The "Are you Catholic or Christian" Question

[JamesCaruso]

It only matters if you are a heresy hunter(some protestants) or a rabid catholic (some of them are out there ya know).

If the need be I will be truthful and say i am a baptised, confirmed catholic, have always gone to Mass but i am far more fulfilled when listening to non-catholic preachers.

I hope I am wrong in detecting a bit of class warfare going on. Like who is a first class citizen and who is economy seat people.

Many Protestant preachers are very good. Maybe there are more good Protestant preachers than there are Catholic preachers, although there have been some great Catholic preachers. But are you more fulfilled listening to a Protestant preacher, or receiving the Holy Eucharist at the Catholic Church? I don’t say this to be “smart,” but to underline the fact that the emphasis in Catholicism is not eloquent preaching, but the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sure and error free teaching of the Church.

Class warfare? Maybe, But if I say that the Catholic Church is the one true church established by Christ, I am not engaged in class warfare, I am engaged in truth telling. If I say it with an attitude, I am engaging in class warfare. The only reason I want non-Catholics to become Catholics is so they will have all the benefits that Christ wants them to have, which I think also means a better chance of safely reaching their final destination.

 

[DaveBj]

Many Protestant preachers are very good. Maybe there are more good Protestant preachers than there are Catholic preachers, although there have been some great Catholic preachers. But are you more fulfilled listening to a Protestant preacher, or receiving the Holy Eucharist at the Catholic Church? I don’t say this to be “smart,” but to underline the fact that the emphasis in Catholicism is not eloquent preaching, but the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sure and error free teaching of the Church.

Class warfare? Maybe, But if I say that the Catholic Church is the one true church established by Christ, I am not engaged in class warfare, I am engaged in truth telling. If I say it with an attitude, I am engaging in class warfare. The only reason I want non-Catholics to become Catholics is so they will have all the benefits that Christ wants them to have, which I think also means a better chance of safely reaching their final destination.

I agree with the bolded, in theory, but why not strive to have the sure and error-free teaching of the Church expressed eloquently?

 

[Cordelil]

Catholic or Christian? Alan Schreck entitled a book addressing this: “Catholic And Christian” subtitle “An Explanation Of Commonly Misunderstood Catholic Beliefs.”

It’s an excellent apologetics primer - copyright 1984.

 

[BernadetteM]

What bothers me most, is that many Catholics say when in conversation regarding being a Christian, that they are Catholic, in a way which implies they are Catholic not Christian.

I don’t understand this, except that they themselves feel that the there is a difference. Maybe they have been in some way convinced by Protestants that they are not Christians or are just ignorant of the fact that for 1500 hundred years the only Christians, except for the Orthodox were Christians.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette

 

[JonNC]

St. Louis De Montfort wrote:

Do not think that, wanting to be more triumphant, he rejected the cross after his death. Far from it; he united himself so closely to it that neither angel nor man, nor any creature in heaven or on earth, could separate him from it. The bond between them is indissoluble, their union is eternal. Never the Cross without Jesus, or Jesus without the Cross.

Love of Eternal Wisdom, (172)

Hi James
As someone who is Lutheran, and adheres to a theology of the cross, I cannot but agree with the quote. The crucufix is by far the better! However, I would not characterize an empty cross as an elongated plus sign, which is what I was responding to.

Jon

 

[Doxiemom]

St. Louis De Montfort wrote:

Do not think that, wanting to be more triumphant, he rejected the cross after his death. Far from it; he united himself so closely to it that neither angel nor man, nor any creature in heaven or on earth, could separate him from it. The bond between them is indissoluble, their union is eternal. Never the Cross without Jesus, or Jesus without the Cross.

Love of Eternal Wisdom, (172)

We should not go around poking fun at crosses, empty or not.It seems, well, a tad sinful . Not intentional I am sure.

 

[JamesCaruso]

I agree with the bolded, in theory, but why not strive to have the sure and error-free teaching of the Church expressed eloquently?

The Church does strive to communicate the Good News as best it can, but not all its priests are up to the task, some less gifted then others in speech. St. Paul, if you recall, preached so long once that a man listening fell asleep and fell out the window to his death.

