When we say the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, we affirm that “We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.” Have you ever noticed we don’t say “one, holy, Episcopal, and apostolic Church”? What do you suppose this is all about? As of the writing of this reflection, the Episcopal Church (and the rest of the Anglican Communion) is not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Is it ok for us to say we’re catholics? Are we supposed to say we’re something other than “catholic”? How do we define our catholicism if we’re not talking about Roman Catholicism? These questions are not at all uncommon for people who are exploring the Episcopal Church, and I think they are important for us to explore together as Episcopalians.
Although I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church and I attended Roman Catholic schools and universities, I do not claim to be a “former Catholic.” Instead, I say I am (and always have been) a catholic. But when I say this, it’s important for me to make sure I define what I mean when I say the word “catholic.” Firstly, you’ll notice that when I refer to the Christian denomination based in Rome and headed by the Pope, I do not call it “The Catholic Church.” I call it “The Roman Catholic Church.” Because Roman Catholicism has so many followers and so much influence on so much of the world, that denomination has convinced many people to refer to it simply as the Catholic Church. But calling the Roman Catholic Church “the Catholic Church” doesn’t tell the whole story. Richard Rhor, a Roman Catholic priest and Franciscan, acknowledges this. He said, “As a Christian, I had to choose between Roman and catholic. I chose the catholic end of that spectrum.” Fr. Rhor and I are on the same page with this statement.
The word “catholic” comes from Greek. The Greek word “katholikos” means “universal”. If we say we believe in one, holy, universal, and apostolic Church, and we say “we believe in one baptism”, then everyone who has received that baptism is, by definition, part of that universal Church. From my point of view, the Roman Catholic Church does not get to claim a monopoly on use of the word “catholic”. If something is universal, it characteristically cannot be exclusive. To be fair, Anglicanism does recognize that the Roman Catholic Church is the oldest continuous denomination within the Christian faith. But there is not even universal acceptance that the organization should carry that distinction. If you ask the Orthodox churches, they will tell you that Rome broke off from Constantinople instead of the other way around. It’s all about perspective.
Notice that the creeds don’t merely say, “We believe in the catholic Church.” They also describe the Church as one, holy, and apostolic. There are many denominations, but there is only one Church. In St. Paul’s writings, the Church is said to be the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ cannot be fractured. Sure, there are different understandings of what it looks like to be the Church in the world (and I happen to believe the Anglican way is the best way). But there is only one Church. People are different. We have different perspectives. We bring different experiences. We have different understandings about things. Even within denominations, there isn’t always agreement. As sad as it is that the Church is fractured into denominations, many of these fractures were the result of good intentions and good theology (although many were not). The Church in England split from Rome because people in England were different from people in Rome. They had different lifestyles and spoke a different language. The Roman way of being Christian was perfectly appropriate in a Roman context, but it didn’t make much sense in an English context. In a similar way, the Church in the United States needed to develop in an American context. Even though we speak the same language as our English counterparts, things on this side of the Atlantic are noticeably different than they are in the United Kingdom. Our different contexts do not mean we are in a different Church. We share the one Church, but we experience it in different contexts.
The Church is also described as holy, and that part is easy. God in the Trinity is holy by its very definition. If God is with us in the Church, then the Church is certainly holy. And apostolic means that the Church operates in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles. The bishops in the Church carry on the roles of the twelve apostles. There are now thousands of bishops, or apostles, across denominations. The Episcopal Church has an official policy that says we wish to engage in a full communion dialogue with any denomination that believes in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the Word of God, that professes the Nicene Creed as its statement of faith, that practices the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist, and maintains apostolic succession of the bishops. This is known as the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral and you can read about it on page 876 in the Book of Common Prayer. Essentially, the Episcopal Church does not want to take over other denominations, but we want to develop relationships with them where we can be truly “universal” or “catholic”. This includes dialogue with Rome and I am hopeful that one day we will reach a position of full communion with Rome.
I wrote earlier that I believe the Anglican way of being Christian to be the best way of being Christian, but I certainly do not believe it is the only way of being Christian. I don’t believe there is one way of being Christian. I believe following the teachings of Jesus and trying to enrich our lives by growing in faith and love is how Christians of all denominations do their part to show they are among the wider catholic Church. I believe as an Episcopalian I am more fully catholic than I ever was when I belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. I do not believe the Roman Catholic Church to be “invalid” by any means. I simply believe there are different ways of being catholic. Anyone who is a Christian is part of the catholic Church. I am a catholic and so are you.