Don't call me Roman Catholic!

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If I have offended you, the Hugenots, the Hugenot tradition, or any descendants of the Hugenot tradition, online or offline, I humbly apologize. I often forget that the internet takes grave offense at the slightest incident, and that internet forumites will consider a wide range of comments to be personal attacks upon their sensibilities. I ask for your forgiveness and pardon. Mea maxima culpa.
 
DaddyGirl said:
Oh! The Catholic church considers Eastern churches as “Catholic”?
My parents were Bulgarian Orthodox, but they would have never considered themselves Catholic…
?
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There is between Bulgarian Orthodox and Bulgarian Catholic. Orthodox is not in communion with Rome; Catholic is.

For example, there are Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic. Guess which one is in communion with Rome? Hint, it’s the Catholic one. 😉
 
Don’t feel too bad, the Eastern Catholic Churches aren’t well known. But I’d suggest that you find one local to you and check it out. Don’t try to keep up with the service the first time, just sit back and observe. I can promise you this much, if nothing else it’ll be unique to a first-time goer. If you’re a Catholic in a state of grace, you can feel free to recieve communion (recieve? receive? bother…), and I highly reccomend you stick around after service and enjoy the community.
 
benjohnson said:
Lutherans often times use the word Roman do distinguish Catholic as a noun vs Catholic as an adjective. Our creed says we believe in a “one
 holy
 catholic 
and
 apostolic Church
.”
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This–to distinguish noun from adjective–is the only context in which I refer to capital-C Catholics as ‘Roman’. I never intend it to be a derogatory term, and this post is the first time I’ve ever heard or seen anyone take it as negative.
 
I’m surprised to see this thread was not started by an anti-Catholic. This is a first to me that a Catholic would consider it an insult to be called a Roman Catholic? Yo no intiendo.
 
ComeHome2Rome said:
I’m surprised to see this thread was not started by an anti-Catholic. This is a first to me that a Catholic would consider it an insult to be called a Roman Catholic? Yo no intiendo.
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From it is an insuit, when it used in place of ‘Romist’. 🙂
 
xylem411 said:
JD27076;9532336 said:
(Even though I am.)

Only because some say it is One, Apostolic, Holy and Catholic .Yes, there is a universal church .It is made up of all denominations, of all believers in Christ
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I attended a Methodist school. Most of the staff and students there would disagree with you.
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JD27076 said:
(Even though I am.)

When Protestants refer to Catholics, they always say Roman Catholics…it’s almost like an insult to be called Roman Catholic by a protestant. As it is for a “born-again, bible-bashing” Baptist to be called a Protestant. But thats what they are.

Some Catholics, are not Roman Catholics. I am not ashamed to be called Roman Catholic, but I don’t want anyone to get the idea that all Catholics are Roman Catholics.

If I was a Byzantine Catholic, I would be mad if I got called a Roman Catholic. (Even though there is nothing wrong with Roman Catholicism.)

Protestants are almost putting a limit on a universal Church.

What are you thoughts?
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Many Protestants consider the term to be offensive. Why do you get to call them Protestants and them not allowed to call you Roman Catholic?
 
JonNC said:
Always? Out of respect for those catholics who dislike the term, and because the term sometimes is used as a slur, I don’t use the term “Roman Catholic”. I will say, “Catholic in communion with the Bishop of Rome.”
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hahaha. now that was funny!
JonNC said:
Other than the slur aspect of it, which incidentally has similar roots as “Lutheran”, the problem is it is not entirely accurate, as Latin Rite is only one rite within Catholicism, as you imply below.
Therefore, it is similar to the term protestant, which is even less accurate.
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Yes, latin rite is only a rite. There’re many different rites, and in the end we’re (we Catholics in full communion with Rome) all Roman Catholics.
JonNC said:
Some of us would say that the universal Church includes Orthodox and the various western non-Catholic communions. Would you agree? And if not, are you then putting limits on the universal Church?

