What Is Unique About Catholicism?

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AngryAtheist8 said:
In my own not so humble opinion, what is unique about Catholicism is its age and the (related) fact that the Catholic Church is the last surviving institution of the Roman Empire.

A lot of Christian denominations have had imperial pretensions in the past (such as the Church of England/Anglican Church), including the Catholic Church. But due its connection to the old empire, Catholicism probably has the most right to put on such airs.
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Your question is directed to non-Catholics asking their opinion about Catholicism. Perhaps you do not want to know what it actually is but what them (non-Catholics) think it is. I just feel that this thread will get nowhere if that’s really its intention.

Nevertheless, by the many responses from Catholics so far, it may be obvious that they (Catholics) do not want you to get the wrong information about Catholicism from non-Catholics.

I just want to chip in to this question because non-Catholics will unlikely give you this answer (below).

The Catholic Church is unique in that first and foremost it is not a denomination. It is the Church that can trace its origin all the way to the apostles with Apostle Peter its first Pope. And that line of succession is not interrupted till today. No other Christian denomination can claim this attribute. This perhaps is the uniqueness of Catholicism, if this is what you really want to know.
 
pablope said:
Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)uts, jon. Your posts have certainly been an refreshing, as I had lumped all protestants before as:blush: CC haters. Now I know better. I was just wondering, if you do not mind me asking. what have kept you from coming across the Tiber? Marian belief one of them? Have you ever tried the rosary? (you do not need to answer if you do not feel like it and will take no offense):o
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Thanks for your kind words. I’ll PM you, so as not to sidetrack the thread.
Jon
 
pablope said:
Honestly, I had not encountered this before. Can you provide a link to where to read this.
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The original Catholic dioceses mirrored the local territories of the Roman Empire, because after Christianity became the official religion of the Empire the State and the (Christian) Church were essentially the same.

Even after the Empire collapsed the dioceses continued to function, preserving the Church and something of the old order.

I first heard about the imperial origins of dioceses on Catholic radio, but here is a passage from a Catholic encyclopedia that also supports the idea.

newadvent.org/cathen/05001a.htm
 
Robert_in_SD said:
Let’s not confuse the doctrine with what non-catholics may claim to be so. Mary is a human being, not a divine being. In stark contrast, “heavenly mother” is what LDS Church members sometimes refer to as the divine spouse of their Father God. Catholics hold to no such belief. Mary’s titles e.g. “Mother of God” confirm what Catholics believe about Jesus Christ’s divinity. It is not a proclamation of Mary’s divinity as some critics of the Catholic Church may contend. Mary’s various titles are often misunderstood and/or intentionally misconstrued by non-Catholics to suggest Marian worship when in fact Mary is highly honored as the Mother of Jesus Christ, but adoration of her has never been condoned by the Church. She is a creature like all of us, but we believe she is one that was given some very special graces by God, because it He demmed it befit her role as the Mother of Jesus.

I’m not sure what you mean by “structure.” If you are referring to its administrative structure, then I think you are somewhat mistaken. If you are referring to the structure of the ministerial priesthood, then the roots run deeper than the Holy Roman Empire - back to a more Apostolic nature. Then again, I suppose I should ask you to clarify which “old empire” you are referring to. If you are referring to pagan Rome, then I think you are in error. Christianity stood in stark contrast to that pagan culture with it’s religious tradition of emperor worship and polytheism - it was one of the primary reasons for christian persecution during the early period of the Church.

Perhaps I should back up and ask you to clarify your comment, and provide some source material for your assertions.

Peace,
Robert
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I wasn’t mentioning the Virgin Mary at all.
 
In my opinion, it is the structure and organisation of the Catholic Church itself, and the rights and privileges of power which this institution holds.

The Catholic Church can, amongst many other things:


  1. *]Make ‘official’ statements and decrees as to what is or is not the will of God for his worshipers.

    *]Define what constitutes true belief about the universe, God, and man, and what is false belief.

    *]Create the rituals which all worshipers of God must involve themselves in, as well as be the vehicle through which such ritual derives its power from God.

