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Eucharisted
Guest
Many centuries ago, a lie was fabricated about the Catholic Church. This lie has since been around and is popular among non-Catholics, especially those who are ignorant of the truth. That lie is that there is a difference between Catholic and catholic and that the Catholic Church is properly called Roman Catholic. By God’s grace, I will prove this lie to be wrong.
So, where dose it stem from? A misunderstanding of Greek, actually. The Greek Father Saint Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church.” In ancient Greek, there are no capitals, so his words would actually read “where the bishop is present there is the catholic church.” Some non-Catholics saw that “Catholic Church” wasn’t capitalized in the ancient Greek and conclided that the saint was not referring to the Church under the Vicar of Christ but to something else: the so-called “general church”, as some refer to the collection of Christians.
However, this is a lie against the Catholic Church’s catholicity, as well as a lie against Jesus Christ. Jesus said that there were sheep who were not of His flock, but that they would soon join so that there would be one flock and one shepherd. His words actually have multiple meanings: they first refer to the Gentiles, who were not yet part of Israel; they secondly refer to the schsmatics and heretics of the early Church, whom had left the Church; and they thirdly refer to non-Christians who are not members of the Church. The shepherd Christ refers to is Himself, just as the father in the parable of the prodigal son is Himself, and the flock of sheep He refers to is, naturally, the New Israel, the Church. The Lord referred to Israel as His sheep, and He as their shepherd, multiple times in the Old Testament. So of course this imagery, which every Jew was familiar with, would be used by the Lord to refer to His New People. Now, the lie of “a collection of Christian” is a lie against the Catholic Church’s catholicity for precisely the above reason: Christ wants everyone to join His Church, He wants His Church to be universal - catholic - and so to claim that the Church is already fully universal when she in fact bears wounds to unity is a falsehood meant to destroy the Church’s credibility. There is no “general church”, there is only One Church, just as there is only One Eucharist, One Body, One Mediator, and One God, and those separated brethern whom live in Christ by virtue of baptism are, in a mysterious way, albeit not directly given their separation, members of the Catholic Church.
A lie that is sometimes used to support the lie that the Catholic Church which Ignatius speaks of is not the very same Catholic Church is that there is a difference in meaning between Catholic and catholic. While some do believe this, and such duel definitions of one word can be found in some dictionaries, it is - again - a misunderstanding. Indeed, dictionaries are themselves filled with personal opinions at times - for example, the Marriam-Webster dictionaries claims Jesus Christ is not God but a Jewish rabbi whom Christians worship. The word “catholic” means universal, not general, and it only has one definition in the ancient Greek, not two or three. So to take one word and give it duel meanings is deceiving, just as it is deceiving to take the Arabic word for “prayer” and give it two different meanings.
Regarding the insult “Roman Catholic Church”, it actually began as a misunderstanding as well. But now it is used to insult us Catholic Christians, to call us followers of the anti-Christ and haters of Christ. The term stems from a misunderstanding of “Roman Church” or “Holy Roman Church”, an ancient phrase for the Church in Rome. For example, Saint Irenæus says, “For the entire Church, that is all the faithful in the world, should be in agreement with this Roman Church, because of its superior preeminence; and in it all the faithful have preserved the Apostolic Tradition”.
So, where dose it stem from? A misunderstanding of Greek, actually. The Greek Father Saint Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church.” In ancient Greek, there are no capitals, so his words would actually read “where the bishop is present there is the catholic church.” Some non-Catholics saw that “Catholic Church” wasn’t capitalized in the ancient Greek and conclided that the saint was not referring to the Church under the Vicar of Christ but to something else: the so-called “general church”, as some refer to the collection of Christians.
However, this is a lie against the Catholic Church’s catholicity, as well as a lie against Jesus Christ. Jesus said that there were sheep who were not of His flock, but that they would soon join so that there would be one flock and one shepherd. His words actually have multiple meanings: they first refer to the Gentiles, who were not yet part of Israel; they secondly refer to the schsmatics and heretics of the early Church, whom had left the Church; and they thirdly refer to non-Christians who are not members of the Church. The shepherd Christ refers to is Himself, just as the father in the parable of the prodigal son is Himself, and the flock of sheep He refers to is, naturally, the New Israel, the Church. The Lord referred to Israel as His sheep, and He as their shepherd, multiple times in the Old Testament. So of course this imagery, which every Jew was familiar with, would be used by the Lord to refer to His New People. Now, the lie of “a collection of Christian” is a lie against the Catholic Church’s catholicity for precisely the above reason: Christ wants everyone to join His Church, He wants His Church to be universal - catholic - and so to claim that the Church is already fully universal when she in fact bears wounds to unity is a falsehood meant to destroy the Church’s credibility. There is no “general church”, there is only One Church, just as there is only One Eucharist, One Body, One Mediator, and One God, and those separated brethern whom live in Christ by virtue of baptism are, in a mysterious way, albeit not directly given their separation, members of the Catholic Church.
A lie that is sometimes used to support the lie that the Catholic Church which Ignatius speaks of is not the very same Catholic Church is that there is a difference in meaning between Catholic and catholic. While some do believe this, and such duel definitions of one word can be found in some dictionaries, it is - again - a misunderstanding. Indeed, dictionaries are themselves filled with personal opinions at times - for example, the Marriam-Webster dictionaries claims Jesus Christ is not God but a Jewish rabbi whom Christians worship. The word “catholic” means universal, not general, and it only has one definition in the ancient Greek, not two or three. So to take one word and give it duel meanings is deceiving, just as it is deceiving to take the Arabic word for “prayer” and give it two different meanings.
Regarding the insult “Roman Catholic Church”, it actually began as a misunderstanding as well. But now it is used to insult us Catholic Christians, to call us followers of the anti-Christ and haters of Christ. The term stems from a misunderstanding of “Roman Church” or “Holy Roman Church”, an ancient phrase for the Church in Rome. For example, Saint Irenæus says, “For the entire Church, that is all the faithful in the world, should be in agreement with this Roman Church, because of its superior preeminence; and in it all the faithful have preserved the Apostolic Tradition”.
They know that the nation stood for 1000 years longer in the east, it was the empire of Theodosios and Justinian.