9And a certain young man named Eutychus, sitting on the window, being oppressed with a deep sleep, (as Paul was long preaching,) by occasion of his sleep fell from the third loft down, and was taken up dead. 10To whom, when Paul had gone down, he laid himself upon him, and embracing him, said: Be not troubled, for his soul is in him. 11Then going up, and breaking bread and tasting, and having talked a long time to them, until daylight, so he departed. 12And they brought the youth alive, and were not a little comforted. Acts 20

It is a happy coincidence when all things come together in perfection, the reverent celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in which bread and wine are consecrated and changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, the beautiful and uplifting polyphony of the choir, and the stirring and eloquent preaching of the priest. Bu we’re not in heaven yet, and these happy coincidences do not occur as frequently as we would like them to. I’ll take the celebration of the Mass over the other two if forced to choose, and it may not even be done as reverently as I would like, but as long as it is authentic, I will choose it hands down over the rest.

Like you, I want to be spiritually fed by good preaching, and when you have the pleasure of hearing a preacher filled and moved by the Holy Spirit, it’s a wondrous experience. I would not be opposed to attending Mass, and then traveling across town to listen to a non-Catholic preacher. But I would also be careful not to fall too much under the sway of one who is not Catholic, for their doctrine in certain matters is in error. Catholics and Protestants are on the same team, but doctrinal differences do make a big difference and can have grave consequences. It’s probably good advice to have a spiritual director in these matters if you have any doubts at all. But again, I used to be a fan of Billy Graham and loved to hear him preach-- I just didn’t listen to him with the same confidence as I would, say, Bishop Sheen.

 

[Bill_Martin]

“Are you Catholic or Christian?”

“Yes.”

 

[cheezey]

Hi James
As someone who is Lutheran, and adheres to a theology of the cross, I cannot but agree with the quote. The crucufix is by far the better! However, I would not characterize an empty cross as an elongated plus sign, which is what I was responding to.

Jon

 

[Cheyenne04]

Sometimes when the Priest, in his homily, calls us Christians, I wish to be called a Catholic because to just be a Christian seems like I’m second best. HOWEVER, maybe Father wants to call us Christian for folks to realize that many religions are good and believe in Jesus Christ.

 

[Ascesis]

To All:
As I remember it the source-pool concerning one's identity as Catholic or Christian overflowed somewhere out on the childhood streets of bygone endless play. I think we finally came to the agreement, back in the 1950s, that if you really wanted to be polite you would capitulate and call your Protestant Brethren Christians retaining the claim of being Roman Catholic for those possessed of the pure faith. This may, too, have grown out of trying to pacify those Protestants who were members of one's family. In any case there was always the sure feeling that being Roman Catholic mattered, while being Christian was merely a form of complication-- like having complications after surgery or something.

 

[Nikicosier]

Hum… it’s interesting that you seem to do the same but in reverse… catholics are christian and then there is everyone else…

I think that there are Christians in both denominations. I’ve met genuine christians on both sides. I’ve also met many people professing faith that don’t seem genuine… they seem more cultural or social in their religion. Either way… it’s not for me to declare someone Christian or not-Christian unless they assert this for themselves.

We don’t get to be the judge!

This is quick issue I wanted to raise:

Forgive me for perhaps being OCD about this , but it seems to be rather common for people to distinguish Catholic from Christian, especially when one says their Christian as if Catholics are not . Forgive me for being blunt, but I think this is something we have to emphasize in conversation and conversion, so that it’s clear that Catholics are Christians and that other Christian faiths are Protestant or something else. Please clarify otherwise, and thanks for your comments.

 

[Nikicosier]

Sometimes when the Priest, in his homily, calls us Christians, I wish to be called a Catholic because to just be a Christian seems like I’m second best. HOWEVER, maybe Father wants to call us Christian for folks to realize that many religions are good and believe in Jesus Christ.

