What is a Catholic church?

Answer 1

Yes, it is a type of Christian Church.

Catholic AnswerYes, the Catholic Church is the only Church. It was established by Our Blessed Lord, Himself, and He guaranteed that It would be one until the end of the world. He send the Holy Spirit to guide It until then. Other Churches, such as the Eastern Orthodox Churches are Churches only to the extent that they participate in the Church's priesthood as Our Blessed Lord gave it to us. Other Christian communities are known as "ecclesial communities", not Churches, as they have no valid priesthood, and no valid sacraments.

Answer 2

I think a catholic church is where you get baptised and receive a holy communion across a priest and well when you go to a catholic church you read religious hymns and prayers and remember Jesus meditation

Answer 3

It is the church founded by Jesus. Early Christians that had been with Jesus had to meet in secret after he was crucified due to Roman persecution. This church was termed Catholic meaning universal as Jesus's message of Good News was for all. Answer 2:

Some would disagree that the Catholic church is the Church that Christ founded and, instead, argue that it is a political accommodation of the Roman pantheon. Since the Roman church was not founded until some 300 years after Jesus' resurrection by Emperor Constantine's conversion. You can find additional information at the link below.

Answer 4

Early Christianity seems to have been incredibly diverse. For example, Burton L. Mack in his book (Who Wrote the New Testament) says that the branch of Christianity that Paul joined was quite different from that documented in the New Testament Gospels. Certainly, Paul wrote of those who taught "a different Christ". The Gospels, in turn, speak of "false prophets" - those who taught Christian doctrines different to those in the Marcan tradition. It is difficult to know which of these many groups really represented the original message of Christianity. Gradually a "proto-Catholic-Orthodox" branch of Christianity formed and began to dominate.

In the fourth century, Emperor Constantine gave the Catholic-Orthodox Christians state patronage. This branch of Christianity, and the Arians who espoused somewhat similar creeds, soon eliminated almost all support for other Christianities.

The Great Schism of 1054 resulted in the separation of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. On the one hand, the Catholic Church would say that it is the true heir of the former Church, by virtue of apostolic succession. On the other hand, the Orthodox leaders would say that the Orthodox Church is true to the early Christian traditions. Both could be accepted as the 'true Church'.

For fuller descriptions of the History of the Orthodox, Catholic and Christian churches please see the Wikipedia references.

Yes, the Catholic Church is the Church that Christ founded.

AnswerIt seems that from its very earliest years, Christianity was riven by divisions, 'heresies' and rivalry. In his epistles, Paul complained of those who opposed his teachings, teaching a "different Christ". He, in turn, visited the Jerusalem Church to inform its leaders, James and Peter, of the gospel he preached: (Galations 2:2) "And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privily to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run , or had run, in vain." Whether or not Paul sought an exchange of beliefs, it does seem that he believed his gospel to be different from that taught by the Jerusalem Church. There were other early Christian communities during the first century, with some scholars suggesting as many as fifty rival Church organisations.

We can no longer say which was the oldest Christian Church, although the Jerusalem Church of James and Peter, believed to have been the original Ebionite Church, appears to have existed before Paul began to preach. Nor do we really know exactly what doctrine either Paul or the Ebionites taught; the New Testament gospels were not written until many years later.

Thus, we can not really identify the 'true' Church of Jesus Christ, or even know if one single true Church ever existed. All Christians can do is listen to the claims of each denomination and make a choice among them.

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Catholic Answer

Bottom line: the true Church of Christ was founded on St. Peter (and his successors) and you can always find the true Church by looking for his successor - the Pope in Rome:

The Catholic faith emanated from God from the beginning of time, and was established on earth definitively from the side of Jesus Christ on the cross outside of Jerusalem when He side was pierced by a spear, around 33 A.D. Then it was shown to the world at Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit, fifty-three days later. We can know for certain that the Catholic Church is the true Church because Our Blessed Lord founded it on the Apostle Peter (and, obviously, his successors) and guaranteed that it would be One, that it would endure until the end of the world, and that it would be guided by the Holy Spirit, and that "the gates of Hell would not prevail against it." Thus we have Our Blessed Savior's word on it, and it has survived, along with the successors of St. Peter in Rome, until this day, and will survive the remaining centuries until we are all called home. See St. Matthew's Gospel 16:17-19:

And Jesus answering, said to him [Peter]: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

from The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 2nd Edition, RSV Note for Matthew 16:19:

the keys: A symbol of teaching authority (Luke 11:52). Jesus consecrates Peter as the Church's chief teacher, whose office will continue on through successors. the plural use of keysmay imply a connection with the "gates" in 16:18 and mean that Peter's position includes, among other things, the authority to release the righteous souls who are detained in Hades but destined for heaven. In the O[ld] T[estament] Davidic empire, the king appointed a cabinet of ministers for specific tasks in the kingdom (1 Kings 4:1-6; 2 Kings 18:37). Of these, a prime minister was elevated to unique status of authority, ranking second only to the king. This government structure was common among kingdoms in the ancient Near East (cf. Gen 41:39-43; Esther 3:1-2). Jesus here evokes Is 22:15-25, where the prime minister's office is handed on to a successor by the symbolic act of handing on the "key of the house [i.e., kingdom] of David" (Is 22:22). In Matthew, Jesus is the new Davidic king, who appoints Peter the prime minister over the kingdom of heaven (emphasis in original) in the Church. As in Is 22, Peter's position is designed for him and his successors; the office is meant to endure as long as the kingdom itself. Entrusted with the keys, Peter wields Christ's own royal authority (cf. Rev 1:18; 3:7).

from

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994

766

The Church is born primarily of Christ's total self-giving for our salvation, anticipated in the institution of the Eucharist and fulfilled on the cross. "The origin and growth of the church are symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the 'wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.'" Sacrosanctum concilium 5) As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam's side, so the church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross. (Cf. St. Ambrose, In Luc. 2, 85-89: J.P. Migne, ed., Patrologia Latina {Paris: 1841-1855} 15, 1666-1668)

767

"When the work which the Father gave the Son to do on earth was accomplished, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost in order that he might continually sanctify the Church." (Lumen gentium 4; cf. Jn 17:4) The "the Church was openly displayed to the crowds and the spread of the gospel among the nations, through preaching, was begun." (Ad gentes 4) As the "convocation" of all men for salvation, the Church in her very nature is missionary, sent by Christ to all the nations to make disciples of them. (Cf. Mt 28:19-20; Ad gentes 2; 5-6)

Answer 5

Yes, it is one of many Christian faiths. However, the different Christian faiths may have differing opinions about which faiths are truly Christian. The Roman Catholic church is not on every list, and there are probably no faiths that are not 'off the list' from the point of view of some other groups.

Catholic AnswerFrom a Catholic point of view, the Catholic Church is the only Christian Church that was founded by Our Blessed Lord, who sent the Holy Spirit on it at the day of Pentecost to assure the It would remain One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic until the end of the world. Other religions are Christian only insofar as they have a valid baptism and believe in the Nicene Creed in its traditional interpretation. The Orthodox Churches are valid Christian Churches in that they maintain a valid priesthood, even though they are in schism. Other ecclesial communities are heretical communities separated from the Church. Please note that Roman is an epithet first commonly used in England after the protestant revolt to describe the Catholic Church. It is never used by the Catholic Church.

Answer 6

Catholic AnswerThe Church is Catholic because that is how Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, set it up. The word in Greek (from which it comes) means universal, or according to the whole. The four "marks" of the Church, which we recite each Sunday in the Nicene Creed are that she is "one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic". The Church is Catholic because Christ set her up to be the universal means of salvation for all people, at all times.

from A Catholic Dictionary, edited by Donald Attwater, Second edition, revised 1957

Catholic

I. The word is derived from Greek and simply means universal. In combination with the word "church" it essentially merely indicates one of the marks of the Church, and was so used by St. Ignatius at the beginning of the 2nd century; but in the course of history it has come to be the distinguishing epithet of the Church of Christ and his faith: under other circumstances its place might have been taken by "apostolic" or "one." The use of the word in this distinguishing way became current and common in England only from the middle of the 16th century. In some mediaeval translations of the Creed unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam is rendered "one holy apostolic church general."

ii. A Catholic is any person who, having been baptized, does not adhere to a non-Catholic religion or perform any act with the intention or effect of excluding himself from the Church. A "good Catholic" is one who practises his religion to the best of his ability.

iii. Catholics normally call themselves Catholics without qualification, and are distinguished by the name alike in West and East; except for a body of High Anglicans, no other Christians use the name as a distinguishing title. But Catholics of the Byzantine rite sometimes calls themselves Greek Catholics, Chaldeans are so called, and Maronites always refer to themselves simply as Maronites - they avoid the name Catholic for the good reason that there is no such thing as a Maronite who is not a Catholic, and because in Syria the epithet particularly designates a Catholic Melkite.

iv. As an adjective, Catholic in this special sense should only be used of subjects of which Catholicity is predicable, e.g., a man as man, a church, building, or catechism. To speak of a Catholic artist or grocer, Catholic poetry or truth is inaccurate and misleading: an artist or grocer who is a Catholic is a Catholic as a man (and this without reference to whether he paints only ecclesiastical pictures or supplies cheese only to the clergy); poetry may deal with a Catholic theme or be written by a poet who is a Catholic, but is not by that fact anything but poetry; truth is truth and it is improper to call the truth about the Catholic Church, Catholic truth; (cf., Catholic arithmetic, a Wesleyan judge, Quaker music, and, particularly, Catholic culture).

Answer 7

yes, but it can also be an Eastern Orthodox or Anglican Church. The cathedral is the church in which the cathedra of the bishop of that diocese is housed.