Catholic or Roman Catholic?

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Mike_O

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I saw Mr. Keating write that “Roman Catholic” is not the real name for the Catholic Church.

I recently wrote a term paper on anti-Catholicism in America and was told by the teacher that I had to write “Roman Catholic” rather than “Catholic” as chuches like the Episcopal Church consider themselves the “one, holy, catholic” church.

This I do not buy, but why not Roman Catholic when there are Byzantine Catholic, Polish Catholic, and other Orthodox branches within the whole Catholic Church?

What is wrong with this nomenclature?
 
There is one Holy Catholic Church as I understand it. Within the Church there are members who are in greater or lesser states of communion with her. Also within the Church there are different rites, including the Roman rite. So I guess if your Professor was being a stickler and it was the Roman rite as opposed to the universal Catholic church you were writing about, you could go with that.
 
My home parish and diocese has no problem with “Roman Catholic”

dioceseofstpete.org/

When someone asks you what religion you are, and you say “Catholic” they know what you mean. Your average person doesn’t think you mean “Anglican” by Catholic. I use Catholic and Roman Catholic interchangeably. No problems.

Phil P
 
I’m curious as to what grade or college level this was.

I think the teacher was not just being a stickler. Either she was ignorant as to the relation of the Catholic Church to other Churches or faith communities (no matter what THEY consider themselves), or she was exercising (over) extreme sensitivity on this subject. If you were writing a paper on anti-Catholicism, the only possible candidate would be ROMAN Catholicism (and the associated smaller rites). Nobody discriminates against, say, Anglicans because some of them may consider themselves catholic, albeit with a small ‘c’.
 
The phrase “Roman Catholic” has a variety of meanings, depending on the context.

A few popes have written of the Catholic Church, even taken as a whole, as the “Roman Catholic Church.” In and of itself, the term is not derrogatory, although it is not typically used in official Church documents.
 
I take “Roman Catholic” to mean belonging to the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. So if you were to write your paper only on the “Roman Catholic” church, you would be leaving out all the other Rites of the Catholic Church–primarily those in the eastern rites which are in communion with the Pope. (There are Catholics of the Chaldean Rite in Iraq, for example.) Anglicans may consider themselves to be a branch of the Catholic Church, but they are not, and that could be the subject of a separate paper!

JimG
 
Mike O:
I saw Mr. Keating write that “Roman Catholic” is not the real name for the Catholic Church.

I recently wrote a term paper on anti-Catholicism in America and was told by the teacher that I had to write “Roman Catholic” rather than “Catholic” as chuches like the Episcopal Church consider themselves the “one, holy, catholic” church.

This I do not buy, but why not Roman Catholic when there are Byzantine Catholic, Polish Catholic, and other Orthodox branches within the whole Catholic Church?

What is wrong with this nomenclature?
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The term Roman Catholic Church refers to our *union * with our universal leader, the Bishop of Rome. It doesn’t always refer to the rite, more importantly is the status of our union and universality.
 
Check this link out at EWTN
How Did the Catholic Church Get Her Name?
ewtn.com/faith/teachings/churb3.htm
The term “Roman Catholic” is a relatively modern one (and one confined mainly to the English language). It was used by the Anglicans to differentiate themselves with the Church at Rome when they split off to indicate that it was somehow a branch of the Catholic Church.
Nowhere in its official documents does the Church refer to itself as “Roman Catholic”.
Who we are is simply stated in the title of the Catechism… “The Catechism of the Catholic Church”.
That’s who (and what) we are.
 
I assume you mean the Latin rite? There is no Roman rite…
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cmom:
The Catholic Church has many different rites, Roman is only one of them.

ewtn.com/expert/answers/rites.htm
Click to expand...
 
Another good reason to say Roman Catholic is because there are some within our Church (who seem to have missed the Protestant rebellion) and want to slide into apostasy and call themselves American Catholics. :ehh:

So, even though we “English” speaking people have to define ourselves better because of the Anglican/Episcopal split, I will gladly use it. I love our Holy Father and he is in Rome.:amen:

Pax et bonum,
Mamamull
 
Forgive me if I’m wrong but I think that officially it’s not Roman Catholic but to tell the difference from other catholic rites (i.e. Byzantine) it’s is referred to as Latin Rite. I’m pretty sure of this.

