'Roman Catholic Church', owing to its essential[21] link with the Bishop of Rome.[33]

McBrien, in his book Catholicism, disagrees with the Church's usage of referring to itself as "Roman Catholic", saying: "But is 'Catholic' synonymous with 'Roman Catholic'? And is it accurate to refer to the Roman Catholic Church as simply the 'Roman Church'? The answer to both questions is no. The adjective 'Roman' applies more properly to the diocese, or see, of Rome than to the worldwide Communion of Catholic Churches that is in union with the Bishop of Rome. Indeed, it strikes some Catholics as contradictory to call the Church 'Catholic' and 'Roman' at one and the same time. Eastern-rite Catholics, of whom there are more than twenty million, also find the adjective 'Roman' objectionable. In addition to the Latin, or Roman, tradition, there are seven non-Latin, non-Roman ecclesial traditions: Armenian, Byzantine, Coptic, Ethiopian, East Syrian (Chaldean), West Syrian, and Maronite. Each to the Churches with these non-Latin traditions is as Catholic as the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, not all Catholics are Roman Catholic." Thus "to be Catholic—whether Roman or non-Roman—in the ecclesiological sense is to be in full communion with the Bishop of Rome and as such to be an integral part of the Catholic Communion of Churches."[34]

In spite of McBrien's affirmation that, on an official level, what he calls the "Communion of Catholic Churches" always refers to itself as "The Catholic Church",[35] the term "Roman Catholic Church" has in fact, as seen above, been used by Popes and departments of the Holy See. The Latin rite Archdiocese of Detroit lists eight Eastern Catholic churches, each with its own bishop, as having one or more parishes in what is also the territory of the Latin archdiocese, yet each is designated as being in "full communion with the Roman Church."[36]

Eastern Orthodoxy

The Eastern Orthodox Church also maintains that it is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, regarding Rome as a schismatic see that has violated the essential catholicity of the Christian faith by introducing innovations of doctrine. Orthodox Christians consider themselves the heirs of the first-millennium patriarchal structure that developed in the Eastern Church into the model of the five patriarchal sees recognized by Ecumenical Councils, a theory that "continues to hold sway in official Greek circles to the present day,"[37] but not in the Western Church, which preferred the theory of the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome, Ultramontanism to Conciliarism.[38][39][40][41] The title, "Patriarch of the West", was rarely used by the popes until the 16th and 17th centuries, and was included in the Annuario Pontificio from 1863 to 2005, being dropped in the following year as never very clear, and having become over history "obsolete and practically unusable".[40][41]

Other traditions

Christian denominations in the U.S.
U.S. Interchurch
Anabaptist and Friends
Baptist
Catholic and Anglican
Eastern
Holiness & Pietist
Lutheran
Methodist
Pentecostal
Presbyterian & Reformed
Stone-Campbell
Other

Within Western Christianity, the churches of the Anglican Communion, Continuing Anglicanism, the Old Catholics, the Liberal Catholic Church, the Augustana Catholic Church, the Apostolic Catholic Church (ACC), the Aglipayans (Philippine Independent Church), the African Orthodox Church, the Polish National Catholic Church of America, and many Independent Catholic churches, which emerged directly or indirectly from and have beliefs and practices largely similar to Latin Rite Catholicism, regard themselves as "Catholic" without full communion with the Bishop of Rome, whose claimed status and authority they generally reject. The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, a division of the People's Republic of China's Religious Affairs Bureau exercising state supervision over mainland China's Catholics, holds a similar position, while attempting, as with Buddhism and Protestantism, to indoctrinate and mobilize for Communist Party objectives.[42]

Anglicanism

Main article: Anglicanism

Introductory works on Anglicanism, such as The Study of Anglicanism, typically refer to the character of the Anglican tradition as "Catholic and Reformed",[43] which is in keeping with the understanding of Anglicanism articulated in the Elizabethan Settlement of 1559 and in the works of the earliest standard Anglican divines such as Richard Hooker and Lancelot Andrewes. Yet different strains in Anglicanism, dating back to the English Reformation, have emphasized either the Reformed, Catholic, or "Reformed Catholic" nature of the tradition.

