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Catholicity (fromAncient Greek:καθολικός,romanized: katholikós,lit. 'general', 'universal', viaLatin:catholicus)[1] is a concept pertaining to beliefs and practices that are widely accepted by numerousChristian denominations, most notably by those Christian denominations that describe themselves ascatholic in accordance with theFour Marks of the Church, as expressed in theNicene Creed formulated at theFirst Council of Constantinople in 381: "[I believe] in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church." The English adjectivecatholic is derived from theAncient Greek adjectiveκαθολικός (romanized:katholikos), meaning "general", "universal".[2][3] Thus, "catholic" means that in the Church the wholeness of the Christian faith, full and complete, all-embracing, and with nothing lacking, is proclaimed to all people without excluding any part of the faith or any class or group of people.[4][5][6] An early definition for what is "catholic" was summarized in what is known as the Vincentian Canon in the 5th centuryCommonitory: "what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all."[7][8]
This is distinct from the capitalized wordCatholic, referring specifically to theCatholic Church and often, further, theRoman Catholic Church, used especially in ecumenical contexts and in countries where other churches use the termcatholic, to distinguish it from broader meanings of the term.[9][10] Though the community led by thepope inRome is known as the Catholic Church, the traits of catholicity, and thus the termcatholic, are also ascribed to denominations such as theEastern Orthodox Church, theOriental Orthodox Church, and theAssyrian Church of the East.[citation needed] It also occurs in the language of churches that decisively split from the Roman Catholic Church, likeLutheranism andAnglicanism, as well asIndependent Catholicism,Old Catholicism and other Christian denominations. While traits used to define catholicity, as well as recognition of these traits in other denominations, vary among these groups, such attributes include formalsacraments, anepiscopal polity,apostolic succession, highly structuredliturgical worship, and other sharedEcclesiology.[citation needed]
AmongProtestant and related traditions,catholic is used in the sense of indicating a self-understanding of the universality of the confession and continuity of faith and practice fromEarly Christianity, encompassing the "whole company of God's redeemed people".[11] Specifically amongMoravian,[12]Lutheran,[13]Anglican,[14]Methodist,[15] andReformed denominations[16] the term "catholic" is used in claiming to be "heirs of theapostolic faith".[14][17] These denominations consider themselves to be part of the catholic (universal) church, teaching that the term "designates the historic,orthodox mainstream of Christianity whose doctrine was defined by theecumenical councils andcreeds" and as such, mostReformers "appealed to this catholic tradition and believed they were in continuity with it." As such, the universality, or catholicity, of the church pertains to the entire body (or assembly) of believers united to Christ.[13]
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A common belief related to catholicity is institutional continuity with the early Christian church founded by Jesus Christ. Many churches or communions of churches identify singularly or collectively as the authentic church. The following summarizes the major schisms and conflicts within Christianity, particularly within groups that identify as catholic; there are several competing historical interpretations as to which groups entered intoschism with the original early church.
According to the theory ofPentarchy, the early undivided church came to be organized under the three patriarchs ofRome,Alexandria andAntioch, to which later were added the patriarchs ofConstantinople andJerusalem. TheBishop of Rome was at that time recognized as first among them, as is stated, for instance, in canon 3 of theFirst Council of Constantinople (381)—many interpret "first" as meaning herefirst among equals—and doctrinal or procedural disputes were often referred to Rome, as when, on appeal byAthanasius against the decision of theCouncil of Tyre (335),Pope Julius I, who spoke of such appeals as customary, annulled the action of that council and restored Athanasius andMarcellus of Ancyra to their sees.[18] The Bishop of Rome was also considered to have the right to convene ecumenical councils. When the Imperial capital moved to Constantinople, Rome's influence was sometimes challenged. Nonetheless, Rome claimed special authority because of its connection to the ApostlesPeter[19][20] andPaul, who, many believe, were martyred and buried in Rome, and because the Bishop of Rome saw himself as the successor of Peter. There are sources that suggest that Peter was not the first Pope and never went to Rome.[21]
The 431Council of Ephesus, the thirdecumenical council, was chiefly concerned withNestorianism, which emphasized the distinction between the humanity and divinity of Jesus and taught that, in giving birth to Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary could not be spoken of as giving birth to God. This Council rejected Nestorianism and affirmed that, as humanity and divinity are inseparable in the one person of Jesus Christ, his mother, the Virgin Mary, is thusTheotokos, God-bearer, Mother of God. The first great rupture in the Early Church followed this Council. Those who refused to accept the Council's ruling were largelyPersian and are represented today by theAssyrian Church of the East and related churches, which, however, do not now hold a "Nestorian" theology. They are often called Ancient Oriental Churches.
