tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post7020338298563426861..comments2024-03-24T15:19:06.377-04:00Comments on The Continuum: Serving their generationFr. Robert Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892141425033196616noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-48516732890862146502010-10-17T00:43:30.983-04:002010-10-17T00:43:30.983-04:00Doubting Thomas:
I came across that great phrase ...Doubting Thomas:<br /><br />I came across that great phrase <br />in an old book I'm reading right now entitled "The Religion of the Prayer Book" by Rev. J.G.H Barry and Rev. Selden Peabody Delaney<br />(1919)<br /><br />I second your thanks to Fr. Hart for the Encouraging Work he does on The Continuum.<br /><br />Don+Donaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08396991014788111473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-24020047850944675152010-10-16T09:41:55.915-04:002010-10-16T09:41:55.915-04:00The term "catholic" (which we sometimes ...The term "catholic" (which we sometimes use with too much aplomb) is a slippery word. It has been and still is used a the antonym to a variety of things. Its earliest usage referred to the whole world-wide ("ecumenical") Church, contrasted with local assemblies, so "catholic" was the opposite of parochial. That is how main-line Protestants explain the word as it occurs in the Apostles' Creed. <br /><br />So the "Catholic" epistles of the NT are addressed to the Church at large, rather han to particular local churches.<br /><br />Almost equally ancient is the use of "catholic" to describe the Church as multi-racial, the opposite of ethnic (i.e., Jewish). So it can be said the Church became Catholic at Pentecost, when Gentiles were incorporated into Israel.<br /><br />In the time of the Councils and perhaps earlier, "catholic" became an antonym to heretical. Catholic became an adjective not only for the Church but for the Faith. In the Patristic period, the "Catholic Faith" referred mainly to the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, as the Athanasian Creed so explicitly states, "The Catholic faith is this...."<br /><br />That usage, emphasizing above all the Trinity and rhe Incarnation, remained the case up to and through the 16th century Reformation. Whatever their errors may have been, Luther and Calvin and their followers made a perfectly bona fide claim to be defenders of the Catholic faith and adduced tons of Patristic quotations to support their positions. They knew the Fathers far better than any of their modern despisers.<br /><br />For Rome, since Trent, "Catholic" has meant papal. The Catholic Church is the world-wide community in obedience to the Vatican. Not exactly what St Athanasius had in mind.<br /><br />For Anglicans in conflict with Puritanism, "Catholic" came to mean a certain doctrine of the Church, Sacraments and Worship. The Puritans also, be it remembered, made a robust assertion of their own Catholicity, in the Westminster Confession of Faith.<br /><br />For many 20th century Anglo-Catholics, "Catholic" means mostly "semi-papal," not exactly swimming the Tiber but just wading in it. So a "Catholic Churchman" is known by his vestments, and one type of chasuble is more "catholic" than another. And we have the strange phenomenon of the "Affirming Catholic" who abandons the Faith of the Church to preserve liturgical frou-frou. <br /><br />What a sad devolution this has been! <br />Athanasius went into exile so that some may debate the merits of the biretta versus the Canterbury cap.<br /><br />So will the real Catholic please stand up?<br /><br />LKWAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-27799778149175960842010-10-15T13:47:43.951-04:002010-10-15T13:47:43.951-04:00Thanks for the reminder, Fr Hart.
And does anyone...Thanks for the reminder, Fr Hart.<br /><br />And does anyone know who coined the following phrase: "The opposite of 'Catholic' is not 'Protestant', but 'heretic'; and the opposite of 'Catholic' is not 'Protestant', but 'papalist'"?<br /><br />Doubting Thomas<br /><br />(veriword: butgloma)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18902745.post-46748379130454294042010-10-15T09:51:06.089-04:002010-10-15T09:51:06.089-04:00Father Hart,
Many thanks to you for taking the ti...Father Hart,<br /><br />Many thanks to you for taking the time and effort to explain, and provide a venue for others to educate on, the complexities of church history and the finer points of dogmatic theology. <br /><br /> I hope that every priest in the Anglican Catholic Church, as well as other continuing bodies, have read Francis Hall's books. If not, they should do so as soon as possible.<br /><br />"Only to a simple mind is everything perfectly clear."<br />Aleksandr SolzhenitsynFr. Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18097549748468739701noreply@blogger.com