Interesting… i feel the exact opposite! To be called ‘catholic’ would be like watering down that i’m a follower of Christ, not the Pope or Church. Not that there is anything second rate in being called catholic either…

 

[JamesCaruso]

Interesting… i feel the exact opposite! To be called ‘catholic’ would be like watering down that i’m a follower of Christ, not the Pope or Church. Not that there is anything second rate in being called catholic either…

Ha! And I feel the exact opposite of you. Both the term Christian and the term Catholic can be used to mean those who claim membership in a group, although they don’t really have any depth of faith, what we call “nominal,” or in name only. Wasn’t it Gandhi who said something to the effect that I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Anyway, when Catholic is used in the sense of one who is more than nominal in the practice of his faith, I feel like I an in an exclusive club that alone has the possibility of following Christ in the total fullness of what He envisioned discipleship to be. That is not to say that some Presbyterian layperson could not in fact be the closest disciple of Christ on earth, for it’s not the access to perfect truth and authentic sacraments and sacramentals that makes the greatest saint, but the conversion of the heart. Likewise, it was from the Jews that salvation came, but sadly most of them rejected it.

 

[Almagore]

I feel if I say I’m Catholic, that it should be a given that I’m known as a Christian so no need to be redundant. Would we ask a Protestant if they were Christian? I believe they might feel insulted.

I am 69 y/o and was a Protestant until I was 27 y/o and still have some Protestant friends, (Including my brother. There are some Protestants who do not consider us Catholics Christians but they are in error and I believe that part of it is that there is still an amazing amount of hostility towards Catholcism since the Protestants left the Church. Evangelical Protestants claim that to be a Christian one must believe in Salvation by Belief alone. That If the person believes that Jesus is the Savior that that person will automatically go to Heaven no matter what they do the rest of their life.

Of course we Catholics and some Protestants have read the Book of James in the New Testament where he answers this question. The Apostle James states clearly the whole question of faith versus works and declares that Faith without works is dead. Of course Martin Luther wanted the Book of James removed from the Bible but he was outvoted by the other Protestant leaders.

In addition, Church history states that the followers of Jesus first called themselves, “The Way”. This is in the book of Acts. About the year 80, 90, or 100, the followers of Jesus started calling themselves Christians. By the 300’s St. Paul had started many individual churches and so everyone would be clear that even though there wre many Christian Churches that there is really only one Church, the Christians began calling themselves Catholic (Universal) Christians) so that everyone would be clear that there is only one Church. I hope what I have written has been helpful. What I wish is that Us Catholic Christians would stop calling Protestants Christians and us Catholics. God bless you all. Amen.

 

[khuldar]

I’d some time like to remember to say, “You know about Christians using that fish symbol? Catholics are like king salmon.”

That get’s an O for Owesome

 

[PeaceInChrist]

Interesting… i feel the exact opposite! To be called ‘catholic’ would be like watering down that i’m a follower of Christ, not the Pope or Church. Not that there is anything second rate in being called catholic either…

I know, right? Thank God non-Catholic Christians don’t have any classifications or names used to describe their ideologies. It would simply cheapen the entire faith.

 

[PeaceInChrist]

Hum… it’s interesting that you seem to do the same but in reverse… catholics are christian and then there is everyone else…

I think that there are Christians in both denominations. I’ve met genuine christians on both sides. I’ve also met many people professing faith that don’t seem genuine… they seem more cultural or social in their religion. Either way… it’s not for me to declare someone Christian or not-Christian unless they assert this for themselves.

We don’t get to be the judge!

What he says is true. Non-Catholic Christians, at least many of them, tend to classify Catholics as separate from Christianity, and then group ALL Protestant sects together. We DO need to remind these people that Catholics are Christians, and that all Christians fall into some kind of classification, whether it be Anglican, Lutheran, Baptist, Presbyterian, or the ever noncommittal Non-Denomination (which contains about infinity-billion different random mixes of every heresy or belief ever constructed, ranging from weird mixtures of old Protestant and ancient heretical doctrine to New Age Buddhist Christianity).

 

[mangy_dog]

This is quick issue I wanted to raise:

Forgive me for perhaps being OCD about this , but it seems to be rather common for people to distinguish Catholic from Christian, especially when one says their Christian as if Catholics are not . Forgive me for being blunt, but I think this is something we have to emphasize in conversation and conversion, so that it’s clear that Catholics are Christians and that other Christian faiths are Protestant or something else. Please clarify otherwise, and thanks for your comments.

I am Catholic,

Catholics are the original Christians. All true Christians, that believe in the Divinity of Christ, came from the Catholic Church and became protestants on other issues.

 

[Raptureme]

The question is this: Do you find salvation in Christ or a church?