The next major break was after theCouncil of Chalcedon (451). This Council repudiatedEutychian Monophysitism which stated that the divine nature completely subsumed the human nature in Christ. This Council declared that Christ, though one person, exhibited two natures "without confusion, without change, without division, without separation" and thus is both fully God and fully human. The Alexandrian Church rejected the terms adopted by this Council, and the Christian churches that follow the tradition of non-acceptance of the Council—they are not Monophysite in doctrine—are referred to as Pre-Chalcedonian orOriental Orthodox Churches.
The next great rift within Christianity was in the 11th century. Longstanding doctrinal disputes, as well as conflicts between methods of church government, and the evolution of separate rites and practices, precipitated a split in 1054 that divided the church, this time between a "West" and an "East".Spain,England,France, theHoly Roman Empire,Poland,Bohemia,Slovakia,Scandinavia, theBaltic states, and Western Europe in general were in the Western camp, andGreece,Romania,Russia and many other Slavic lands,Anatolia, and the Christians inSyria andEgypt who accepted the Council of Chalcedon made up the Eastern camp. This division between theWestern Church and theEastern Church is called theEast–West Schism.
In 1438, theCouncil of Florence convened, which featured a strong dialogue focussed on understanding the theological differences between the East and West, with the hope of reuniting the Catholic and Orthodox churches.[22] Several eastern churches reunited, constituting some of theEastern Catholic Churches.
Another major division in the church occurred in the 16th century with theProtestant Reformation, after which many parts of theWestern Church rejected Papal authority, and some of the teachings of the Western Church at that time, and became known as "Reformed" or "Protestant".
A much less extensive rupture occurred when, after the Roman Catholic Church'sFirst Vatican Council, in which it officially proclaimed the dogma ofpapal infallibility, small clusters of Catholics in the Netherlands and in German-speaking countries formed theOld-Catholic (Altkatholische) Church.
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Use of the terms "catholicity" and "catholicism" depends on context. For times preceding theGreat Schism, it refers to theNicene Creed and especially to tenets ofChristology, i.e. the rejection ofArianism.For times after the Great Schism, Catholicism (with the capital C) in the sense of theCatholic Church, combines theLatin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches ofGreek tradition, and the other Eastern Catholic Churches. Liturgical and canonical practices vary between all theseparticular Churches constituting the Roman and Eastern Catholic Churches (or, as Richard McBrien calls them, the "Communion of Catholic Churches").[23] Contrast this with the termCatholicos (but notCatholicism) in reference to the head of aParticular Church inEastern Christianity. In the Roman Catholic Church, the term "catholic" is understood as to cover those who are baptized and in communion with the Pope.
Other Christians use it in an intermediate sense, neither just those Christians in communion with Rome, but more narrow than all Christians who recite the Creeds. They use it to distinguish their position from a Calvinistic or Puritan form ofProtestantism. It is then meaningful to attempt to draw up a list of common characteristic beliefs and practices of this definition of catholicity:
Churches in the Roman Catholic tradition administer sevensacraments or "sacred mysteries":Baptism,Confirmation orChrismation,Eucharist,Penance, also known as Reconciliation,Anointing of the Sick,Holy Orders, andMatrimony. ForProtestant Christians, only Baptism and Eucharist are considered sacraments.
In churches that consider themselves catholic, asacrament is considered to be an efficacious visible sign of God's invisiblegrace. While the wordmystery is used not only of theserites, but also with other meanings with reference to revelations of and about God and to God's mystical interaction with creation, the wordsacrament (Latin:a solemn pledge), the usual term in the West, refers specifically to these rites.
