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The terms "Catholic Church" and "Roman Catholic Church" are names for the entire church that describes itself as "governed by the successor of Saint Peter and by the bishops in communion with him". In its formal documents and pronouncements the church most often refers to itself as the Catholic Church or simply the Church. In its relations with other churches, it frequently uses the name "Roman Catholic Church". Some argue that the only proper name for the Church is "the Catholic Church"[1][2]. In particular, the use of the name "Roman Catholic Church" is controversial due to the fact that it is sometimes used by those outside the Church to suggest the Branch Theory (i.e., that the Church in communion with the Pope is only one part of a divided Catholic Church). The name "Roman Catholic Church" is occasionally used by popes, bishops, other clergy and laity, who do not see it as opprobrious or having the suggested overtone.[3] The use of "Roman", "Holy" and "Apostolic" are accepted by the Church as descriptive names.[4][verification needed] While the Church is required[citation needed] to use the legal name "Roman Catholic Church" by some US states and the country of England, it has officially "claimed as its title" the name "Catholic Church".[5] It believes that it is the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.[6]
Some Eastern-rite Catholics reject the description of themselves as "Roman", even though they're a part of the Catholic Church. Others are proud to call themselves Roman Catholics,[7] and "Roman Catholic" sometimes even appears in the compound name of Eastern Catholic parish churches, e.g. St. Mary's Byzantine Roman Catholic Church.[8]
The Advanced Catechism of Catholic Faith and Practice states that the term "Roman" is used within the name of the Church to emphasize that the centre of unity of the Church is the Roman See.[9]
The Second Vatican Council's dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium declares that the phrase "Roman Church" has been applied in the Tridentine Profession of Faith to the Church itself, the Church "governed by the successor of Saint Peter and by the bishops in communion with him". Even as far back as 1208 the adjective "Roman" was applied to the Church "outside which we believe that no one is saved".[10]
The Second Vatican Council did not use the term "Roman Catholic Church",[11] and in one important passage replaced it with an equivalent phrase, "the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in union with that successor", while also giving in a footnote a reference to two earlier documents in which the word "Roman" was used explicitly.[12]
Two US-based Catholic media outlets (EWTN and Our Sunday Visitor), one of which is a member of SIGNIS and whose board of directors contains members of the Catholic hierarchy, used a book by Kenneth Whitehead to explain the Church's name to their worldwide readers. In One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Whitehead states: "The term 'Roman Catholic' is not used by the Church herself; it is a relatively modern term, confined largely to the English language. The English-speaking bishops at the First Vatican Council in 1870, in fact, conducted a vigorous and successful campaign to insure that the term Roman Catholic was nowhere included in any of the Council's official documents about the Church herself, and the term was not included. Similarly, nowhere in the 16 documents of the Second Vatican Council will you find the term Roman Catholic. Pope Paul VI signed all the documents of the Second Vatican Council as "I, Paul. Bishop of the Catholic Church." Simply that -- Catholic Church. There are references to the Roman curia, the Roman missal, the Roman rite, etc., but when the adjective Roman is applied to the Church herself, it refers to the Diocese of Rome!"[1] According to Whitehead, the Church has been legislating in the name of the Catholic Church and has signed the official Council documents with same ever since the First Council of Nicea (325).[1]
Official statements by the Popes written in languages other than English call the Church by terms that include "Roman Catholic Church". The Popes normally signs documents without any mention of "Catholic Church". The First Council of Nicaea used the phrase "the Catholic Church" only twice to refer to the Church, less often than "the Catholic and Apostolic Church" and than "the Church".