Anglican theology and ecclesiology has thus come to be typically expressed in three distinct, yet sometimes overlapping manifestations: Anglo-Catholicism (often called "high church"), Evangelicalism (often called "low church"), and Latitudinarianism ("broad church"), whose beliefs and practices fall somewhere between the two. Though all elements within the Anglican Communion recite the same creeds, Evangelical Anglicans generally regard the word catholic in the ideal sense given above. In contrast, Anglo-Catholics regard the communion as a component of the whole Catholic Church, in spiritual and historical union with the Roman Catholic, Old Catholic and several Eastern churches. Broad Church Anglicans tend to maintain a mediating view, or consider the matter one of adiaphora. These Anglicans, for example, have agreed in the Porvoo Agreement to interchangeable ministries and full eucharistic communion with Lutherans.[44][45]

The Catholic nature or strain of the Anglican tradition is expressed doctrinally, ecumenically (chiefly through organisations such as the Anglican—Roman Catholic International Commission), ecclesiologically (through its episcopal governance and maintenance of the historical episcopate), and in liturgy and piety. Some Anglo-Catholics maintain belief in the Seven Sacraments, though the 39 Articles hold that there are but two. Many Anglo-Catholics practice Marian devotion, recite the rosary and the angelus, practice Eucharistic adoration, and seek the intercession of saints. In terms of liturgy, most Anglicans use candles on the altar or communion table and many churches use incense and bells in the Eucharist, which is amongst the most pronounced Anglo-Catholics referred to by the Latin-derived word "Mass" used in the first prayer book and in the American Prayer Book of 1979. In numerous churches the Eucharist is celebrated facing the altar (often with a tabernacle) by a priest assisted by a deacon and subdeacon. Some Anglicans believe in the Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. However different Eucharistic rites or orders contain different, if not necessarily contradictory, understandings of salvation. For this reason, no single strain or manifestation of Anglicanism can speak for the whole, even in ecumenical statements (as issued, for example, by the Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission).[46][47][48]

The growth of Anglo-Catholicism is strongly associated with the Oxford Movement of the 19th century. Two of its leading lights, John Henry Newman and Henry Edward Manning, both priests, ended up joining the Roman Catholic Church, becoming cardinals. Others, like John Keble, Edward Bouverie Pusey, and Charles Gore became influential figures in Anglicanism. The previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is a patron of the Anglican organisation, Affirming Catholicism, a more liberal movement within Catholic Anglicanism. Conservative Catholic groups also exist within the tradition, such as Forward in Faith. There are about 80 million Anglicans in the Anglican Communion, comprising 3.6% of global Christianity.[49]

Protestantism

Within Protestantism the word "catholic" is generally taken in the sense of "universal" and in this sense many leading Protestant denominations identify themselves as part of the catholic church. The puritan Westminster Confession of Faith adopted in 1646 (which remains the Confession of the Church of Scotland) states for example that:

The catholic or universal Church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him that fills all in all.[50]

The London Confession of the Baptists repeats this with the emendation "which (with respect to the internal work of the Spirit and truth of grace) may be called invisible".[51] The Church of Scotland's Articles Declaratory begin "The Church of Scotland is part of the Holy Catholic or Universal Church".

Certain Lutheran churches, including the Church of Sweden and several small American churches of recent origin — such as the Lutheran Orthodox Church and the Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church- consider themselves to be Catholic.

There are more "High Church" groups among the traditional Protestant churches with a broader attachment to older ideas. For example, the 20th century "High Church Lutheranism" movement developed an Evangelical Catholicity, combining justification by faith with Roman doctrine on sacraments, in some cases also restoring lacking apostolic succession, especially in Germany.