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Many individual Christians and Christian denominations consider themselves "catholic" on the basis, in particular, ofapostolic succession. They may be described as falling into five groups:
For some confessions listed under category 3, the self-affirmation refers to the belief in the ultimate unity of the universal church under one God and oneSavior, rather than in one visibly unified institution (as with category 1, above). In this usage, "catholic" is sometimes written with a lower-case "c". The WesternApostles' Creed and theNicene Creed, stating "I believe in ... one holy catholic ... church", are recited in worship services. Among some denominations in category 3, "Christian" is substituted for "catholic" in order to denote the doctrine that the Christian Church is, at least ideally, undivided.[38][39][failed verification][40]
Protestant churches each have their own distinctive theological and ecclesiological notions of catholicity.[41][42]
In itsLetter on Some Aspects of the Church Understood as Communion, theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stressed the belief that the idea of the universal church as a communion of churches must not be presented as meaning that "everyparticular Church is a subject complete in itself, and that the universal church is the result of areciprocal recognition on the part of the particular Churches". It insisted that "the universal Church cannot be conceived as the sum of the particular Churches, or as a federation of particular Churches".[43]
The Catholic Church considers only those in full communion with the Holy See in Rome as Catholics. While recognising the valid episcopates and Eucharist of theEastern Orthodox Church in most cases, it does not consider Protestant denominations such as Lutheran ones to be genuine churches and so uses the term "ecclesial communities" to refer to them. Because the Catholic Church does not consider these denominations to have valid episcopal orders capable of celebrating a valid Eucharist, it does not classify them as churches "in the proper sense".[44][45][46]
The Catholic Church's doctrine of infallibility derives from the belief that the authority Jesus gave Peter as head of the church on earth has been passed on to his successors, the popes. Relevant Bible verses include;[47] "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
TheLatin andEastern Catholic Churches together form the "Catholic Church",[48] often called the "Roman Catholic Church",[49] the world's largest single religious body and the largest Christian denomination, as well as its largest Catholic church, comprising over half of all Christians (1.27 billion Christians of 2.1 billion) and nearly one-sixth of the world's population.[50][51][52][53]Richard McBrien would put the proportion even higher, extending it to those who are in communion with the Bishop of Rome only in "degrees".[54] It comprises 24 component "particular Churches" (also called "rites" in theSecond Vatican Council's Decree on the Eastern Catholic Churches[55] and in the Code of Canon Law),[56] all of which acknowledge a primacy of jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome[57] and are infull communion with theHoly See and each other.
These particular churches or component parts are theLatin Church (which uses a number of differentliturgical rites, of which theRoman Rite is by far prevalent) and the 23Eastern Catholic Churches. Of the latter particular churches, 14 use theByzantine Rite for their liturgy.[58] Within the universal Church, each "particular church", whether Eastern or Western, is of equal dignity.[59] Finally, in its official documents, the Catholic Church, though made up of several particular churches, "continues to refer to itself as the 'Catholic Church'"[60] or, less frequently but consistently, as the 'Roman Catholic Church', owing to its essential[49] link with the Bishop of Rome.[note 4]
Richard McBrien, in his bookCatholicism, disagrees with the synonymous use of "Catholic" and "Roman Catholic":
But is 'Catholic' synonymous with 'Roman Catholic'? And is it accurate to refer to the Roman Catholic Church as simply the 'Roman Church'? The answer to both questions is no. The adjective 'Roman' applies more properly to the diocese, or see, of Rome than to the worldwide Communion of Catholic Churches that is in union with the Bishop of Rome. Indeed, it strikes some Catholics as contradictory to call the Church 'Catholic' and 'Roman' at one and the same time. Eastern-rite Catholics, of whom there are more than twenty million, also find the adjective 'Roman' objectionable. In addition to the Latin, or Roman, tradition, there are seven non-Latin, non-Roman ecclesial traditions: Armenian, Byzantine, Coptic, Ethiopian, East Syriac (Chaldean), West Syriac, and Maronite. Each to the Churches with these non-Latin traditions is as Catholic as the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, not all Catholics are Roman Catholic... [T]o be Catholic—whether Roman or non-Roman—in the ecclesiological sense is to be in full communion with the Bishop of Rome and as such to be an integral part of the Catholic Communion of Churches.[61]