One of the two cited US-based Catholic media, the one that is a member of SIGNIS and whose board of directors includes members of the Catholic hierarchy, has also hosted the opinion of Anthony Dragani, who, in response to a viewer's question if what she had heard, apparently from a Father Corapi on EWTN, that the official name of the Church is "The Church of Jesus Christ", stated that he had not heard that before but if it was true, he could not think of a more appropriate name.[13]
It is in the Church's dealings with other Churches that it can be expected to adopt a name to distinguish it officially from other Churches. The names it uses in its internal documents need not necessarily have that precise aim; examples are "the Mystical Body of Christ", "the Church of Christ", "the one true Church", "the people of God", "the Temple of the Holy Spirit" and the others it uses in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 781-810. In its dealings with other Churches, it frequently uses the name "Roman Catholic Church", in particular in agreements signed by the heads of the two Churches, examples of which are given below under the heading "Top-level agreements with other Churches"
In the past and still today, both "Catholic Church" and "Roman Catholic Church" have been used as names in official documents such as agreements with other churches and with governments,[14] but, in them and also in the church's own documents, "Catholic Church" is used in preference to but not to the exclusion of "Roman Catholic Church" (cf. the encyclicals of Pius XII, etc. etc.).[citation needed]
The Greek word "catholic" means "universal" and was first used to describe the then existing Church as a whole, as contrasted with the particular (local) Church,[15] by Ignatius in the late first, early second century.[16][17] Some different Christian denominations not in communion with The Catholic Church describe themselves as "catholic," (see Catholicism), but in common usage it refers to the body also known as Roman Catholic Church and its members.[17]
<-- Add more here about the descriptors "holy", "apostolic" and "Roman" -->
Around the year A.D. 107, St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote to his fellow Christians in Smyrna that "Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church"[18] This is the first written mention in history of the phrase "the Catholic Church", by which Ignatius meant the whole church that is one and the same wherever there is a Christian congregation.[19]
Clement of Alexandria wrote: "We say that both in substance and in seeming, both in origin and in development, the primitive and Catholic Church is the only one, agreeing as it does in the unity of one faith."[20] (By "primitive" is meant "ancient", "original", and in the Roberts-Donaldson translation the word "ancient" is chosen.) He used the term "primitive Church" also in Stromata 1:19. In Stromata 7:16 and 7:17 he used "true Church". Normally he wrote simply: "the Church".
At the first ecumenical council of the Church, held at Nicaea in Asia Minor in the year 325, the bishops called the church "the Catholic Church" twice in the council's official documents, but more frequently called it "the Catholic and Apostolic Church" and even more frequently "the Church".
These strong opinions opposing use of "Roman Catholic Church" arise from sectarian issues originating in a dispute with Anglicans about the word "Catholic"
The use of "Roman Catholic" in the United Kingdom has been promoted by Anglicans who support the "branch theory" of the Church, namely, that the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of the creed consists of three major branches, the Anglican, the Orthodox and the so-called Roman Catholic.[1]
During the discussion of the official documents of Vatican I, there was a proposal to change "Roman Catholic Church" to "Catholic Church", but this was rejected overwhelmingly.
The words "Roman", "Catholic", "Apostolic" and "Holy" can be used as descriptors of the church and when used in that context, all of them are considered by the church to be wholly proper and acceptable.
Around the year A.D. 107, St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote to his fellow Christians in Smyrna that "Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church"[21] This is the first written mention in history of the phrase "the Catholic Church", by which Ignatius meant the whole church that is one and the same wherever there is a Christian congregation.[22]
Clement of Alexandria wrote: "We say that both in substance and in seeming, both in origin and in development, the primitive and Catholic Church is the only one, agreeing as it does in the unity of one faith."[23] (By "primitive" is meant "ancient", "original", and in the Roberts-Donaldson translation the word "ancient" is chosen.) He used the term "primitive Church" also in Stromata 1:19. In Stromata 7:16 and 7:17 he used "true Church". Normally he wrote simply: "the Church".
During the discussion of the official documents of Vatican I, there was a proposal to change "Roman Catholic Church" to "Catholic Church", but this was rejected overwhelmingly.
The words "Roman", "Catholic", "Apostolic" and "Holy" can be used as descriptors of the church and when used in that context, all of them are considered by the church to be wholly proper and acceptable.
According to the Annuario Pontificio, of the 112 official bishops conferences around the world, none of them use the terms "Roman Catholic", "Catholic Apostolic" or the like in their official organizational names.[26]
29 of the 112 use the term "Catholic":
The other 83 use the name "(name of country) Bishops' Conference" with no mention of words such as "Catholic" or "Roman" or any other qualification.[26]
The Annuario Pontificio is in two main parts, the first of which is headed La Gerarchia Cattolica (The Catholic Hierarchy) and lists the official names of all Church officials and dioceses, pp. 21*-110* and 1-1178 in the 2007 edition. The second is headed Curia Romana (Roman Curia), the administrative arm of the Vatican, based in the city of Rome pp. 1179-1968. The book also includes a list of the Popes ("Serie dei Sommi Pontefici Romani"), pp. 1*-20* and the indexes, pp. 1969-2397.[27] The term "Roman Catholic Church" is not found anywhere in this book. Nor do the official diocesan names as given in the book contain the words "Catholic Diocese of X". A small minority of the bishops conferences listed are preceded by the adjective "Catholic".[27]
All 18 documents of the Vatican Councils (2 of the First Vatican Council and 16 of the Second) are signed in the name of the standing pope as "Bishop of the Catholic Church".[1][2] The signatures of the other bishops appear without the qualification "Bishop of the Catholic Church".[28] Apart from bulls of canonization, these documents, so few in number, are the only ones that the Pope signs with the formula "I, N., Bishop of the Catholic Church".[29]
In Divini Illius Magistri, Pope Pius XI wrote: "In the City of God, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, a good citizen and an upright man are absolutely one and the same thing."[30]
The entire document is signed "Pius PP. XI"[31]
In Mystici Corporis Christi, Pope Pius XII wrote: "If we would define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ - which is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church - we shall find nothing more noble, more sublime, or more divine than the expression 'the Mystical Body of Christ'".[32] This is the encyclical of which Pius XII said in Humani Generis (1950) - as indicated by the footnote that he attached to his statement - that in it was explained the doctrine, based on the sources of revelation, that the Mystical Body of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one and the same thing.