In Reformed churches there is a Scoto-Catholic grouping within the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Such groups point to their churches' continuing adherence to the "Catholic" doctrine of the early Church Councils. The Articles Declaratory of the Constitution of the Church of Scotland of 1921 defines that church legally as "part of the Holy Catholic or Universal Church".[43]

Views of individual scholars

Richard McBrien considers that the term "Catholicism" refers exclusively and specifically to that "Communion of Catholic Churches" in communion with the Bishop of Rome.[52] According to McBrien, Catholicism is distinguished from other forms of Christianity in its particular understanding and commitment to tradition, the sacraments, the mediation between God, communion, and the See of Rome.[53] According to Bishop Kallistos Ware, the Orthodox Church has these things as well, though the primacy of the See of Rome is only honorific, showing non-jurisdictional respect for the Bishop of Rome as the "first among equals" and "Patriarch of the West".[54] Catholicism, according to McBrien's paradigm, includes a monastic life, religious institutes, a religious appreciation of the arts, a communal understanding of sin and redemption, and missionary activity.[55]

Henry Mills Alden, in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, writes that:

The various Protestant sects can not constitute one church because they have no intercommunion...each Protestant Church, whether Methodist or Baptist or whatever, is in perfect communion with itself everywhere as the Roman Catholic; and in this respect, consequently, the Roman Catholic has no advantage or superiority, except in the point of numbers. As a further necessary consequence, it is plain that the Roman Church is no more Catholic in any sense than a Methodist or a Baptist.[56]
— Henry Mills Alden, Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 37, Issues 217-222

As such, according to this viewpoint, for those who "belong to the Church," the term Methodist Catholic, or Presbyterian Catholic, or Baptist Catholic, is as proper as the term Roman Catholic.[57] It simply means that body of Christian believers over the world who agree in their religious views, and accept the same ecclesiastical forms.[57]

Brief organisational history of Catholicism

Ancient statue of Saint Peter in the Basilica dedicated to him in the Vatican.

A common belief in Catholicism is institutional continuity with the early Christian church founded by Jesus Christ. Many churches or communions of churches identify singularly or collectively as the authentic church. The following summarizes the major schisms and conflicts within Christianity, particularly within groups that identify as Catholic; there are several competing historical interpretations as to which groups entered into schism with the original early church.

According to the theory of Pentarchy, the early undivided church came to be organised under the three patriarchs of Rome, Alexandria and Antioch, to which later were added the patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem. The Bishop of Rome was at that time recognized as first among them, as is stated, for instance, in canon 3 of the First Council of Constantinople (381)—many interpret "first" as meaning here first among equals—and doctrinal or procedural disputes were often referred to Rome, as when, on appeal by St Athanasius against the decision of the Council of Tyre (335), Pope Julius I, who spoke of such appeals as customary, annulled the action of that council and restored Athanasius and Marcellus of Ancyra to their sees.[58] The Bishop of Rome was also considered to have the right to convene ecumenical councils. When the Imperial capital moved to Constantinople, Rome's influence was sometimes challenged. Nonetheless, Rome claimed special authority because of its connection to Saint Peter[59][60] and Saint Paul, who, all agreed, were martyred and buried in Rome, and because the Bishop of Rome saw himself as the successor of Saint Peter.

The 431 Council of Ephesus, the third ecumenical council, was chiefly concerned with Nestorianism, which emphasised the distinction between the humanity and divinity of Jesus and taught that, in giving birth to Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary could not be spoken of as giving birth to God. This Council rejected Nestorianism and affirmed that, as humanity and divinity are inseparable in the one person of Jesus Christ, his mother, the Virgin Mary, is thus Theotokos, God-bearer, Mother of God. The first great rupture in the Church followed this Council. Those who refused to accept the Council's ruling were largely Persian and are represented today by the Assyrian Church of the East and related Churches, which, however, do not now hold a "Nestorian" theology. They are often called Ancient Oriental Churches.

The next major break was after the Council of Chalcedon (451). This Council repudiated Eutychian Monophysitism which stated that the divine nature completely subsumed the human nature in Christ. This Council declared that Christ, though one person, exhibited two natures "without confusion, without change, without division, without separation" and thus is both fully God and fully human. The Alexandrian Church rejected the terms adopted by this Council, and the Christian Churches that follow the tradition of non-acceptance of the Council—they are not Monophysite in doctrine—are referred to as Pre-Chalcedonian or Oriental Orthodox Churches.