God bless ALL Catholic Rites is communion with The Holy See!:angel1:
 
Ok here’s the most recent post from EWTN’s Answers and Questions section:

Roman Catholic Church
Question from on 06-01-2007:
Dear Fr. Mark, You keep writing that there is no such thing as the Roman Catholic church. Yet, all the churches I have seen in North America associated with the Latin ritual catholic church have big signs in front announcing that they are Roman Catholic. You might keep writing this but the rest of us are lead to believe that it is called the “RC” church.
Answer by Rev. Mark J. Gantley, JCL on 06-02-2007:
I know. But really, the term “Roman Catholic” is a term that has been imposed upon us by non-Catholics.
In any case, in this forum, I try to always use precise canonical terminology. It is, after all, a canon law forum.
 
You will never find an authoritative Vatican document refer to the Church as “Roman Catholic.” That was a term invented by the Anglicans because they fancy themselves as “Anglican Catholics” as a way to legitimize their historicity.

Diocesan newspapers and parish bulletins don’t count. :rolleyes:
 
The only time I would use the term “Roman Catholic” to describe myself would be in discussion with an Eastern Catholic.

Jeremy
 
lepanto said:
You will never find an authoritative Vatican document refer to the Church as “Roman Catholic.” That was a term invented by the Anglicans because they fancy themselves as “Anglican Catholics” as a way to legitimize their historicity.

Diocesan newspapers and parish bulletins don’t count. :rolleyes:
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Yes, the correct term is “Catholic - Latin Rite.”
 
Mike_O said:
I saw Mr. Keating write that “Roman Catholic” is not the real name for the Catholic Church.

I recently wrote a term paper on anti-Catholicism in America and was told by the teacher that I had to write “Roman Catholic” rather than “Catholic” as chuches like the Episcopal Church consider themselves the “one, holy, catholic” church.

This I do not buy, but why not Roman Catholic when there are Byzantine Catholic, Polish Catholic, and other Orthodox branches within the whole Catholic Church?

What is wrong with this nomenclature?
Click to expand...
The Roman Catholic Church is the church in Rome.

The Holy, Apostolic and Catholic Church of the East is just what it says. (Syrian, Melkite, Chaldean, et al.)

The Apostolic Catholic Church of Armenia is the church in Armenia

The Holy Apostolic Catholic Church in Egypt is the Coptic Church.

The word “Catholic” is a compound word derived from the two words “kata” and “holos”. See Acts 9:31. “Kata”, here meaning diverse or distributed, and “holos” here meaning together.

The word “Catholic” in essence means "all the different churches in agreement with each other. This extraordinary meaning became evident as the church matured.

In the bible there ar MANY different verses that teach us to deny false teachers. The apostles were telling us to believe the truth and ONLY the truth. This is why the apostles wrote letters to each other.

For instance, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Ephesians, Collosians, etc. What he was trying to do was get them to believe the same thing, together as ONE church with ONE system of belief.

In later christian writings we find the same thing. Ignatius and Clement wrote letters to different churches for the same purpose as Paul: to instruct and correct deviances of belief. They, as Paul, Peter, Jude and James wrote letters to maintain the truth of Christ. They all say this in thier letters.

Subrosa
 
I usually say Orthodox Catholic of the Latin Rite in union with Rome.

But, its so long to type out.:o
 
CatholicFireman said:
Forgive me if I’m wrong but I think that officially it’s not Roman Catholic but to tell the difference from other catholic rites (i.e. Byzantine) it’s is referred to as Latin Rite. I’m pretty sure of this.

God bless ALL Catholic Rites is communion with The Holy See!:angel1:
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I believe you are precisely correct.

CDL, A Catholic of the Byzantine Rite also known as an “Orthodox in Communion with Rome”.
 
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