The entire document is signed "Pius Pp. XII".[33]
In Humani Generis, Pope Pius XII wrote "Some say they are not bound by the doctrine, explained in Our Encyclical Letter of a few years ago, and based on the Sources of Revelation, which teaches that the Mystical Body of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one and the same thing.[34] Some reduce to a meaningless formula the necessity of belonging to the true Church in order to gain eternal salvation. Others finally belittle the reasonable character of the credibility of Christian faith."[35] Humani generis, n. 44. Pius XII used the term 'Roman' Catholic Church"[36]
The entire document is signed "Pius Pp. XII".[37]
Lumen Gentium says in the second paragraph of section 8:
SENSE OF THE WORDS "KINGDOM OF GOD", a document by Fr. Most, quoting Cardinal Avery Dulles, and THE ECCLESIOLOGY OF THE CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH, VATICAN II, ‘LUMEN GENTIUM’, a document by the then-Cardinal prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Ratzinger, both discuss this passage from Lumen Gentium and both documents use the phrase "Roman Catholic Church" while discussing this passage.
The entire document Lumen Gentium, just as all official documents of recent Church Councils, is signed by the Pope using the formula "I, (name), Bishop of the Catholic Church".[1] The other bishops signing the Council documents do not use the title "Bishop of the Catholic Church".[39]
Together with heads of other Churches, the Popes have agreements that call theirs the Roman Catholic Church within the body of the agreement:
Pope John Paul II often spoke of the Church as the Catholic Church. He also called the Church by the name "Roman Catholic Church", especially when specifically distinguishing it from other groups of Christians.
He used the name "Roman Catholic Church" in his talks:
Pope Benedict XVI has done so also:
Most treaties speak of the Church as "the Catholic Church":
The Church is also referred to by other names, as well as "the Catholic Church", in some treaties. "Apostolic" and "Roman" appear as well as "Holy" and "Catholic" as descriptive names of the Church:
In several treaties, while the Church itself may be referred to as "the Catholic Church" or "the Church", the name given to the religion it upholds includes the word "Roman".
The opening words of the first chapter of the dogmatic constitution Dei Filius, which in the original draft were "Sancta Romana Catholica Ecclesia", were voted on on three separate dates. On the first occasion, when this chapter alone was considered, two votes concerned the opening words. The first was on a proposal by a few English-speaking bishops to delete the word "Romana", thus changing "Sancta Romana Catholica Ecclesia" (The Holy Roman Catholic Church) to "Sancta Catholica Ecclesia" (The Holy Catholic Church). This was overwhelmingly defeated.[73][74]
The second vote held immediately afterwards was on a proposal to insert a comma, so that "Sancta Romana Catholica Ecclesia" (The Holy Roman Catholic Church) would become "Sancta Romana, Catholica Ecclesia" (The Holy Roman, Catholic Church). This too was defeated, though not as overwhelmingly as the first proposal.
In a later vote, held on 12 April 1870, the text as a whole, which preserved the same opening words, was approved with 515 affirmative votes (placet) and no opposing votes (non placet); but there were 83 placet iuxta modum votes, asking for retouches, many of them regarding the opening words of chapter I.[75][76]
In view of the reservations thus expressed, the text presented for a final vote and approved unanimously on 24 April changed the order of the words and added "apostolica", so that "Sancta Romana Catholica Ecclesia" became "Sancta Catholica Apostolica Romana Ecclesia" (The Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church).[76][77]
Richard Faber and Fr. Hughes say that the word "Roman" was not rejected as a prefix for the name: the proposal to eliminate it was rejected, and the word remained in the final text
Kenneth Whitehead says the final vote of the Bishops rejected use of "Roman" in the Church's official name but allowed it to be used as a descriptive name. An anonymous writer in the 1903 American Ecclesiastical Review also said that the Council rejected the form "Roman Catholic Church" (see "American Ecclesiastical Review 2" below).
