A Short History of Catholicism

My church, St. Thomas the Apostle, a modern Catholic Church

Note - Reference Links to the Bible are to the New American Bible, Revised Edition. Quotations are to the The King James Version, with which non-Catholic readers may be more familiar.

We know from Acts and the Epistles that the Apostles and the Jewish convert Paul, the "Apostle to the Gentiles," established territorial churches in Rome, Greece, Turkey and Macedonia, which today we would call dioceses. Historical evidence, as well as Acts and the letters to Timothy, Philemon and Titus, indicates that the Apostles appointed a successor to oversee each diocese in accordance with Roman imperial administrative practice. These successors are today known as bishops, so the bishop is a modern Apostle, at least for Catholics. The Latin word for bishop, "episcopus," from which we get our word "episcopal," means "overseer." There is a Catholic diocese, and overseeing bishop, for every human habitation on earth today. There are about 2800 of them, with a total of over a billion member Catholics. The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Biloxi, Mississippi, is newly-ordained Bishop Louis F. Kihneman III.

The Apostles were all Jews, and considered Christianity to be the fulfillment of Judaism, as explained in Hebrews and by Paul, using the Septuagint, the popular Jewish Bible, as a reference. Thus, Catholics accept as inspired by God all the books of the Old Testament that the Jews did, including the apocrypha. This was the only Bible the Apostles had, because the New Testament hadn't been written yet. The New Testament is a collection of instructional writings by the Apostles Matthew, John, James, Peter, and Jude, one of their close friends named Mark, a gentile convert named Luke, the Pharisee Paul of Tarsus, and the unknown writer to the Hebrews. These writings, along with the Hebrew translation of the Septuagint, were collected three centuries later and translated into Latin, the popular language of the Roman Empire, by St. Jerome. His work, published in 383, is called the Vulgate. It is still the official Catholic Bible. The New American Bible, Revised Edition is a modern English translation favored by American Catholics.

Among the Apostles, Peter was often the spokesman for the group. Jesus made him the leader of the Apostles by promising that he would build his church on Peter, and gave Peter the "keys to the kingdom of heaven." As Christianity became more widespread and the Apostles died, the successors of Peter, who became the bishop of Rome, were known as "the Pope," equivalent spiritually to a political monarch. Throughout history, there have been thousands and thousands of bishops and about 265 Popes. It became traditional for Popes to select a name upon election for the same purpose as political monarchs. The currently retired Pope, born Joseph Alois Ratzinger, is the 16th one to take the name "Benedict," so he was known as "Pope Benedict the Sixteenth" (Benedict XVI). The current and 266th Pope, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is the first one to take the name "Francis," so he is known simply as "Pope Francis." the next one to take that name, if there is one, will be "Pope Francis II." (By the way, the word "Pope" is correctly translated "papa," not "high priest," which is "pontifex" in Latin. The English translation is "pontiff," which the Pope also is.)

Matthew 16:18-19 "And I say also unto 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 unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

From the very earliest times, the Apostles appointed men to help them teach and care for their followers. Along with the bishops, these men, known as priests and deacons, are collectively referred to as clergy. The clergy are believed to have special powers and authority that allow them to conduct Christian ceremonies and forgive sins, and authoritatively to preach the teachings of Jesus. They are appointed in a ceremony involving prayer and the "laying on of hands" by one or more bishops. A Jewish clergyman is known as a kohen (not a rabbi, which is a teacher). There does not appear to be an equivalent to priests and deacons (or bishops or kohens) in Islam.

Matthew 28:19-20 "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Mark 16:15 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

Luke 22:19-20 "And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you."

John 20:22-23 "And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained."

Acts 6:5-6 "And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the Apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them."

Because Christianity arose at a time when Rome was the political center of the empire, Rome became the focus of Christian organization as well, and the Popes initially established their dioceses and residences there. (The Pope lives there today.) Initially the idol-worshipping Romans tortured and persecuted Christians, and all the Apostles except John were put to death for the "crime" of Christianity. However, Christianity became legal under the Christian Emperor Constantine in 313 (which allowed the meeting of the Council of Nicaea 12 years later), and became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 383 under the Emperor Theodosius I, the same year the Vulgate was published by St. Jerome under the sponsorship of Pope Damasus I.

The Roman Empire had become so large in the previous century that the Emperor Diocletian divided it in two in 295 AD. The capitol of the Western Empire was Rome, and the capitol of the Eastern Empire was established by Constantine in 330 as Constantinople, now Istanbul. Barbarians invaded and destroyed Rome in 455, leaving the Eastern half as the surviving Roman Empire. The Barbarians eventually established an empire of their own in 962, called the "Holy Roman Empire," but it was essentially a collection of French, German and Italian states which, for a long time, did not even include Rome within its borders.