Jon
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Nah I wouldn’t, as they’re not in full communion with Rome.
 
DaddyGirl said:
This thread is so confusing for a non-Catholic. There are 23 different kinds of Catholic, someone posted earlier.
Are they not “equal” in their level of Catholicism?
Does one group consider themselves more Catholic than the others?

They seem to be based on region, with some differences in the details of the rituals.
Why, then, would someone be offended by being called a Roman Catholic as opposed to another kind of Catholic?

It would be difficult to know what kind of Catholic a person is, unless they specify that to a person…in the same way that if someone said they were Protestant, you wouldn’t know which specific church they follow unless they tell you. So it would be an easy error to make, if someone called you one type of Catholic and you were another.
And in my experience, when asked what religion they are, Catholics usually just say “Catholic” and don’t specify…whereas, Protestants usually do say “Baptist” or “Methodist” etc…

But…as far as mistakes go…mixing up the kind of Catholic a person is still narrows down very closely what they do each Sunday at church.
As opposed to mistaking one Protestant for another…in which, I think, the denominations are very different from each other?
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A very good question, with a fairly large answer. I’ll try to sum up.
The word “Catholic” means “universal”. Therefore, no one church can possible be “more Catholic” than any other, as they are all part of the whole. There really aren’t levels.

The different Churches in communion with Rome come from different backgrounds, and many trace their roots to different apostles. Services can range from nearly identical to Roman Catholic to nearly unidentifiable as anything related, depending on the Church. What is the same, however, is the belief in Christ. This isn’t to say we agree on everything. The way we approach God, Church and Communion tend to be VERY different. But this is like asking two different people about, say, a car. They may tell you very different things based on what they see and how they approach a car, but it still remains the same car.

Does that help?
 
TheDoors said:
xylem411;9556454:
I got a great deal of the whole “People who don’t believe like us aren’t Christians” thing there. Chapel, especially, tended to be HIGHLY anti- high church.
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Oh,sorry. Not sure what they meant by , “not like us” . In a sense what is a Christian then ? I do believe you must have a personal encounter with Christ, in a saving way, to begin to be like Him, to be a Christian. The denomination is immaterial , but some have better theology to induce the experience. Yet one must drink for himself, despite being Lutheran , or Methodist , or Catholic/ Orthodox, etc…
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There are several churches in my area that have signage saying “Roman Catholic”.
 
What is wrong with thinking of yourself as Roman? True, the Roman Empire at the time of Christ was violent, but that was a long time ago and the world was a vastly different place. Kill or be killed; at least according to the times chronicaled by Plutarch. Today, some feminists will use it as a slur or promote the slur to propel themselves into the spotlight for often legitimate reasons (one of these is not to call people misogynist as was the vogue slur in the 80’s and may still be today). Fortunately, the Roman Church has survived. In my opinion, Christianity wouldn’t be Christianity without Rome (I mean that idiomatically, of course).

I could agree to not call a person a Roman Catholic. Problem is, this particular person is one!
 
I don’t have a problem with being called a Roman Catholic. The name of our Archdiocese includes “Roman Catholic.” If it’s good enough for my Archbishop, then it’s good enough for me.😃
 
JonNC said:
It wasn’t intended to be. 🤷

Hmm, limits on the universal Church, then? What about the role of Baptism?

Jon
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Jon,

I agree with you the Church is Catholic…OHCAC…Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, West Roman and Eastern Catholic and all baptized in the Trinitarian formula…as I recall are all part of the OHCAC…and as far as being Roman…well then that is a matter of Rite…🙂
 
CopticChristian said:
Jon,

I agree with you the Church is Catholic…OHCAC…Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, West Roman and Eastern Catholic and all baptized in the Trinitarian formula…as I recall are all part of the OHCAC…and as far as being Roman…well then that is a matter of Rite…🙂
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👍

Jon
 
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