According to a contributor (H.G. Hughes) to the magazine, "The name 'Roman' has been adopted by the Church herself and recognized by the world at large as the proper appellation of the only religion which has any claim to true Catholicism."[78]
The same publication that printed the opinion just above, printed an opposing opinion soon afterward. The holder of this second view said: "The Fathers of the fourth century tell us in a hundred different ways that the name of the Church is simply the Catholic Church. All others using the name are forced to adopt prefixes. So it is with the Catholic Church. She is the original possessor of the name. Twice during the nineteenth century the question of the name of the Church came up for authoritative decision, and in both cases the decision was that the ancient name should not be qualified by any prefixes. For there is only one disputed question regarding the name of the Church. Is the word 'Roman' a part of that name? The Council (Vatican I) decided that it is not and hence rejected the form 'Roman Catholic Church'. Then came the question: is the word 'Roman' a proper descriptive word to be used like the word 'Apostolic' in speaking of the Church? To this the Council answered in the affirmative."[79]
"at the Newcastle Conference of the Catholic Truth Society (Aug., 1901) the cardinal explained clearly to his audience that "the term Roman Catholic has two meanings; a meaning that we repudiate and a meaning that we accept." The repudiated sense was that dear to many Protestants, according to which the term Catholic was a genus which resolved itself into the species Roman Catholic, Anglo-Catholic, Greek Catholic, etc. But, as the cardinal insisted, "with us the prefix Roman is not restrictive to a species, or a section, but simply declaratory of Catholic."
The Cardinal wrote: "I have no objection to the term 'Roman Catholic' provided it is understood. Catholics used it as early as the fifth or sixth century, and the African Bishops wrote that 'to be Roman is to be Catholic'. Our theologians understand by the 'Roman Catholic Church' the Catholic Church which has the Roman See for its centre, and by 'Roman Catholics" Catholics in communion with the See of Peter." (Life, p. 234-235
A well-known Roman canonist in whom the Cardinal had great confidence gave his opinion thus: "There can be no doubt that we can speak of the Catholic Church throughout the world as the Roman Catholic Church. This way of speaking since the sixteenth century has become quite common among our theologians, and is found consecrated in the Profession of Faith which converts are bound to make when received into the Church - 'I profess that I believe the Holy Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church to be the only and true Church established on earth by Jesus Christ.' Here the term 'Roman' plainly applies to the whole Church, and not merely to the local Church of Rome, 'the Mother and Mistress of all Churches'. In the schema of the dogmatic constitution of the Church, prepared by the Vatican Council, there is the following canon: 'Si quis dixerit veram Christi Ecclesiam, extra quam nemo salvus esse potest, aliam esse praeter unam sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam Romanam, A.S.' ..." (Life, p. 236-237)
Further on, the same Roman canonist said: "It seems to me that of the term 'Roman' added to the term 'Catholic' might be repeated to-day what of old was said of the term 'Catholic' added to that of 'Christian'. Our forefathers used to say, 'Christian is our name, Roman is our surname.' In both cases the use of the surname is justified and required by the use made of the name by those who were not or are not of the true fold." (Life, p. 237)
Cardinal Vaughan himself, while expressing a preference for "Catholic", said: "Let others call themselves, let them call us, what they please. What they think and say is their affair. But let us assert equal liberty for ourselves - 'Roman Catholic' or simply 'Catholic,' just as we please, for both mean the same thing." (Life, p. 239) Soidi (talk) 19:50, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
"Each of these documents presents three distinct statements as truths actually revealed by God ... They assert that:... It is a divinely revealed truth that this one true ecclesia is the Roman Catholic Church, the social unit properly termed 'the universal Church of the faithful'" (Monsignor Joseph Clifford Fenton, The Catholic Church and Salvation in the Light of Recent Pronouncements by the Holy See. Westminster, MA: Newman Press, 1958, chapter I).