The next great rift within Christianity was in the 11th century. Longstanding doctrinal disputes, as well as conflicts between methods of Church government, and the evolution of separate rites and practices, precipitated a split in 1054 that divided the Church, this time between a "West" and an "East". England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, Poland, Bohemia, Slovakia, Scandinavia, the Baltic states, and Western Europe in general were in the Western camp, and Greece, Romania, Russia and many other Slavic lands, Anatolia, and the Christians in Syria and Egypt who accepted the Council of Chalcedon made up the Eastern camp. This division between the Western Church and the Eastern Church is called the East–West Schism.

In 1438, the Council of Florence convened, which featured a strong dialogue focussed on understanding the theological differences between the East and West, with the hope of reuniting the Catholic and Orthodox churches.[61] Several eastern churches reunited, constituting some of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Another major division in the Church occurred in the 16th century with the Protestant Reformation, after which many parts of the Western Church rejected Papal authority, and some of the teachings of the Western Church at that time, and became known as "Reformed" or "Protestant".

A much less extensive rupture occurred when, after the Roman Catholic Church's First Vatican Council, in which it officially proclaimed the dogma of papal infallibility, small clusters of Catholics in the Netherlands and in German-speaking countries formed the Old-Catholic (Altkatholische) Church.

Distinctive beliefs and practices

Due to the divergent interpretations of the word "Catholicism", any listing of beliefs and practices that distinguish Catholicism from other forms of Christianity must be preceded by an indication of the sense employed. If Catholicism is understood as the Roman Catholic Church understands it, identification of beliefs is relatively easy, though preferred expressions of the beliefs vary, especially between the Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches of Greek tradition, and the other Eastern Catholic Churches. Liturgical and canonical practices vary between all these particular Churches constituting the Roman and Eastern Catholic Churches (or, as Richard McBrien calls them, the "Communion of Catholic Churches").[62]

In the understanding of another Church that identifies Catholicism with itself, such as the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, clear identification of certain beliefs may sometimes be more difficult, because of the lack of a central authority like that of the Roman and Eastern Catholic Churches. On the other hand, practices are more uniform, as indicated, for instance, in the single liturgical rite employed, in various languages, within the Eastern Orthodox Church, in contrast to the variety of liturgical rites in the Roman Catholic Church. In all these cases the beliefs and practices of Catholicism would be identical with the beliefs and practices of the Church in question.

If Catholicism is extended to cover all who consider themselves spiritual descendants of the Apostles, a search for beliefs and practices that distinguish it from other forms of Christianity would be meaningless.

If Catholicism is understood in the sense given to the word by those who use it to distinguish their position from a Calvinistic or Puritan form of Protestantism it is then meaningful to attempt to draw up a list of common characteristic beliefs and practices of Catholicism not commonly held by those merely claiming spiritual descent. Catholicism could include the Roman Catholic Church, the various Churches of Eastern Christianity, the Old Catholic Church, Anglicanism, and at least some of the "independent Catholic Churches" and, again in this interpretation, the beliefs and practices of Catholicism include:

Sacraments or sacred mysteries

An Italian priest during the sacrament of Baptism

Churches in the Catholic tradition administer seven sacraments or "sacred mysteries": Baptism, Confirmation or Chrismation, Eucharist, Penance, also known as Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. In some Catholic churches this number is regarded as a convention only.

In Catholicism, a sacrament is considered to be an efficacious visible sign of God's invisible grace. While the word mystery is used not only of these rites, but also with other meanings with reference to revelations of and about God and to God's mystical interaction with creation, the word sacrament (Latin: a solemn pledge), the usual term in the West, refers specifically to these rites.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Old Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran movements all have historical ties to the Catholic Church; however, the Catholic Church views Anglicans and Lutherans as Protestant communities, while giving recognition to the validity of the sacraments of some branches of the Old Catholic movement.[12] For further information, see Catholic Church and ecumenism.

