Catholics are Christians?

Question

Pardon my ignorance here. I understand that Catholics follow the same religious text and the same God as Christians. But I know very few Catholics who refer to themselves as Christians.

Am I missing something here? Do Catholics not like being referred to as Christian? Does everyone else consider them Christian?

darylicked: you don't. It's called "don't click on the question and type in an answer."

I'm really quite serious. For the longest time, I considered Catholics Christian. And then I met a few Catholics, and I called them Christian, and they took offense. So, I quit calling Catholics Christian. And now, I have people telling me that Catholics are Christian!

I'm so friggin' confused.

Rachel QVT: I love you; however, I wouldn't pick Wikipedia as a reliable source. :(

Answer 1

Catholics are Christians. The Christian church branched off in 1517 into Catholics and Protestants.

Christian is the all-encompassing term. In the beginning of Christianity there was just one church. The first big break was when it branched off between the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholics (the Great Schism of the 11th century), then the Protestant Reformation. After that the Protestants kept breaking down into denominations.

Although all the groups differ greatly in doctrine and practice, they are all under the title of "Christian," and share the same history.

Answer 2

I am a former Catholic. I have never heard of a Catholic not wanting to be identified as a Christian. It is usually the other way around, other Christians saying they are not Christians, and the Catholics having to defend themselves and say, "yes we are."

To the answerer below, yes Catholics can be considered part of the Christian faith, but they were not the first Christians. The Roman Catholic church was simply the first organized church of Christianity, but they were not the first Christians.
The first Christians did not have the luxury (if you could call it a luxury) of a huge organization on this Earth like the Catholics.

Turn on your e-mail or IM, so I can talk to you directly, not like this.

Answer 3

First off define Catholic. Are we talking about Roman Catholic or other types of who consider themselves as "catholic" meaning "universal?" There are Anglicans and many others who consider themselves "catholic" they just don't recognize the Pope as the Head of the Church, nor do they believe he is infallible.

The first "organized" Christians were historically and traditionally members of the Roman Catholic Church. That is until the various schisms dividing them into Western/Eastern Rites..i.e. Orthodox Christians (starting approx. 11th Century) and later dividing into the various Protestant Christians (starting around the 16th Century and still going on up to the present day). However, nowadays the Roman Catholic Church officially refers to these churches as "separated brethern."

There are some who don't feel Catholics are Christians at all. Some of the more fundamentalist Protestant churches don't. Nor do Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons.

Some Catholics don't care for the use of the word "Christian" in the fundamentalist sense of the word. Some use the term "Catholic Christian"

Answer 4

I haven't run into Catholics being insulted at being called Christians, but I have seen other denominations of Christians claim that Catholics aren't Christians.

I don't think it is a matter of being "insulted", but I think since there are so many different denominations of Christianity, that Catholics like to specify which denomination.

To me it is not much different from people who prefer to say "I am from Arizona (or Delaware, or whatever state) " instead of "I am from America". Saying "I am from a specific state" is not the same as saying "I am not an American", it is just being more specific.

Answer 5

Some Catholics are Christians, but not all.

I could say the same thing about Baptists. Some Baptists are Christians, but not all. I could say the thing about every other denomination as well.

George Barna has done surveys which have determined that in the USA about 25% of Roman Catholics are really born again Christians vs. about 75% or more of the people who attend the types of churches which claim they are 100% based on the Bible.

And if you ask those who were raised Catholic they will tell you that they were not raised to believe the Bible is there only authoritative rule for faith and practice.

Non Catholics are raised that the Bible is the only authortative book which was given to us by God.

The Roman Catholic Church does not claim to be based 100% on the Bible. I know this since I've read the Roman Catholic source documents myself.

I've read the Documents of Vatican II and I've read the Catholic Catechism. I've read them both, cover to cover.

Please look carefully at the link listed at the end of this note.

God Bless You.

Pastor Art

Answer 6

They are Christians but will almost always refer to themselves as Catholic first . I got the feeling , from a few relatives of mine , that it's more important to be Catholic than Christian . Where my other relatives refer to themselves as Christian first and the denomination secondly or some not at all .

Answer 7

What you may have run into are protestant Christians (which are non-Catholic, non-Orthodox Christians) who like to say that Catholics are *not* Christian. Many of the protestant denominations disagree with some of our theology, so *they* have decided that the Catholic Church is not and never has been Christian. It doesn't seem to matter to them what Catholics have to say about it.

All Catholics are Christian; we have been for nearly 2000 years. I have never met a Catholic who dislikes being called a Christian. For us, "Catholic" and "Christian" are synonomous, which may be why most Catholics refer to themselves as "Catholic" rather than "Christian." If you were to ask me what my religion is, for example, the first answer out of my mouth would most likely be "Catholic" - the Christian aspect is implied.

Answer 8

I come out of a large Catholic family - and I do mean large, if you get exponential.

Every single one of them believes themselves to be Christians.

Others, however, do not- mainly because of the saints issue.

But bottom line, they consider Jesus the savior- and that's the basis of all Christianity.

They don't consider themselves superior - at least not the ones I've met and known. However, they do consider themselves members of the first church in Christianity, which historically is correct.

Answer 9

If Catholics are not Christians, then nobody is Christian. All those going to Christian churches are Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, and others.
They all have a denomination name, in addition to Christian. It's very strange that you have never heard Cathioics refering to themselves as Christians, while in my very long life I have never found that to be so.

Answer 10

We Catholics are Christians, just as Protestants are Christians and Mormons are Christians and Methodists are Christians.

But Catholics, including myself, are a bit snobby about being referred to as Catholic rather than Christian because the Roman Catholic Church was the Original Church in the West and came first...all the others date to after the Reformation.