Patrick Madrid says
"It is not, by the way, properly called the Roman Catholic Church, but simply the Catholic Church. The term Roman Catholic is not used by the Church herself; it is a relatively modern term, and one, moreover, that is confined largely to the English language. The English-speaking bishops at the First Vatican Council in 1870, in fact, conducted a vigorous and successful campaign to insure that the term Roman Catholic was nowhere included in any of the Council's official documents about the Church herself, and the term was not included. Similarly, nowhere in the 16 documents of the Second Vatican Council will you find the term Roman Catholic. Pope Paul VI signed all the documents of the Second Vatican Council as "I, Paul. Bishop of the Catholic Church." Simply that -- Catholic Church. There are references to the Roman curia, the Roman missal, the Roman rite, etc., but when the adjective Roman is applied to the Church herself, it refers to the Diocese of Rome!
... So the proper name for the universal Church is not the Roman Catholic Church. Far from it. That term caught on mostly in English-speaking countries; it was promoted mostly by Anglicans, supporters of the "branch theory" of the Church, namely, that the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of the creed was supposed to consist of three major branches, the Anglican, the Orthodox and the so-called Roman Catholic. It was to avoid that kind of interpretation that the English-speaking bishops at Vatican I succeeded in warning the Church away from ever using the term officially herself: It too easily could be misunderstood.
...Very early in post-apostolic times, however. the Church did acquire a proper name--and precisely in order to distinguish herself from rival bodies which by then were already beginning to form. The name that the Church acquired when it became necessary for her to have a proper name was the name by which she has been known ever since-the Catholic Church.
...So the name became attached to her for good. By the time of the first ecumenical council of the Church, held at Nicaea in Asia Minor in the year 325 A.D., the bishops of that council were legislating quite naturally in the name of the universal body they called in the Council of Nicaea's official documents "the Catholic Church." As most people know, it was that same council which formulated the basic Creed in which the term "catholic" was retained as one of the four marks of the true Church of Christ. And it is the same name which is to be found in all 16 documents of the twenty-first ecumenical council of the Church, Vatican Council II.
...It was inevitable that the Catechism of the Catholic Church would adopt the same name today that the Church has had throughout the whole of her very long history."[81]
There can be no doubt that the use of the expression "Roman Catholic" (even among theologians of the less careful type) arose originally from a deliverate conformity to the Protestant habits of speech during the ages of persecution, with a view to avoiding unnecessary offense to sectarian prejudices....
It is certain that the [Vatican I] Council had no intention of recognizing the expression "the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church" as the official name of the Church...
In the first place, the name of the Universal Christian Society presided over by the successors of S. Peter is simply "the Church." No other body is, or ever can be, entitled to that name. Religious societies with a new and independent organization - that is, those not possessing a true priesthood - are not churches in any proper sense of the word, but simply sects.
The Church needs no name, and leaves names to sectaires. It is a noteworthy fact that the chief masterpiece of Catholic theology, the Summa Theologica of S. Thomas Aquinas, does not even contain the word "Catholic," and the same is true of most of the really great theological literature of the Church. For convenience especially in popular usage the description "the Catholic Church" is unobjectionable since universality - doctrinal, chronological, geographical, jurisdictional and cosmic - is the most striking and distinctive mark of the True Religion. The word "Roman," on the other hand, is not, never has been, and never can be, the name, or any part of the name, or even a designation of the Church of Jesus Christ. The "Holy Roman Church" is the Church of the city or diocese or province of Rome; just as the "Church of New York" signifiies the Catholic body of the city, diocese or province presided over by the incumbent of that See.[82]
The terms "Roman Church" and "Roman Catholic Church" date from at least the early Middle Ages, but the stress on these terms became prominent after the Protestant Reformation. The reason was to emphasize the distinctive quality of being not only a Christian, because baptized, but of being a Catholic, because in communion with the Pope. Modern Catholic Dictionary by Father John Hardon, SJ.
The most authoritative teaching of the Church on this important and yet delicate subject is the Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi which Pius XII published in 1943, and in which he simply and unequivocally identifies the Mystical Body on earth with the hierarchical Roman Catholic Church. When seven years later, certain writers were still not convinced, the Pope reprimanded their lack of obedience, declaring that "Some think they are not bound by the doctrine, set forth in our Encyclical Letter of a few years ago and based on the sources of revelation, according to which the Mystical Body of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one and the same (Corpus Christi Mysticum et Ecclesiam Catholicam Romanam unum idemque esse)". This removed the last vestige of theological hesitation about the mutual identity, and today the opposite opinion would be considered heretical. Hardon: Church and Dogma
Richard McBrien discusses the members of the church In Catholicism (1994), p.4. "Are Catholics who are in communion with Rome, Roman Catholics or just plain Catholics?" Gives arguments
It is "evident from the title which the author finds compelling." "To choose one side, however, is not necessarily to reject the other."
