Catholic, or Roman Catholic?

Question

Okay kids: Time to clean up another mess you've been making.

The Catholic Church is NOT called the "Roman Catholic Church". The "Roman", or "Latin" (western) rite of the Church is just one of many. The rites that make up the Catholic Church include:
Roman, Armenian, Maronite, Byzantine, Chaldean, and others.
The Catholic Church is a communion of churches, with two common threads: Doctrine (teaching), and being in communion with Peter's succesor, the Bishop of Rome (pope).

Americans have little experience with any other rite other than the Roman rite, so they usually commit the error of calling the Church the "Roman Catholic Church." We simply call it the Catholic Church, or "The Church".
When we recite the creed, we say we believe in "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church", NOT "one, holy, ROMAN catholic, and apostolic Church."

Read more at: http://www.catholic.com/library/Pillar.asp

Comments? Thought? Hate mail? I love it all.
God bless everyone

Answer 1

That is right. there are 23 Rites in communion with the Vatican. Additionally, there are three groups who are currently in discussion for full communion including the Polish National Catholic Church, Oriental Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church. The Polish National Catholic Church and the Oriental Catholic Churches have valid succession and the members of these Churches are allowed to receive communion in the Churches of the Vatican see. The Lutheran Church will have to ordain their clergy in apostolic succession if communion is granted.

There is also ongoing discussion with the Orthodox about communion and they also have valid apostolic succession.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

cmhelp1,

That is just utter nonsense. Do some study at other than Catholic hate websites and you will see that these are lies that you are taught.

Answer 2

Well, that's kind of like the "Calvinist" versus "Hyper-Calvinist" deal. People have made a semantic adaptation that helps them communicate a complex concept in a single symbol. Sure, technically, [C]atholicism is broader than the Latin Rite, although you must confess that the Latin Rite is the one most familiar to modern Western societies. Why is that? Could it be the absolute crushing dominance of the Italian Home Office with respect to the lesser traditions? Might you cut a little slack for those of us taking the 50,000 foot view of the matter? If tomorrow, the adjectival use of "Roman" to delineate [C]atholicism's core nucleus of doctrine were simply stopped, it would take no time at all for a new adjective to replace it, as the linguistic need for such a device is real and inescapable. I think something like "Papal Catholicism" might be an adequate replacement. In any event, history has created the identity you seek to rehabilitate by remarketing under a more neutral brand name, and natural language will fill any vacuum left behind by artificial word games used to suppress the negative associations of the Roman label.

Answer 3

I am a Roman Catholic. We often do not refer to ourselves as such. We mostly just call ourselves Catholic. But we are the only Catholic Church which follows the leadership of the Pope and can trace it's roots to the Apostle Peter. The Anglican Church (also Catholic) split from the church years ago. They too claim Apostolic succession but truly can't because they have not stayed under the authority of the Church. The Anglican Church does not have the Pope as it's head, but apparently there are on going discussions to bring them back in. We can pray for that. But ultimately, what you've been told here is correct. The Roman Catholic Church is the only one which officially considers Pope Benedict XVI to be the Vicar of Christ and the leader of our Church. Either you've never heard the term used or you are a Catholic, surrounded by Catholics, who believe that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ and holds the authority given to Peter by Christ. I'm sure there are some of those out there.

Answer 4

To be a bit more specific. there are over 20 different Catholic Churches that make up the worldwide Catholic Church.

In addition to the Latin Rite (Roman) Catholic Church, the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches are in full communion with the Pope, and are part of the same worldwide Catholic Church.

Eastern Rite Catholic Churches include:

Alexandrian liturgical tradition
+ Coptic Catholic Church
+ Ethiopic Catholic Church

Antiochian (Antiochene or West-Syrian) liturgical tradition
+ Maronite Church
+ Syrian Catholic Church
+ Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

Armenian liturgical tradition:
+ Armenian Catholic Church

Chaldean or East Syrian liturgical tradition:
+ Chaldean Catholic Church
+ Syro-Malabar Church

Byzantine (Constantinopolitan) liturgical tradition:
+ Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church
+ Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
+ Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church
+ Byzantine Church of the Eparchy of Križevci
+ Greek Byzantine Catholic Church
+ Hungarian Greek Catholic Church
+ Italo-Albanian Catholic Church
+ Macedonian Greek Catholic Church
+ Melkite Greek Catholic Church
+ Romanian Church
+ Russian Byzantine Catholic Church
+ Ruthenian Catholic Church
+ Slovak Greek Catholic Church
+ Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13121a.htm

With love in Christ.

Answer 5

I appreciate you're wanting to clarify.