    *]Describe what scripture is, what it is not, and how it should be interpreted.

    *]Codify laws of ethics and morality, and act as a judge before which the members of the Church are to be accountable.

    *]In short, to be the only means and way through which a person might be saved by Christ, as a general rule.

    These sorts of things make Catholicism unique, not only amongst all of the vastness that constitutes Christian sects, but in the history of world religion in general. Anyone who does not submit to the power of the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church, is more than likely to be lost to the fires of eternal hell; and anyone who does not describe the views of that institution as such, has been, in my view, willfully ignorant of the plain and clear facts.
 
AngryAtheist8 said:
The original Catholic dioceses mirrored the local territories of the Roman Empire, because after Christianity became the official religion of the Empire the State and the (Christian) Church were essentially the same.

Even after the Empire collapsed the dioceses continued to function, preserving the Church and something of the old order.

I first heard about the imperial origins of dioceses on Catholic radio, but here is a passage from a Catholic encyclopedia that also supports the idea.

newadvent.org/cathen/05001a.htm
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The diocese is headed by a Bishop. It is a delineated territory that signified the area of pastoral responsibility for each Bishop. As the faith expanded obviously more systematic governance was needed. So what are you getting at?
 
It is pretty easy to tell th RCC from others nowadays. But it wasn’t always so. It was, after all, for a while, a Jewish sect. The idea that non Jews could be saved as well was popularized by Paul. And the early Church fathers had a job of it distinguishing the Church from some other sects. And it took a lot of doing, with a big political assist, to get the Church rolling along into history. It was its status as a state religion and the political force that allowed that got it spread so fast. I don’t thing anyone of faith has to believe tht, but it is interesting to read the Church Fathers on this matter, even St. Augustine. That’s why a lot of the originals got excommunicated downt the line, why libraries were burned, and why there were pogrums similar to the inquisition back at the begining. Just look it up. Fascinating stuff. Doesn’t make anyone’s belief “wrong,” it is just interesting.
 
AngryAtheist8 said:
What is unique about Catholicism?

What separates it from the other Christian denominations?
What makes it special?

I am particularly interested in what my fellow non-Catholics have to say about this. Its always interesting to hear an outsider’s perspective.
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Catholicism is not Christianity because christians believe only in Jesus Christ as our saviour and the only one that deserve our worship while Catholics worship a lot people. Christians believe in salvation through christ while catholics believe in salvation through church. christ is the head of the church in Christianity while peter is the head of the church in Catholicism. christians believe in being saved by grace alone while Catholics believe in being saved by works and a little grace or no grace. Christians believe that bible is the infallible word of God while Catholics believe that the magisterium is infallible. christians believe in respecting the authority and separating their affairs from the authority while catholics believe in controlling the states. Christians believe in only heaven and hell while Catholics believe in purgatory. Catholics believe in converting people to the church alone while christians believe in converting people to christ. catholics in baptising a baby while Christians believe in baptizing those who’'ve accepted Christ. Catholics believe that mass can save those who’ve died, while Christians don’t. there’s nothing christian about catholicism
 
pablope said:
I am not very sure about his one. Maybe a historian can shed more light in this one.

And not to forget too…the Catholic Church is the only church with a Heavenly Mother.
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Not according to wiki, you may be pointing to s specific Heavenly Mother but they have an entire page to say its not specific to the Catholic church even among Christians:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavenly_Mother

Watching an episode of *Blue Bloods *made me think of a question. While addressing Priest as “father is not unique does any other Christian organization address its senior leadership as “His Excellency”, His Eminence” or “His Holiness”?
 
4Squarebaby said:
Not according to wiki, you may be pointing to s specific Heavenly Mother but they have an entire page to say its not specific to the Catholic church even among Christians:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavenly_Mother

Watching an episode of *Blue Bloods *made me think of a question. While addressing Priest as “father is not unique does any other Christian organization address its senior leadership as “His Excellency”, His Eminence” or “His Holiness”?
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I was referring to the Virgin Mary.
 