Some unrelated points of theology in McBrien's Catholicism were criticized by the NCCB (US).[83]
The same arguments about nomenclature exist in McBrien's other books, such as The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism (2008).
The name may be found in a number of Roman Catholic writers, and is generally used in the constitution of those states in which the Roman Catholic Church is recognized as one of the recognized or tolerated State churches. It is, however, not the official name used by the authorities of the Church who rather dislike it, and substitute for it the name 'Catholic' or 'Holy Catholic' Church.
"The Catholic Church with capital C, more commonly known as the Roman Catholic Church"[84]
Catholic deacon.
Writes in the book 101 Questions and Answers on Eastern Catholic Churches:
Catholic media outlets EWTN and Our Sunday Visitor both use the explanation given by Dr. Kenneth Whitehead in his book One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic to explain the name of the Church and can be viewed here [7]. Both of these worldwide United States media outlets used his explanation on their programs called The Catholic Answer which provides explanations to viewers questions about the Catholic Church. Catholic Answer's editorial staff includes a scholarly academic expert [8] named Colin B. Donovan who was professor of Theology at Aquinas College in Nashville, he is currently the Vice President for Theology at EWTN. There are numerous Catholic experts including several PhD's on the editorial staff of EWTN.[86] EWTN is a member of SIGNIS whose board of directors includes a representive from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications,[improper synthesis?] which is part of the Roman Curia EWTN is part of a worldwide media organization that operates under the Vatican[87] Its own board of directors includes "members of the American hierarchy and clergy" and "a large number of bishops and cardinals from the USA and elsewhere in the world, including members of the Sacred Congregations, have participated and participate in EWTN programmes"[87]
Much of what can be said of EWTN can be said of United States Catholic universities, which are members of ICFU, another of the international Catholic associations approved by the Holy See, as SIGNIS is. Membership of an association such as SIGNIS or ICFU does not involve approval of the Holy See for everything that the individual members do. This applies to EWTN, as well as the three United States universities, all of which are members of ICFU, who recently hosted events promoting sexual license, cross-dressing and homosexual ideologies.
Donovan possesses the basic baccalaureate degree and the higher licentiate degree in Theology but not the doctorate.[88] He was a professor of theology at a Catholic University.[citation needed] Before joining to EWTN in 1995, he taught Theology at Aquinas College in Nashville.[89] This is an institution that offers degrees in liberal arts, business, nursing, and teacher education, but not in theology.[90]
EWTN has also hosted the opinion of Anthony Dragani, who states in response to a viewer's question regarding the name of the Church being "The Church of Jesus Christ", as she believed had been stated by a Father Corapi, another of EWTN's "numerous scholary Catholic Church experts": "I haven't heard this before, but if it is true I couldn't think of a more appropriate name!".[93]
OED definition of "Catholic":
II. In ecclesiastical use. The earlier history of this lies outside English, and may be found in such works as Smith's Dict. Christian Antiq. or in Lightfoot's Ignatius I. 398-400, 605-607; II. 310-312. {Hasper} {kappa}{alpha}{theta}{omicron}{lambda}{iota}{kappa}{ghgrave} {elenis}{kappa}{kappa}{lambda}{eta}{sigma}{giacu}{alpha} ‘the catholic church’ or ‘church universal’, was first applied to the whole body of believers as distinguished from an individual congregation or ‘particular body of Christians’. But to the primary idea of extension ‘the ideas of doctrine and unity’ were super-added; and so the term came to connote the Church first as orthodox, in opposition to heretics, next as one historically, in opposition to schismatics. Out of this widest qualitative sense arose a variety of subordinate senses; it was applied to the faith the Church held, to particular communities or even individual members belonging to it, and especially in the East, to cathedrals as distinguished from parish churches, then later to parish churches as opposed to oratories or monastic chapels. After the separation of East and West ‘Catholic’ was assumed as its descriptive epithet by the Western or Latin Church, as ‘Orthodox’ was by the Eastern or Greek. At the Reformation the term ‘Catholic’ was claimed as its exclusive right by the body remaining under the Roman obedience, in opposition to the ‘Protestant’ or ‘Reformed’ National Churches. These, however, also retained the term, giving it, for the most part, a wider and more ideal or absolute sense, as the attribute of no single community, but only of the whole communion of the saved and saintly in all churches and ages. In England, it was claimed that the Church, even as Reformed, was the national branch of the ‘Catholic Church’ in its proper historical sense. As a consequence, in order to distinguish the unreformed Latin Church, its chosen epithet of ‘Catholic’ was further qualified by ‘Roman’; but see sense 7. On this analogy ANGLO-CATHOLIC has been used by some, since about 1835, of the Anglican Church.