The reason that many make the distinction between "catholic" (which means "universal") and "Roman Catholic" is because they believe themselves to be part of the "catholic" faith which adheres to the Three Ecumenical Creeds (http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=582), but at the same time, not part of the Roman Catholic Church.

Authentic Lutherans, like Roman Catholics adhere to the Three Ecumenical Creeds, & in general to the real presence of Christ in Communion, but I think that you would agree the two bodies don't agree on many other important articles of faith. Therefore Lutherans are part of the "catholic" faith, but certainly not part of the "Roman Catholic" faith.

Your question reminds me of the question, "Lutheran or Christian?" Well, all Lutherans are Christian (as far as we know without being able to judge the heart), but not all Christians are Lutherans. Likewise, all Roman Catholics are "catholic", while not all "catholics" are Roman Catholic. The term Lutheran is used to describe a person with a specific set of beliefs that are different from other denominations. Likewise, the term Roman Catholic merely serves to distinguish the Roman Catholic from the catholic in general.

Does this help you to see the bigger picture?

Answer 6

"Roman Catholic" can also mean "Catholics in communion with the See of Rome". This is how the term is used in ecumenism; in its ecumenical affairs, the Vatican identifies itself as "Roman Catholic". For example, the "Lutheran - Roman Catholic Dialogue" is co-sponsored by the RCC, as is the "International Anglican - Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission".

The reason we don't say "one, holy, Roman Catholic" in the Creed is because we are then talking about the whole universal ("catholic") church and not just those in communion with the see of Rome.

I use "Roman Catholic" so as to distinguish from Old Catholics, Anglo-Catholics, and Orthodox Christians.

Answer 7

Wow, say the word "Catholic" and everyone freaks right out don't they?

Anyways, I sure it doesn't help that on any kind of official paper work in the US (college, army, what have you) when you state your religion the only option is Roman Catholic when it comes to Catholicism. We learned about the different forms of Catholicism in catechism but I'm sure it's an easy mistake for many people to make. Thanks for bringing it up though and hopefully people can learn from this post.

Answer 8

I think there is an ignorance of the word "Roman" in form of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.

In their ignorance, some feel it has something to do with the Romans that prosecuted Jesus.

The word commonly refers to the members, beliefs, and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, including all those sui juris particular Churches that are in full communion with the Pope (Bishop of Rome), namely the Latin Rite and twenty-two Eastern Catholic Churches. The latter include the Ukrainian, Greek, Greek Melkite, Maronite, Ruthenian Byzantine, Coptic Catholic, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, Chaldean, and Ethiopic Rites.
The Eastern Orthodox Church also identifies itself as Catholic, as in the title of The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church.

The pope reigns as patriarch, as well as by his supreme position as visible head of the whole Church with the exception of very small remnants of other uses (Milan, Toledo, and the Byzantines of Southern Italy), his Roman Rite is used throughout according to the general principle that rite follows the patriarchate, that local bishops use the rite of their patriarch. The medieval Western uses (Paris, Sarum and so on), of which people at one time made much for controversial purposes, were in no sense really independent rites, as are the remnants of the Gallican use at Milan and Toledo. These were only the Roman Rite with very slight local modifications. From this conception we see that the practical disappearance of the Gallican Rite, however much the archeologist may regret it, is justified by the general principle that rite should follow patriarchate. Uniformity of rite throughout Christendom has never been an ideal among Catholics; but uniformity in each patriarchate is. We see also that the suggestion, occasionally made by advanced Anglicans, of a "Uniate" Anglican Church with its own rite and to some extent its own laws (for instance with a married clergy) is utterly opposed to antiquity and to consistent canon law. England is most certainly part of the Latin patriarchate. When Anglicans return to the old Faith they find themselves subject to the pope, not only as head of the Church but also as patriarch. As part of the Latin Church England must submit to Latin canon law and the Roman Rite just as much as France or Germany. The comparison with Eastern Rite Catholics rests on a misconception of the whole situation. It follows also that the expression Latin (or even Roman) Catholic is quite justifiable, inasmuch as we express by it that we are not only Catholics but also members of the Latin or Roman patriarchate. A Eastern Rite Catholic on the other hand is a Byzantine, or Armenian, or Maronite Catholic. But a person who is in schism with the Holy See is not, of course, admitted by Catholics to be any kind of Catholic at all.

Answer 9

You have a point. However, when asked, I'll identify myself as a Roman Catholic, because people easily understand what that is, and it's a very commonly used term. It lets people know, in an easy and concise way, where I go to church on Sunday. It also beats standing there and haggling over definitions when all someone's usually wanting to know is which specific denomination I belong to.

Answer 10

Thanks Catholic Crusader!

Being a convert, I continue to learn new things about the Church. I appreciate any and all information.

Keep the posts coming.