References

  1. ↑ McBrien, Catholicism, pp. 19-20.
  2. ↑ Block, Matthew (24 June 2014). "Are Lutherans Catholic?". First Things. Retrieved 14 July 2015. The universality of the Church is, through God's grace, a reality despite doctrinal disagreements; but it is not a license for the downplaying of these doctrinal differences. The Church catholic is also the Church apostolic—which is to say, it is the Church which "stands firm and holds to the traditions" which have been taught through the words of the Apostles (2 Thessalonians 2:15). And this teaching—which is truly the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:19-21)—has been passed on to us today in its fullness through the Scriptures. To be catholic, then, is to be heirs of the apostolic faith. It is to be rooted firmly in the Apostle's teaching as recorded for us in Scripture, the unchanging Word of God. But while this Word is unchanging, it does not follow that it is static. The history of the Church in the world is the history of Christians meditating upon Scripture. We must look to this history as our own guide in understanding Scripture. To be sure, the Church's tradition of interpretation has erred from time to time—we find, for example, that the Fathers and Councils sometimes disagree with one another—but it is dangerous to discount those interpretations of Scripture which have been held unanimously from the very beginning of the Church.
  3. ↑ Gassmann, Günther. Fortress Introduction to the Lutheran Confessions. Fortress Press. p. 204. ISBN 9781451418194. Uncapitalized, it designates the historic, orthodox mainstream of Christianity whose doctrine was defined by the ecumenical councils and creeds. Most reformers, not just Lutherans, appealed to this catholic tradition and believed they were in continuity with it.
  4. ↑ Connor, Charles Patrick (2001). Classic Catholic Converts. Ignatius Press. ISBN 978-0-89870-787-8.
  5. ↑ Stowe, Walter Herbert (1932). "Anglo-Catholicism: What It Is Not and What It Is". London: Church Literature Association. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  6. ↑ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03744a.htm
  7. ↑ "Chapter VIII.—Let nothing be done without the bishop". Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  8. ↑ Angle, Paul T. (2007). The Mysterious Origins of Christianity. Wheatmark, Inc. ISBN 978-1-58736-821-9.
  9. ↑ J.H. Srawley's commentary on the Letter to the Smyrnaeans
  10. ↑ Theodosian Code XVI.1.2
  11. ↑ Richard McBrien, Catholicism (Minneapolis: Winston Press, 1981), 680.
  12. ↑ Father Edward McNamara, Legionary of Christ (14 Feb 2012). "The Old Catholic and Polish National Churches". Rome: Zenit. Retrieved 4 Jan 2015.
  13. ↑ "Apostles' Creed". The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  14. ↑ "Nicene Creed". Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  15. ↑ "Texts of the Three Chief Symbols are taken from the Book of Concord, Tappert edition". The International Lutheran Fellowship. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  16. ↑ Letter on Some Aspects of the Church Understood as Communion
  17. ↑ Fowler, Jeaneane D. (1997). World Religions. Sussex Academic Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-898723-48-6.
  18. ↑ "The ecclesial communities which have not preserved the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery are not Churches in the proper sense; however, those who are baptized in these communities are, by Baptism, incorporated in Christ and thus are in a certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church" (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration Dominus Iesus, 17).
  19. ↑ "(The expression sister Churches) has been applied improperly by some to the relationship between the Catholic Church on the one hand, and the Anglican Communion and non-catholic ecclesial communities on the other. ... it must also be borne in mind that the expression sister Churches in the proper sense, as attested by the common Tradition of East and West, may only be used for those ecclesial communities that have preserved a valid episcopate and Eucharist" (Note on the expression "sister Churches" issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on 30 June 2000).
  20. ↑ McBrien, The Church, 356. McBrien also says they form the "Communion of Catholic Churches", a name not used by the Church itself, which has pointed out the ambiguity of this term in a 1992 letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith "on some aspects of the Church understood as communion", 8.
  21. 1 2 "The Catholic Church is also called the Roman Church to emphasize that the centre of unity, which is an essential for the Universal Church, is in the Roman See" (Thomas J. O'Brien, An Advanced Catechism of Catholic Faith and Practice, Kessinger Publishers, 2005, ISBN 1-4179-8447-3, page 70)