McBrien says that, on an official level, what he calls the "Communion of Catholic Churches" always refers to itself as "The Catholic Church".[62] However, counter examples such as seen above of the term "Roman Catholic Church" being used by popes and departments of the Holy See exist. The Latin Archdiocese of Detroit, for example, lists eight Eastern Catholic churches, each with its own bishop, as having one or more parishes in what is also the territory of the Latin archdiocese, yet each is designated as being in "full communion with the Roman Church".[63][better source needed]
TheEastern Orthodox Church maintains the position that it is their communion which actually constitutes theOne, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.[64][65] Eastern Orthodox Christians consider themselves the heirs of the first-millenniumpatriarchal structure that developed in theEastern Church into the model of thepentarchy, recognized byEcumenical Councils, a theory that "continues to hold sway in official Greek circles to the present day".[66]
Since the theological disputes that occurred from the 9th to 11th centuries, culminating in the final split of 1054, the Eastern Orthodox churches have regarded Rome as a schismatic see that has violated the essential catholicity of the Christian faith by introducing innovations of doctrine (seeFilioque). On the other hand, the model of thepentarchy was never fully applied in theWestern Church, which preferred the theory of thePrimacy of the Bishop of Rome, favoringUltramontanism overConciliarism.[67][68][69][70] The title "Patriarch of the West" was rarely used by the popes until the 16th and 17th centuries, and was included in theAnnuario Pontificio from 1863 to 2005, being dropped in the following year as never very clear, and having become over history "obsolete and practically unusable".[69][70]
TheOriental Orthodox churches (Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Malankaran) also maintain the position that their communion constitutes theOne, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. In this sense, Oriental Orthodoxy upholds its own ancientecclesiological traditions ofapostolicity (apostolic continuity) and catholicity (universality) of the Church.[71]
Similar notion of the catholicity was also maintained in the formerChurch of the East, with its distinctive theological and ecclesiological characteristics and traditions. That notion was inherited by both of its modern secessions: theChaldean Catholic Church that is part of the Catholic Church, and theAssyrian Church of the East whose full official name is:The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East,[72] along with its off-shot in turn theAncient Church of the East whose full official name is:The Holy Apostolic Catholic Ancient Church of the East.[73] These churches are using the term catholic in their names in the sense of traditional catholicity. They are not in communion with the Catholic Church.
TheAugsburg Confession found within theBook of Concord, a compendium of belief of theLutheran Churches, teaches that "the faith as confessed by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true catholic or universal church".[74] When the Lutherans presented the Augsburg Confession toCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1530, they believe to have "showed that each article of faith and practice was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils".[74]
Following the Reformation, Lutheran Churches, such as theEvangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and theChurch of Sweden, retained apostolic succession, with former Roman Catholic bishops simply becoming Lutheran and continuing to occupy their chairs.[75][76][77] The 20th century movement ofHigh Church Lutheranism championedEvangelical Catholicity, restoring, in some cases,apostolic succession, to Lutheran Churches in Germany where it was lacking.[78]
Introductory works onAnglicanism, such asThe Study of Anglicanism, typically refer to the character of the Anglican tradition as "Catholic and Reformed",[79] which is in keeping with the understanding of Anglicanism articulated in theElizabethan Settlement of 1559 and in the works of the earliest standard Anglican divines such asRichard Hooker andLancelot Andrewes. Yet different strains in Anglicanism, dating back to theEnglish Reformation, have emphasized either the Reformed, Catholic, or "Reformed Catholic" nature of the tradition.
Anglican theology and ecclesiology has thus come to be typically expressed in three distinct, yet sometimes overlapping manifestations:Anglo-Catholicism (often called "high church"),Evangelical Anglicanism (often called "low church"), andLatitudinarianism ("broad church"), whose beliefs and practices fall somewhere between the two. Though all elements within theAnglican Communion recite the same creeds, Evangelical Anglicans generally regard the wordcatholic in the ideal sense given above. In contrast, Anglo-Catholics regard the communion as a component of the whole Catholic Church, in spiritual and historical union with the Roman Catholic, Old Catholic and several Eastern churches. Broad Church Anglicans tend to maintain a mediating view, or consider the matter one ofadiaphora. These Anglicans, for example, have agreed in thePorvoo Agreement to interchangeable ministries and full eucharistic communion with Lutherans.[80][81]
