Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!usc!apple!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: mangoe@cs.umd.edu (Charley Wingate) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The Catholic Church Message-ID: Date: 12 Aug 90 06:02:25 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 36 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu There are those of us who object to the self-appellation "Catholic Church" as being entirely too much of a sales pitch. It is typical in anglican theology (and perhaps in other protestant bodies) to understand the creedal phrase "We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church" as referring to the body of christians in its entirety, not to a specific denomination or hierarchy. My normal practice is to refer to the component churches directly. As far as discussions here go, the uniate churches simply don't figure much except as pretty abstract examples. Almost exclusively, we talk about Roman theology, Roman liturgy, and Roman polity. (or RC, if "Roman" offends...) I don't refer to the eastern churches solely as "Orthodox" either, for roughly the same reason. I refer to them as the Eastern churches (or occaisionally, Eastern Orthodox). Of course, there are "Catholic" churches which are "Catholic" (i.e., they are now separated from Rome), such as the Old Catholics and the Polish National Catholics in this country. I take particular exception to the following passage: >[T]he Catholic Church has a long history and over its history has developed >a moderately well-defined jargon in which to express theological concepts >and ideas. To use terms and phrases in an uninformed way is merely adding >to the confusion of Protestants and Catholics as well. I am afraid that the Roman church and its uniate sisters do not own these words; it is right and proper for protestants to ignore the Roman spin put upon them. "Catholic" (small and capital "C") has acquired a variety of meanings over the years. When an anglican uses the word, it is unreasonable to assume that he should be understood along the lines of RC dogma. -- C. Wingate + "I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity + by invocation of the same mangoe@cs.umd.edu + the Three in One, and One in Three." mimsy!mangoe +