And then, from sense 7:
As applied (since the Reformation) to the Church of Rome (Ecclesia apostolica catholica Romana) = ROMAN CATHOLIC, q.v. (Opposed to Protestant, Reformed, Evangelical, Lutheran, Calvinistic, etc.) ROMAN CATHOLIC is the designation known to English law; but ‘Catholic’ is that in ordinary use on the continent of Europe, especially in the Latin countries; hence historians frequently contrast ‘Catholic’ and ‘Protestant’, especially in reference to the continent; and, in familiar non-controversial use, ‘Catholic’ is often said instead of Roman Catholic.
It's definition of "Roman Catholic" is as follows:
B. adj. Of or belonging to the Church of Rome; = CATHOLIC a. 7.
The early twentieth-century Catholic Encyclopaedia[94] quoted the OED (an antiquated edition?) as saying under the heading "Roman Catholic":
The use of this composite term in place of the simple Roman, Romanist, or Romish; which had acquired an invidious sense, appears to have arisen in the early years of the seventeenth century. For conciliatory reasons it was employed in the negotiations connected with the Spanish Match (1618-1624) and appears in formal documents relating to this printed by Rushworth (I, 85-89). After that date it was generally adopted as a non-controversial term and has long been the recognized legal and official designation, though in ordinary use Catholic alone is very frequently employed.[95]
and commented:
Although the account thus given in the Oxford Dictionary is in substance correct, it cannot be considered satisfactory.
The "Oxford Dictionary" is probably right in assigning the recognition of "Roman Catholic" as the official style of the adherents of the Papacy in England to the negotiations for the Spanish Match (1618-24).
The scholarly 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, speaking of the situation in Europe in 1911 and in languages other than English, states: "On the continent of Europe the equivalent words (e.g. Ger. Katholik, Katholizismus; Fr. catholique, catholicisme) are even more definitely associated with Rome; they have lost the sense which they still convey to a considerable school of Anglicans. The dissident "Catholic" churches are forced to qualify their titles: they are "Old Catholics" (Alt-Katholiken) or "German Catholics" (Deutsch-Katholiken). The Church of Rome alone, officially and in popular parlance, is "the Catholic Church" (katholische Kirche, église catholique), a title which she proudly claims as exclusively her own, by divine right, by the sanction of immemorial tradition, and by reason of her perpetual protest against the idea of "national" churches, consecrated by the Reformation (see Church History, and Roman Catholic Church). The additional qualification of "Roman" she tolerates, since it proclaims her doctrine of the see of Rome as the keystone of Catholicism; but to herself she is "the Catholic Church," and her members are "Catholics." Yet to concede this claim and surrender without qualification the word "Catholic" to a connotation which is at best only universal in theory, is to beg several very weighty questions."[9][10]
from page 211 of Volume 4: [11] "Catholic - The word catholic comes from the Greek word Katholikos, meaning "universal". It was first used by Ignatius of Antioch (d. about AD 107) to distinguish the entire body of Christians from individual congregations. Subsequently, the word distinguished true believers from false believers. After the break (1054) between the Western church and the Eastern church, it was used to identify the Western church, the Eastern church was called orthodox. At the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, the Church of Rome claimed the word catholic as its title over Protestant or Reformed churches. In England, catholic was retained to describe the reformed, national church, although a distinction was made between "Roman" Catholics and members of the Church of England. The term Anglo-Catholic was coined at the time of the Oxford Movement in the 19th century. In popular usage, Catholic commonly designates a Christian affiliated with the Church of Rome." This excerpt was authored by John E. Booty, it is found on page 211 of Volume 4 of Academic American Encyclopedia, year 1995 published by Grolier, Inc. ISBN 0717220591
In the 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia, a cooperative effort of five Church scholars, the article onRoman Catholic an article by Herbert Thurston calls "Roman Catholic: a qualification of the name Catholic commonly used in English-speaking countries by those unwilling to recognize the claims of the One True Church. Out of condescension for these dissidents, the members of that Church are wont in official documents to be styled "Roman Catholics" as if the term Catholic represented a genus of which those who owned allegiance to the pope formed a particular species. It is in fact a prevalent conception among Anglicans to regard the whole Catholic Church as made up of three principal branches, the Roman Catholic, the Anglo-Catholic and the Greek Catholic.
