Definition of a "Catholic"

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No, there is not.

Baptism makes you a Catholic. There are no degrees of being a Catholic. From what you are saying you become more of a Catholic at your first confession, then more at first communion and finally a full-blown catholic at confirmation. That is not what the Church teaches.

I am a member of a professional body related to my job. I am not very active in that body, but I am still a member. That is a reasonable analogy for baptism. It makes you a member of the Catholic Church. However, your practice of or commitment to the faith can differ from other catholics.

You may never go to Mass or confession, be an alcoholic, beat up your wife and children, steal from your employer but if you were baptised as a catholic you are a catholic. You may not be a good one but you still are one.
 
Someone who has been called by God through baptism, and by God’s grace has been given faith, who believes and confesses the apostolic faith.
 
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Yes I agree

But I’m not referring to any sort of right or wrong behavior

I’m referring to Infant Baptism alone

If you receive Infant Baptism, then when you hear the Gospel, and reject it, your Infant Baptism made you a Catholic child, on account of your parents faith and Jesus’ grace offered, but when you actually learned about Him, you chose to not be incorporated through that offering.

1 John

Children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that it might be plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all know

So if the church calls all Baptized those who “went out from us” Catholic, then I’m content with agreeing with you all. And thus they, who do not continue in the faith, who are Baptized are antichrists. Catholic antiChrists. 😦
 
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Children are under the jurisdiction of parents

Luke 18

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
 
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I would say a “Catholic” is a person who is fully incorporated into and therefore visibly belongs to the Catholic Church. Such a person is baptized and professes the faith of the Catholic Church and is united in government/hierarchical communion with the Catholic Church. I think this definition is important to maintaining the proper identity of the one Church of Christ which we profess in the Creed. I don’t think Baptism alone can be said to always make one a member in this strict sense. Here’s why:

The key is this doctrine about the Church. From Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium (my emphasis):
Christ, the one Mediator, established and continually sustains here on earth His holy Church, the community of faith, hope and charity, as an entity with visible delineation (9*) through which He communicated truth and grace to all.
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Unlike Protestants, we don’t believe in an invisible Church. What visibly delineates this entity from other communities and societies? Again, from Lumen Gentium:
The bonds which bind men to the Church in a visible way are profession of faith, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical government and communion.
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Given this visible nature of the Church, “membership” has traditionally been a strictly defined concept:

Pius XII, Mystici Corporis:
Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed.
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Baptism begins the incorporation into Christ and the Church, creates an indestructible bond with the Church, and was instituted to make one a member, but alone it does not make one a member in the above sense. The Vatican II decree on ecumenism notes how Baptism “envisages” those other elements of this membership.
Baptism therefore establishes a sacramental bond of unity which links all who have been reborn by it. But of itself Baptism is only a beginning, an inauguration wholly directed toward the fullness of life in Christ. Baptism, therefore, envisages a complete profession of faith, complete incorporation in the system of salvation such as Christ willed it to be, and finally complete ingrafting in eucharistic communion.
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Because of the sins of men, Baptism is now administered apart from and without its intended completion and it and other elements properly belonging to the Church are found in communities other than the Catholic Church. Incorporation is begun, but not finished. Others depart from it through heresy, schism, or apostasy (the “sins of separation”). We can’t identify these persons and communities as the Church until they are fully incorporated without undermining the permanent identity, unity, and unicity, of the Church as Christ instituted her and the Holy Spirit sustains her as a visible society on earth.

This is the very reason why the concept of “partial communion,” taken originally from St. Augustine, was brought more to the fore. So we could speak of that positive relationship of the otherwise separated baptized with the Church, without confusing the unique identity of the Church.
 
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John 3:

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]

Seems like Jesus’ only qualification is to be “born of water and spirit”, regardless of whether that coincides with you being “born of flesh”. IN fact, he goes out of his way to separate the two. We all know “flesh” is biblically associated with tendency to sin.
 
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It seems to me that whenever someone provides you with an answer you change the way in which you are approaching this.

Baptism makes you a member of the Catholic Church. Nothing, absolutely nothing, you do will change that. Confirmation, diaconate, priesthood, episcopate, cardinalate, papacy, none of these changes your fundamental status as a member of the Catholic Church. Pope Francis is no greater member of the Church than the rest of us. He is a member of the Church.

If from tomorrow after the Winter Solstice I suddenly reject all Catholic belief and start worshipping the Sun’s return by dancing naked in a wooded glade smeared with blood I would still be a member of the Catholic Church. (I may, of course, find myself involuntarily placed in a padded cell.)

I cannot understand why you fail to grasp this very simple concept: being baptised makes you a member of the Catholic Church.

I do not know what point you are trying to make. Having carefully read your posts and the changes you are making, and others besides me have drawn your attention to your inconsistency, I believe you do not know what point you want to make.

I would propose an end to this discussion. It is not achieving what discussions aim to achieve which is an acceptable resolution to all parties. I am afraid you are unlikely to get the answer you want.
 
I’m not asking a question. I’m expressing my understanding (which I’m not saying is definite Church Teaching) of what a Catholic is.

I’m not completely convinced the Church is calling a person who was merely Baptized as an infant, yet when reached the age of reason rejected the Gospel, a Catholic.

The Catechism seems to allude to this by acknowledging a need for instruction in the faith, and further initiation.

I am not making a mountain out of this silly debate, because either way, Salvation is the purpose of Baptism, and to reject Baptism as an adult is rejecting salvation. So what merit does the name Catholic have if an antichrist can be called Catholic?

If the Church is officially saying even Infant Baptism alone entitles someone to be called a Catholic, even if they never accepted the Gospel, then so be it. I will accept that. No problem.
 
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Why do you call the definition of “Catholic” a silly debate? Surely it a foundational concept.
 
I mean that because if the definition of a Catholic has nothing to do with whether someone ever personally accept any Teachings of the Catholic faith, then what good is the term?

Is Catholicism a religion of coercion against mens will? Can anyone be made Catholic, even when they reject it as an adult?

I believe any valid Baptism incorporates us into the one true Church.
 
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The Church distinguishes between “Catholics” and other Christians. Do a word find on the word “Catholics” in the Vatican II decree on ecumenism, for example:

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_...ecree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html

Do the same in Ut Unum Sint:
http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-p...ments/hf_jp-ii_enc_25051995_ut-unum-sint.html

The Catechism does so in various places too, such as when discussing mixed marriages, which it defines as
1633:… marriage between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic…
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You seem to agree that Infant Baptism alone does not constitute the distinction, right?
 
They will always be Catholic. Maybe just not in a state of grace or what used to be called a fallen away Catholic.
 
Yes, and it seems the Church does too. The Catechism specifically refers to a “baptized non-Catholic” and the documents on ecumenism make many references to Catholics and separated brethren, other Christians, or Orthodox. it doesn’t call call baptized people Catholics.
 
As a new Catholic, I have a quick question. If you’re excommunicated, are you still considered Catholic? Not that I ever plan on being excommunicated, but I have friends who have been due to their sexual preferences.

Thanks!
 
Yes. You are still considered Catholic but out of communion with the church. At least that is the way it was explained to me.
 
Of course, if they are excommunicated chances are that they no longer consider themselves Catholic. As a friend I would be respectful of that.
 
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