The Catholic nature or strain of the Anglican tradition is expressed doctrinally, ecumenically (chiefly through organizations such as theAnglican—Roman Catholic International Commission), ecclesiologically (through itsepiscopal governance and maintenance of thehistorical episcopate), and in liturgy and piety. The39 Articles hold that "there are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord", and that "those five commonly called Sacraments, that is to say, Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel"; some Anglo-Catholics interpret this to mean that there are a total ofSeven Sacraments.[82] Many Anglo-Catholics practiceMarian devotion, recite therosary and theangelus, practiceeucharistic adoration, and seek theintercession of saints. In terms of liturgy, most Anglicans use candles on the altar or communion table and many churches use incense and bells at the Eucharist, which is amongst the most pronounced Anglo-Catholics referred to by the Latin-derived word "Mass" used in the first prayer book and in the American Prayer Book of 1979. In numerous churches the Eucharist is celebrated facing the altar (often with atabernacle) by a priest assisted by adeacon andsubdeacon. Anglicans believe in theReal presence of Christ in the Eucharist, though Anglo-Catholics interpret this to mean a corporeal presence, rather than a pneumatic presence. Different Eucharistic rites or orders contain different, if not necessarily contradictory, understandings of salvation. For this reason, no single strain or manifestation of Anglicanism can speak for the whole, even in ecumenical statements (as issued, for example, by the Anglican – Roman Catholic International Commission).[83][84][85]
The growth of Anglo-Catholicism is strongly associated with theOxford Movement of the 19th century. Two of its leading lights,John Henry Newman andHenry Edward Manning, both priests, ended up joining the Roman Catholic Church, becomingcardinals. Others, likeJohn Keble,Edward Bouverie Pusey, andCharles Gore became influential figures in Anglicanism. The previousArchbishop of Canterbury,Rowan Williams, is a patron ofAffirming Catholicism, a more liberal movement within Catholic Anglicanism. Conservative Catholic groups also exist within the tradition, such asForward in Faith. There are about 80 million Anglicans in the Anglican Communion, comprising 3.6% of global Christianity.[86]
The 1932 Deed of Union of theMethodist Church of Great Britain teaches that:[87]
The Methodist Church claims and cherishes its place in the Holy Catholic Church which is the Body of Christ. It rejoices in the inheritance of the Apostolic Faith and loyally accepts the fundamental principles of the historic creeds and of the Protestant Reformation. It ever remembers that in the providence of God Methodism was raised up to spread Scriptural Holiness through the land by the proclamation of the Evangelical Faith, and declares its unfaltering resolve to be true to its divinely appointed mission. The doctrines of the Evangelical Faith, which Methodism has held from the beginning and still holds, are based upon the divine revelation recorded in the Holy Scriptures. The Methodist Church acknowledges this revelation as the supreme rule of faith and practice. The Methodist Church recognises two sacraments, namely, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, as of divine appointment and of perpetual obligation, of which it is the privilege and duty of members of the Methodist Church to avail themselves.[87]
The theologianStanley Hauerwas wrote that Methodism "stands centrally in the Catholic tradition" and that "Methodists indeed are even more Catholic than the Anglicans who gave us birth, since Wesley, of blessed memory, held to the Eastern fathers in a more determinative way than did any of the Western churches—Protestant or Catholic."[88]
WithinReformed Christianity the word "catholic" is generally taken in the sense of "universal" and in this sense many leading Protestant denominations identify themselves as part of the catholic church. The puritanWestminster Confession of Faith adopted in 1646 (which remains the Confession of theChurch of Scotland) states for example that:
The catholic or universal Church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him that fills all in all.[89]
TheLondon Confession of the Reformed Baptists repeats this with the emendation "which (with respect to the internal work of the Spirit and truth of grace) may be called invisible".[90] The Church of Scotland'sArticles Declaratory begin "The Church of Scotland is part of the Holy Catholic or Universal Church".
