Medieval Catholic Church

[DnR]

I have a nephew who is a Calvinist pastor. I am an Eastern Orthodox Deacon. We email each other as we discuss a book. He has brought up something I’ve never heard of: Medieval Catholic Church and Modern Catholic Church. If I had to guess I’d say he is saying pre-Vatican II and Vatican II respectively but I’ve never heard his titles/terms used in that way. To understand what he is describing I went online but don’t see anything. I am wondering if anyone in this forum can enlighten me before I reply to my nephew. I expect to ask him when I next email him, but I’d like to be better prepared. Thank you.

 

[reggieM]

I have a nephew who is a Calvinist pastor. I am an Eastern Orthodox Deacon. We email each other as we discuss a book. He has brought up something I’ve never heard of: Medieval Catholic Church and Modern Catholic Church. If I had to guess I’d say he is saying pre-Vatican II and Vatican II respectively but I’ve never heard his titles/terms used in that way. To understand what he is describing I went online but don’t see anything. I am wondering if anyone in this forum can enlighten me before I reply to my nephew. I expect to ask him when I next email him, but I’d like to be better prepared. Thank you.

Keeping in mind that Calvinism emerged just after the era that your nephew would call the Medieval Catholic Church. So, they will tend to put their focus on certain practices and abuses that occurred during that time. Some of those abuses were corrected by the Council of Trent others were corrected later. But yes, also it’s probably like Vatican II and pre-Vatican II also. The doctrines of the faith did not change, just the presentation (Mass in Latin vs Mass in the Vernacular). If we consider the Medieval era starting in 800 a.d. then East and West were united - you could say we were all “Orthodox” or all “Catholic”, whichever term we would use.

 

[DnR]

Thank you, Reggie.