  22. ↑ http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/12/31/number_of_catholics_growing_throughout_the_world/1116557
  23. ↑ http://cara.georgetown.edu/staff/webpages/Global%20Catholicism%20Release.pdf
  24. ↑ Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population: Main Page, Pew Research Center. There are 1.5 billion Muslims, nearly a billion of whom are Sunnite (nearly 90% of Muslim population), thus the latter forming the second largest single religious body.
  25. ↑ Todd Johnson, David Barrett, and Peter Crossing, "Christianity 2010: A View from the New Atlas of Global Christianity", International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol., 34, No.1, January 2010, pps.29-36
  26. ↑ Richard McBrien, The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism, 6. ISBN 978-0-06-124521-3 McBrien says this: Vatican II "council implicitly set aside the category of membership and replaced it with degrees." "...it is not a matter of either/or—either one is in communion with the Bishop of Rome, or one is not. As in a family, there are degrees of relationships: parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, in-laws. In many cultures, the notion of family is broader than blood and legal relationships."
  27. ↑ Orientalium Ecclesiarum, 2
  28. ↑ Code of Canon Law, canon 1015 §2
  29. ↑ "Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 43". Intratext.com. 2007-05-04. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  30. ↑ Annuario Pontificio, 2012 edition, pages 1140–1141 (ISBN 978-88-209-8722-0).
  31. ↑ Orientalium Ecclesiarum, 3
  32. ↑ Thomas P. Rausch, S.J., Catholicism in the Third Millennium (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press), xii.
  33. ↑ For example, in his encyclical Humani Generis, 27-28 Pope Pius XII decried the error of those who denied that they were bound by "the doctrine, explained in Our Encyclical Letter of a few years ago, and based on the Sources of Revelation, which teaches that the Mystical Body of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one and the same thing"; and in his Divini Illius Magistri Pope Pius XI wrote: "In the City of God, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, a good citizen and an upright man are absolutely one and the same thing." On other occasions too, both when signing agreements with other Churches (e.g. that with Patriarch Mar Ignatius Yacoub III of the Syrian Orthodox Church) and in giving talks to various groups (e.g. Benedict XVI in Warsaw), the Popes refer to the Church that they head as the Roman Catholic Church.
  34. ↑ Richard McBrien, The Church, 6.
  35. ↑ McBrien, The Church, 351-371
  36. ↑ "Archdiocese of Detroit listing of Eastern Churches". Aodonline.org. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  37. ↑ The A to Z of the Orthodox Church, p. 259, by Michael Prokurat, Michael D. Peterson, Alexander Golitzin, published by Scarecrow Press in 2010 ()
  38. ↑ Milton V. Anastos (2001). "Aspects of the Mind of Byzantium (Political Theory, Theology, and Ecclesiastical Relations with the See of Rome)". Myriobiblos.gr. Ashgate Publications, Variorum Collected Studies Series. ISBN 0-86078-840-7. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  39. ↑ "L'idea di pentarchia nella cristianità". Homolaicus.com. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  40. 1 2 "Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, press release on the suppression of the title "Patriarch of the West" in the 2006 Annuario Pontificio". Vatican.va. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  41. 1 2 Catholic Online (2006-03-22). "Vatican explains why pope no longer "patriarch of the West"". Catholic.org. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  42. ↑ Simon Scott Plummer, "China's Growing Faiths" in The Tablet, March 2007. Based on a review of Religious Experience in Contemporary China by Kinzhong Yao and Paul Badham (University of Wales Press).
  43. 1 2 Fahlbusch, Erwin; Geoffrey William Bromiley (2005). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. David B. Barrett. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 269, 494. ISBN 978-0-8028-2416-5.
  44. ↑ "Anglican-Lutheran agreement signed", The Christian Century, 13 November 1996, 1005.
  45. ↑ "Two Churches Now Share a Cleric", New York Times, 20 October 1996, 24.
  46. ↑ Rowan A. Greer, "Anglicanism as an ongoing argument", The Witness, May 1998, 23.
  47. ↑ Matt Cresswell, "Anglican conservatives say 'second reformation' is already under way", The Tablet, 28 June 2008, 32.
  48. ↑ Philip Jenkins, "Defender of the Faith", The Atlantic Monthly, November 2003, 46-9.
  49. ↑ David Barrett, "Christian World Communities: Five Overviews of Global Christianity, AD 1800-2025", in International Bulletin of Missionary Research, January 2009, Vol. 33, No 1, pp. 31.