With regard to the modern use of the word, Roman Catholic is the designation employed in the legislative enactments of Protestant England, but Catholic is that in ordinary use on the Continent of Europe, especially in Latin countries. ... From about the year 1580, besides the term papist, employed with opprobrious intent, the followers of the old religion were often called Romish or Roman Catholics. ... Neither do the Catholics always seem to have objected to the appellation, but sometimes used it themselves."[96]
After mentioning some writings by Protestants later than 1580, Thurston writes: "A study of these and other early examples in their context shows plainly enough that the qualification "Romish Catholic" or "Roman Catholic" was introduced by Protestant divines who highly resented the Roman claim to any monopoly of the term Catholic... On the other hand the evidence seems to show that the Catholics of the reign of Elizabeth and James I were by no means willing to admit any other designation for themselves than the unqualified name Catholic."
He indicated that the terms "Ecclesia Catholica Romana" and "Eglise catholique romaine" were in common use in Latin and French at the time when a corresponding phrase began to be used in English:
Thurston also stated that in 1897 and 1901, with regard to a planned address for presentation to the sovereign, who was also head of the Church of England, the British Government "intimated to the cardinal that the only permissible style would be 'the Roman Catholic Archbishop and Bishops in England'. Even the form 'the Cardinal Archbishop and Bishops of the Catholic and Roman Church in England' was not approved." The Catholic bishops agreed to use the expression "Roman Catholic Archbishop and Bishops", and Cardinal Vaughan later explained publicly how the phrase had a meaning that was acceptable to them, namely that the word "Roman" "insists that the central point of Catholicity is Roman, the Roman See of St. Peter."
Thurston's account is as follows:
Thurston himself declared that the argument that adding "Roman" to "Catholic" implies a distinction between a Roman Catholic Church and a Catholic Church that is not Roman "imposes upon Catholics the necessity of making no compromise in the matter of their own name. The loyal adherents of the Holy See did not begin in the sixteenth century to call themselves 'Catholics' for controversial purposes. It is the traditional name handed down to us continuously from the time of St. Augustine."
So the term Roman Catholic became accepted as a useful designation of those who owed allegiance to the pope, and it passed into legal usage. English Catholics resented the appelation in so far as it implied that they were but a part of the one true Catholic church that also included the Anglo-Catholics and the Orthodox.
"On the other hand, Roman is an apt designation of the true Church. Peter was given a PRIMACY in the Church by Christ; his sucessors continue this office; and as the se successors are in fact the succeeding bishops of Rome, the Church of Christ is by this token Roman."
"There is a further aspect of the term Roman Catholic that needs consideration. The Roman Church can be used to refer, not to the Church universal insofar as it possesses a primate who is bishop of Rome, but to the local Church of Rome, which has the privilege of its bishop being also primate of the whole Church."
New CE, v12, p298-9.
Same encyclopedia under the definition of "Catholic": "Finally the word Catholic is used of individual Christians insofar as they belong to the Catholic Church and are orthodox in their belief."
This section was copied from User:Taam/temp
This section lists independent reliable reference sources (Encyclopedias/Dictionaries), from mainstream sources, and their use/non-use of Roman Catholic(ism) as their main article/section title for information relating to the Church in communion with the Bishop of Rome.
This section was copied from User:Taam/temp
First page of Google Book Search for "Catholic Church" 31 August 2009.
Analysis
Conclusion: Unweighted-unfiltered Google by itself is not a suitable citation for proving what the academic consensus is re the name used in neutral reference works. It is clear from the search results they, in the the main, come from non-neutral sources. To use Google means delving into original research whereas good scholarly practice is to use reliable printed non-partisan reference sources. Google is not a substitute for independent academic sources.See also[14]
"As the previous section attempted to explain, the term 'Catholic' has so many meanings, and is claimed by so many different Churches, that it cannot properly be used (though of course in practice it is) to denominate one specific Christian community. The Christians commonly known as Catholics should more properly be known as Roman Catholics."[97]
"The Roman Catholic Church has the two adjectives, Roman and Catholic, in its official name."[98]
The adjective 'Roman' is part of its official name"[99]
"The official name of the organization is 'The Roman Catholic Church'."[100]
"By the end of the 16th century the term 'Roman Catholic Church' is used extensively as a title for the Roman Church and soon becomes the legal and official name of the Roman Catholic Church."[101]
"To avoid monotony, Catholic with capital 'C' is frequently used throughout the book for Roman Catholic. 'Roman' is used without prejudice, being part of the full official name."[102]
"Her official name is 'The Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church'".[103]