Capitalizing “Catholic”

  • Thread starter Thread starter LindaInFolsom
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

LindaInFolsom

Guest
As I understand it, the word “Catholic” is not capitalized in the Apostles Creed since it refers to the universal church of all Christians and believers. But when I look at the Apostles Creed on Catholic Answers, it is capitalized. Why is that?
 
I think your reason for not capitalizing it is not accurate. The reason why some do not capitalize it, is it is being used as an adjective, as opposed to the name of the Church. That is my understanding.
 
Either way, would it change your feelings on Catholicism, the Catholic Church, or the Church Militant?
 
I don’t know if you did this on accident or not, but it seems you forgot to remove your email signature from your reply, so your phone number is now on both of your posts.
 
Based on my reading of the Catholic Encyclopedia articles on “Apostles’ Creed” and “Catholic,” it seems, if you are going to include it in the Apostles’ Creed, the word “Catholic” should be capitalized. The word does not appear in any versions of the Apostles’ Creed prior to the late fourth century (Nicetas, about A.D. 375) and by then its technical (sectarian) meaning had “almost entirely supplanted the primitive and more general meaning.”
 
Last edited:
Well, it’s actually part of the question, which is why it is cap’ed in various places on the site when the article about the topic on the site it shouldn’t be. I thought I might have mis-read the article or there is a particular reason.

I want to be sure when I’m talking with my Christian, non-Catholic friends & the question comes up about what “catholic” means, and I don’t want to spread misinformation!

~ Linda
 
Last edited:
Thanks, I noticed it only after it sent. 😱 It was auto-filled. So, the truth is out there. Not sure if I can edit it at this point…

~ Linda
 
Last edited:
I think those posts were removed. Either way, that’s why it’s better to post on the forum itself rather than through email. 😛
 
Thanks! I see how to edit now, but when I looked and couldn’t find them.

Thanks for the advice. I’m - obviously - a newbie.

~ LindaInFolsom
 
Last edited:
I deal with text from many different people. I can often spot that the writer (otherwise unknown to me) is a Catholic because of a tendency to capitalise words that they see as important. I think this comes from the practice in Catholic education to teach children to capitalise nouns associated with holy things (sacramentals etc) or people s/Saints, a/Apostles.
 
tafan2 said:
I think your reason for not capitalizing it is not accurate. The reason why some do not capitalize it, is it is being used as an adjective, as opposed to the name of the Church. That is my understanding.
Click to expand...
And as an adjective the small “c” catholic
means universal.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top