In Reformed Churches there is aScoto-Catholic grouping within thePresbyterianChurch of Scotland. Such groups point to their churches' continuing adherence to the "Catholic" doctrine of the early Church Councils. TheArticles Declaratory of the Constitution of the Church of Scotland of 1921 defines that church legally as "part of the Holy Catholic or Universal Church".[79]
TheOld Catholics, theLiberal Catholic Church, theAugustana Catholic Church, theAmerican National Catholic Church, theApostolic Catholic Church (ACC), the Aglipayans (Philippine Independent Church), theAfrican Orthodox Church, thePolish National Catholic Church of America, and manyIndependent Catholic churches, which emerged directly or indirectly from and have a theology and practices which are largely similar toLatin Catholicism, regard themselves as "Catholic" withoutfull communion with the Bishop of Rome, because they generally reject his claimed status and authority. Some Independent Catholics believe that, among bishops, the Bishop of Rome isprimus inter pares, and they also believe thatconciliarism is a necessary check againstultramontanism.[citation needed]
TheChinese Patriotic Catholic Association, a division of thePeople's Republic of China's Religious Affairs Bureau which exercises state supervision of mainland China's Catholics, holds a similar position, while it also attempts, as withBuddhists andProtestants, to indoctrinate them and mobilize them in support of the Communist Party's objectives.[91]
Richard McBrien considers that the term "Catholicism" refers exclusively and specifically to that "Communion of Catholic Churches" in communion with the Bishop of Rome.[92] According to McBrien, Catholicism is distinguished from other forms of Christianity in its particular understanding and commitment totradition, thesacraments, the mediation between God,communion, and theSee of Rome.[93] According to BishopKallistos Ware, theOrthodox Church has these things as well, though theprimacy of the See of Rome is onlyhonorific, showing non-jurisdictional respect for theBishop of Rome as the "first among equals" and "Patriarch of the West".[94] Catholicism, according to McBrien's paradigm, includes amonastic life,religious institutes, a religious appreciation of the arts, a communal understanding ofsin andredemption, andmissionary activity.[note 5]
Henry Mills Alden, inHarper's New Monthly Magazine, writes that:
The various Protestant sects can not constitute one church because they have nointercommunion...each Protestant Church, whether Methodist or Baptist or whatever, is in perfect communion with itself everywhere as the Roman Catholic; and in this respect, consequently, the Roman Catholic has no advantage or superiority, except in the point of numbers. As a further necessary consequence, it is plain that the Roman Church is no more Catholic in any sense than a Methodist or a Baptist.[96]
— Henry Mills Alden,Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 37, Issues 217–222
As such, according to this viewpoint, "for those who 'belong to the Church', the term Methodist Catholic, or Presbyterian Catholic, or Baptist Catholic, is as proper as the term Roman Catholic."[97] "It simply means that body of Christian believers over the world who agree in their religious views, and accept the same ecclesiastical forms."[97]
The Protestant reformers understood themselves to be a part of "the holy catholic church."Millions of Protestants still repeat these words every week as they stand in worship to recite the Apostles' Creed. The word catholic was first used in this sense in the early second century when Ignatius of Antioch declared, "Where Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church." Jesus Christ is the head of the church, as well as its Lord. Protestant believers in the tradition of the Reformation understand the church to be the body of Christ extended throughout time as well as space, the whole company of God's redeemed people through the ages.
The Moravian Church does not have a different understanding of God than other churches, but stresses what we have in common with all of the world's Christians. "Christendom" here simply means Christianity. We see here not only the influence of the ecumenical movement on the Ground of the Unity but also our historical perspective that we are part of the one holy catholic and apostolic church.
Uncapitalized, it designates the historic, orthodox mainstream of Christianity whose doctrine was defined by the ecumenical councils and creeds. Most reformers, not just Lutherans, appealed to this catholic tradition and believed they were in continuity with it.
Some Christian communities may not care whether their worship is categorized one way of another, and certainly are not required to ask anyone's permission, but for those churches that can trace their origins from the Lutheran, Reformed (Genevan), or Anglican Reformations, it should matter, because a liturgy shaped by what Lathrop calls "bath, table, and word," and attentiveness to the poor is woven into their earliest self-definition as heirs of the apostolic faith. Worship in the Society of Friends (Quakers), the Salvation Army, bodies descended from the so-called Radical Reformation, and Pentecostal churches have different origins and standards. Those communities will make their own cases and speak for themselves, of course. But those churches that claim substantial continuity with the church catholic via one of the Reformations will do well to be attentive to theordo that is both ancient and ecumenical, and measure whether they are realizing it in their own Lord's Day liturgy.
Acknowledging the considerable agreement between Anglicans and Methodists concerning faith and doctrine, and believing there to be sufficient convergence in understanding ministry and mission,Sharing in the Apostolic Communion (Anglican-Methodist Dialogue 1996) invited the WMC and the Lambeth Conference to recognize and affirm that: Both Anglicans and Methodists belong to the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church of Jesus Christ and participate in the apostolic mission of the whole people of God; in the churches of our two communions the word of God is authentically preached and the sacraments instituted of Christ are duly administered; Our churches share in common confession and heritage of the apostolic faith' (§95).
