Catholic is an uncomfortable word for many protestants because of its modern day association with the Roman church. However, the church fathers who wrote the Nicene Creed did not understand catholic to mean the Roman Catholic Church. The visible and invisible idea can also be helpful when determining what it means to be catholic. Along with a distinction of true and imitating Christians, a distinction must be drawn between true and imitating churches. The early church differentiated between the two by describing the true church as catholic. Cyril of Jerusalem warns, “if you ever have cause to visit a strange town, do not ask simply… “Where is the church?” Instead, ask “Where is the catholic church?” Explaining the meaning of catholic, Cyril states, “the church is called “catholic” because it extends through all the world, from one end of the earth to another; and because it teaches completely, and without any omissions, all the doctrines which ought to be known to humanity concerning both things that are visible and invisible.” Concerning Cyril’s first distinction, modern Christians will often refer to the church as universal.
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Summarizing Thomas Aquinas, one can say that the church is universal in that it spans across the entire globe, to all people, and through all time. As technology continues to make the world smaller, the concept of the church spanning across the globe and to all types of people has grown easier to grasp. However, the church expanding throughout all time can seem to be somewhat of a mystery. In addition to believers alive today, the church also includes all the saints who are with the Lord, or as the book of Hebrews puts it, “are enrolled in heaven” (Heb 12:23). This broadest understanding of the church, to include those past and present is what Stanley J. Grenz refers to as the “mystical church”, “the one body composed of all believers of all ages.” One beautiful aspect of this understanding of the church is the impact it has on worship. When Christians gather for worship, they do so in union with those who are eternally worshiping God. This reality is conveyed in the Book of Common Prayer’s Eucharist when the celebrant declares, “therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name; evermore praising thee…” Cyril’s comment on doctrine is also very important in understanding what it means for the church to be catholic. Focussing in on the individual, Phillip Melanchthon states, “those are truly called catholic who accept the doctrine of the truly catholic church, i.e., that which is supported by the witness of all time, of all ages, which believes what the prophets and apostles taught and which does not tolerate factions, heresies, and heretical assemblies” Melanchthon is drawing upon what is commonly known as the Vincentian Canon which states, “what is believed everywhere, always and by everyone. This is truly and properly Catholic.” Gerald O’ Collins claims that Vincent’s Canon needs a few qualifications such as adding the phrases, “what is believed at least implicitly, always and by everyone precisely as part of the saving Gospel of Christ.” Collins’ adds his qualifiers to guard against improper use of the Canon in regards to notorious false Christian believes such as acceptance of slavery. With or without Collin’s qualifiers, the Canon points to the belief that “any judgements and decisions about inherited traditions must be seriously checked against the collective experience of earlier Christians.” Therefore, the catholicity of the church has much to do with the believes and practices of the early church. One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church In an attempt to explain his church, Christ addresses his disciples and declares to Peter, “you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the key to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt 16:17-19). The interpretation of this text often divides the Christian community into those who point to its role in apostolic succession and those who see Peter as a representing all Christians. Yet, on both sides of the argument,
Summarizing Thomas Aquinas, one can say that the church is universal in that it spans across the entire globe, to all people, and through all time. As technology continues to make the world smaller, the concept of the church spanning across the globe and to all types of people has grown easier to grasp. However, the church expanding throughout all time can seem to be somewhat of a mystery. In addition to believers alive today, the church also includes all the saints who are with the Lord, or as the book of Hebrews puts it, “are enrolled in heaven” (Heb 12:23). This broadest understanding of the church, to include those past and present is what Stanley J. Grenz refers to as the “mystical church”, “the one body composed of all believers of all ages.” One beautiful aspect of this understanding of the church is the impact it has on worship. When Christians gather for worship, they do so in union with those who are eternally worshiping God. This reality is conveyed in the Book of Common Prayer’s Eucharist when the celebrant declares, “therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name; evermore praising thee…” Cyril’s comment on doctrine is also very important in understanding what it means for the church to be catholic. Focussing in on the individual, Phillip Melanchthon states, “those are truly called catholic who accept the doctrine of the truly catholic church, i.e., that which is supported by the witness of all time, of all ages, which believes what the prophets and apostles taught and which does not tolerate factions, heresies, and heretical assemblies” Melanchthon is drawing upon what is commonly known as the Vincentian Canon which states, “what is believed everywhere, always and by everyone. This is truly and properly Catholic.” Gerald O’ Collins claims that Vincent’s Canon needs a few qualifications such as adding the phrases, “what is believed at least implicitly, always and by everyone precisely as part of the saving Gospel of Christ.” Collins’ adds his qualifiers to guard against improper use of the Canon in regards to notorious false Christian believes such as acceptance of slavery. With or without Collin’s qualifiers, the Canon points to the belief that “any judgements and decisions about inherited traditions must be seriously checked against the collective experience of earlier Christians.” Therefore, the catholicity of the church has much to do with the believes and practices of the early church. One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church In an attempt to explain his church, Christ addresses his disciples and declares to Peter, “you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the key to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt 16:17-19). The interpretation of this text often divides the Christian community into those who point to its role in apostolic succession and those who see Peter as a representing all Christians. Yet, on both sides of the argument,