  50. ↑ The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), Article XXV
  51. ↑ The London Confession (1689), Chapter 26
  52. ↑ Richard McBrien, The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism (New York: HarperOne, 2008), 6, 281-82, and 356.
  53. ↑ McBrien, Richard P. (1994). Catholicism. HarperCollins. pp. 3–19. ISBN 978-0-06-065405-4.
  54. ↑ Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church (Oxford: Penguin Books, 1993), 214–217.
  55. ↑ In his book, Catholicism, he notes (on page 19) that his book was "written in the midst of yet another major crisis in the history of the Roman Catholic Church...." Never once does he indicate in his book that Catholicism refers to churches not in communion with the See of Rome. McBrien, 19–20.
  56. ↑ Alden, Henry Mills (1868). Harper's new monthly magazine, Volume 37, Issues 217-222. Harper's Magazine Co. The various Protestant sects can not constitute one church because they have no intercommunion...each Protestant Church, whether Methodist or Baptist or whatever, is in perfect communion with itself everywhere as the Roman Catholic; and in this respect, consequently, the Roman Catholic has no advantage or superiority, except in the point of numbers. As a further necessary consequence, it is plain that the Roman Church is no more Catholic in any sense than a Methodist or a Baptist.
  57. 1 2 Harper's magazine, Volume 37. Harper's Magazine Co. 1907. For those who "belong to the Church," the term Methodist Catholic, or Presbyterian Catholic, or Baptist Catholic, is as proper as the term Roman Catholic. It simply means that body of Christian believers over the world who agree in their religious views, and accept the same ecclesiastical forms.
  58. ↑ Catholic Encyclopedia, Pope St. Julius I
  59. ↑ Radeck, Francisco; Dominic Radecki (2004). Tumultuous Times. St. Joseph's Media. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-9715061-0-7.
  60. ↑ "The Hierarchical Constitution of the Church - 880-881". The Vatican. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  61. ↑ Geanakoplos, Deno John. Constantinople and the West. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0299118800.
  62. ↑ Mc Brien, The Church, 6.
  63. ↑ "And I tell you, you are Peter [Πετρός, meaning 'rock'], and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." (Mt 16:18)
  64. ↑ "Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1418". Vatican.va. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  65. ↑ "Code of Canon Law, canon 891". Intratext.com. 2007-05-04. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  66. ↑ "Chapter II : The Minister of the Sacrament of Penance". IntraText. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  67. ↑ In regard to the ordination of women to the episcopacy, one cannot underestimate the chasm that is currently developing between the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental and Roman Catholic Chuches, on the one hand, and the Lutheran, Anglican and Independent Catholic Churches, on the other hand. Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, for example, noted this when he addressed some Anglican bishops in 2006. Quoting St Cyprian of Carthage (d. 258), he said the episcopate is one, which means that "each part of it is held by each one for the whole"; that bishops were instruments of unity not only within the contemporary Church, but also across time, within the universal Church. This being the case, he continued, "the decision for the ordination of women to the Episcopal office ... must not in any way involve a conflict between the majority and the minority." Such a decision should be made "with the consensus of the ancient Churches of the East and West." To do otherwise "would spell the end" to any kind of unity. James Roberts, "Women bishops 'would spell the end of unity hopes'" in The Tablet, 10 June 2006, 34.
  68. ↑ "Rowan Williams predicts schism over homosexuality" (The Tablet 1 August 2009, 33).
  69. ↑ The Russian Orthodox Church, which because of the episcopal ordination of Gene Robinson severed its dialogue with the United States Episcopal Church, while declaring itself open to "contacts and cooperation with those American Episcopalians who remain faithful to the gospel's moral teaching", stated that it was willing to restore relations with those Episcopal dioceses that refused to recognize the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori as their Church's presiding bishop (Letter of Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad).
  70. ↑ Stan Chu Ilo, "An African view on ordaining Gene Robinson", The National Catholic Reporter, 12 December 2003, 26.
  71. ↑ Matthew Moore, "Archbishop of Canterbury foresees a 'two-tier' church to avoid gay schism", The Telegraph.co.uk, 27 July 2009.

Further reading

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