The universality of the Church is, through God's grace, a reality despite doctrinal disagreements; but it is not a license for the downplaying of these doctrinal differences. The Church catholic is also the Church apostolic—which is to say, it is the Church which "stands firm and holds to the traditions" which have been taught through the words of the Apostles (2 Thessalonians 2:15). And this teaching—which is truly the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:19–21)—has been passed on to us today in its fullness through the Scriptures. To be catholic, then, is to be heirs of the apostolic faith. It is to be rooted firmly in the Apostle's teaching as recorded for us in Scripture, the unchanging Word of God. But while this Word is unchanging, it does not follow that it is static. The history of the Church in the world is the history of Christians meditating upon Scripture. We must look to this history as our own guide in understanding Scripture. To be sure, the Church's tradition of interpretation has erred from time to time—we find, for example, that the Fathers and Councils sometimes disagree with one another—but it is dangerous to discount those interpretations of Scripture which have been held unanimously from the very beginning of the Church.
With this, the 1982Final Report already attests to a substantial agreement regarding eucharistic doctrine between the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches and there is little doubt that many Anglicans, Methodists, and Reformed Christians would affirm the reality of Christ's presence in the Eucharist in the same way as Roman Catholics do, though not using the same formula, in a manner that some Evangelicals and, as we must acknowledge, some Roman Catholics would not.
The Methodist churches, being heirs of the Anglican Church, have a heritage of faith in the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper and an understanding of the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist.
Sign of the Cross. The cross is the standard of the Christian faith—the sign of salvation. As the government flies its flag over ship and port and public building, so the Church crowns her steeples, her altars, and the very tombs of her children, with the emblem of our hope. Catholic people sanctify their homes with the sacred symbol. When one sees the crucifix reverently hung on the walls of a room, he knows the place is not the home of an infidel. From the earliest centuries the Christians blessed themselves with the Sign of the Cross, as we learn from Tertullian, Jerome, Ambrose, Athanasius, and many other Fathers.
Ecclesiastical Year. In the feasts of the ecclesiastical year, the Church makes the day and nights join with His other works to bless the Lord. The Church year is mainly the anniversary celebration of the great events in the life of Christ.
The Lutheran Formula of Concord refers to Mary as the "Mother of God", and the most recently approvedBook of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church in the United States includes a translation of the Chalcedonian Definition of Faith, which refers to Mary asTheotokos, although its translation elects to render this by the less offensive "Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer (Theotokos)". Since Lutheran, Anglican, and Reformed confessions affirm the faith expressed at the Council of Chalcedon and condemn Nestorianism, it could be argued that there is widespread agreement between the Reformation traditions on the affirmation that Mary isTheotokos, "Mother of God"...
The ecclesial communities which have not preserved the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery are not Churches in the proper sense; however, those who are baptized in these communities are, by Baptism, incorporated in Christ and thus are in a certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church.
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)When the Lutherans presented the Augsburg Confession before Emperor Charles V in 1530, they carefully showed that each article of faith and practice was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils and even the canon law of the Church of Rome. They boldly claim, "This is about the Sum of our Doctrine, in which, as can be seen, there is nothing that varies from the Scriptures, or from the Church Catholic, or from the Church of Rome as known from its writers" (AC XXI Conclusion 1). The underlying thesis of the Augsburg Confession is that the faith as confessed by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true catholic or universal church. In fact, it is actually the Church of Rome that has departed from the ancient faith and practice of the catholic church (see AC XXIII 13, XXVIII 72 and other places).
In addition to the primary understanding of succession, the Lutheran confessions do express openness, however, to the continuation of the succession of bishops. This is a narrower understanding of apostolic succession, to be affirmed under the condition that the bishops support the Gospel and are ready to ordain evangelical preachers. This form of succession, for example, was continued by the Church of Sweden (which included Finland) at the time of the Reformation.
The churches of Sweden and Finland retained bishops and the conviction of being continuity with the apostolic succession, while in Denmark the title bishop was retained without the doctrine of apostolic succession.
In Sweden the apostolic succession was preserved because the Catholic bishops were allowed to stay in office, but they had to approve changes in the ceremonies.
The various Protestant sects can not constitute one church because they have no intercommunion...each Protestant Church, whether Methodist or Baptist or whatever, is in perfect communion with itself everywhere as the Roman Catholic; and in this respect, consequently, the Roman Catholic has no advantage or superiority, except in the point of numbers. As a further necessary consequence, it is plain that the Roman Church is no more Catholic in any sense than a Methodist or a Baptist.
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)For those who 'belong to the Church,' the term Methodist Catholic, or Presbyterian Catholic, or Baptist Catholic, is as proper as the term Roman Catholic. It simply means that body of Christian believers over the world who agree in their religious views, and accept the same ecclesiastical forms.
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