AngryAtheist8 said:
I wasn’t mentioning the Virgin Mary at all.
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My apologies if I misunderstood. In your earlier response to Pablope’s comments, which included Pablope’s statement that the Catholic Church is the only one with with a Heavenly Mother, you stated that the Church admits, even boast, of it.

If you were commenting on some other aspect of Pablope’s comments, that wasn’t clear to me. So, I was attempting to avoid the mistaken false assumptions that on many occasions accompany a non-Catholic’s mis-understanding of the Catholic faith with respect to the Virgin Mary.

Back to the OP - Unique about Catholicism is the claim that the Catholic Church is the one true Church founded by Christ and continuously in existence from that time to this; The Catholic Church identifies four marks of the true Church; that it is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. These are identifying marks that we believe no other ecclesial community can support although some - like the Orthodox - come very very close. Other christian and even non-christian communities may hold some amount of the true in their doctrines and/or moral teaching. But only the Catholic Church lays claim to the fact that it is the one true, consistently perservering church against whom the gates of Hell will never prevail.

Peace,
Robert

Peace,
Robert
 
The only consistant belief system on the Planet. All the best people I have ever met have been Catholic or Orthodox. The blessed virgin is our mother. God is our father. Christ is our brother. Nobody else can say this.
 
Hi Agent Grey: Your post is interesting and caught my eye. I am very interested in Christian perspectives and trying to learn more about Christianity in general. If you would, can you elaborate on some these statements from your post?
agent_grey said:
The only consistant belief system on the Planet.
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-Can you tell me some things about these inconsistencies in other religions? For instance, in what ways has Judaism been inconsistent, or Buddhism or Hinduism or Jainism? What is meant by inconsistent, and if you would, what are some examples of inconsistencies in these other religions that I’ve mentioned?
agent_grey said:
All the best people I have ever met have been Catholic or Orthodox.
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Is that consistent with Church teaching that some people are better and some are lesser?
Could you describe what best is in the context of this statement?
agent_grey said:
The blessed virgin is our mother.

God is our father.

Christ is our brother.

Nobody else can say this.
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I think I understand you on this part, but I want to be sure. God is not the Father of the rest of us, and did not create the rest of us? Mary is not our Mother and Jesus is not the Lord of say a Baptist? I am getting a rather provincial vision of God from this, but perhaps you can get me straight.

Thanks for your patience and time in answering my questions.

Your friend
Sufjon
 
AngryAtheist8 said:
What is unique about Catholicism?

Jesus founded the Catholic Church, through Peter. (no other church can claim this.)

What separates it from the other Christian denominations?

We don’t rely on “solo scripture”, we understand that Tradition and Scripture were handed down / taught by “oral” teaching before the Bible was put together. Many people today forget how Jesus taught, because they rely on the Bible “only”. Yet, even John says not everything was put in the Bible.

What makes it special?

Again it’s the Church that Jesus founded and the only one that has stood the test of time. All other Churchs came After the Catholic Church. Jesus also gave the Keys to heaven to Peter. Peter was the first Pope. The Catholic Church is the Only Church that can trace it’s “Roots” back to Jesus.

I am particularly interested in what my fellow non-Catholics have to say about this. Its always interesting to hear an outsider’s perspective.
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Although I very much respect your wanting to know what other non-Catholics have to say about the Catholic Church, truely if you want to know the Truths about the Catholic Church wouldn’t Catholics be the one to ask?
 
Hmmm, what is distinct about the Catholic Church?

It has had a big impact on western civilization. Some aspects of this impact have been good, some not so good.

It has some nifty rituals, although the idea of transubstantiation still gives me pause.

It is consistent. I see many churches changing their names to be more appealing to the masses, especially the local Baptist churches. I can’t imagine a Catholic church doing this.

A gordian knot would be easier to unravel than trying to understand the tangle of rules and instructions found in the Catholic catechism and other doctrinal tomes.

As Christian denominations go, it is one of the most interesting and has such a lot of history.

Seeker
 
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