This situation marked the first important division of Christianity, known as the "Great Schism." With the fall of Rome, the Western Empire became a collection of warring barbarian tribes that would eventually become the modern nations of Europe. The Pope was for a long time the most effective civil ruler, and thus became essentially a religious emperor of a barbarian empire in a time of ignorance known as the Dark Ages. Large areas of Europe became papal states, essentially owned by the Pope. The Eastern empire, however, continued to flourish, and the bishops there began to feel that the Pope was little more than a barbarian bishop presiding over the ragged remains of a dead empire. The leading bishops of the Eastern empire, called "Patriarchs," saw themselves as equal successors of Peter to the Pope. In addition, the Western Christians spoke Latin, while the Eastern Christians spoke Greek, and some of the decisions of the ecumenical councils of the West were not widely accepted in the East.

Finally, in 1054, Roman delegates traveled to Constantinople to insist that Patriarch Michael Cerularius recognize Pope Leo IX as his superior. Michael refused, and each side formally excommunicated the other. To make matters worse, the Pope began to appoint new "loyal" bishops in the Eastern empire whose religious leader had been Patriarch Michael. The two men thus became the leaders, or primates, of two different congregations of Christians living among one another. The ones loyal to the Pope are called Catholics, while those loyal to the Patriarchs are called Orthodox. Since there are a number of Patriarchs, there are a number of Orthodox religions as well. A friend of mine who lives in Moscow, Russia, is a member of the Russian Orthodox Church whose leader is Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. Another friend, an American/Israeli Palestinian Arab Christian (!) is Greek Orthodox; her Patriarch is Bartholomew of Constantinople (Istanbul). There are various Orthodox dioceses in the United States as well, the bishops of which live here and whose patriarchs, like the Pope, reside overseas.

This situation created a number of rites or traditions of administration and ceremonies, within the Catholic Church. The eastern rites, in eastern Europe and parts of Asia and Africa, resemble their local Orthodox counterparts, while the Roman or western, rite, is the Catholic church familiar to Americans. In both churches, metropolitans are senior bishops who exercise some administration over other bishops, but in the Catholic Church, all bishops are personally accountable to the Pope for administration of their dioceses.

Catholics see Orthodox as "split off" from the church Jesus built on Peter. Orthodox Christians see both sides as "separated." They regard the Pope as "Patriarch of the West;" first, but equal to the other Patriarchs. Catholic belief and practices have evolved over the last 956 years, but the Orthodox churches feel that they cannot make any major changes unless they are "reunited" with their "separated (Catholic) brothers." To go to an Orthodox (or eastern rite Catholic) ceremony is to see Christian practices as they were a thousand years ago. There is a Orthodox Church in America, the bishop of which is Metropolitan Tikhon (aka Marc Molland). The overseer of the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia is Metropolitan Hilarion (aka Igor Alexeyevich Kapral), under the direction of Patriarch Kirill I.

The second great division of Christianity is known as the Protestant Reformation (1517 - 1648). It began with a trip to Rome by a very devout German Catholic priest and teacher, Martin Luther. Religion was big business in Rome at the time (much like it is in Jerusalem, Mecca or Branson, Missouri, today), and the pious and scholarly Luther was shocked by the trinket sellers, carnival atmosphere, and selling of spiritual favors going on there. His reaction was something like, "This is not the religion that Jesus established!" His disdain for the abuses that had accumulated in the Catholic Church let him to reevaluate the things he himself believed. After much prayer, soul-searching and study, in 1517 Luther published 95 "Theses" (protests) which disagreed with some of the established teachings of the Catholic Church.

This got him in trouble with Pope Leo X and Leo's occasional adversary, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (who, as king of the Germans, was Martin Luther's king as well), both of whom considered Luther a renegade and outlaw. Some of the many contemporary Catholic teachings with which Luther disagreed are that sin is the result of a culpable choice, always avoidable; that every person has the ability to do good things that merit God's reward; that good works (not just faith) are necessary for salvation; that all the things which Jesus and the Apostles taught are to be believed, not just those in the Bible; and that the clergy do indeed have special authority which is not shared with the laity.

Matthew 5:44 "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;"

Matthew 25:34 "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:"

Luke 6:27 "But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you."

Luke 6:35 "But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil."

John 21:25 "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen."

James 2:17 "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."

James 4:17 "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

Meanwhile trouble was brewing across the English Channel! In 1534, King Henry VIII of England was refused a divorce by Church authorities from his brother's widow, Spanish Catherine of Aragon. In retaliation, he initiated a series of acts of Parliament which separated the Christian church in England and made King Henry, and subsequent monarchs, the primate of the English, or Anglican, church. The tradition of the king as the primate of the church was upheld by Henry's only son, Edward VI, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 16, and his 15 year old cousin, Lady Jane Grey, who was the reigning monarch for 9 days. But Edward's older half-sister, Mary I, Catherine's daughter, overthrew Jane's supporters and consolidated her reign by having Jane beheaded. She then attempted to restore Roman Catholicism by force, persecution and torture, earning herself the nickname, "Bloody Mary."

Plagued by ill health and palace intrigue, Mary died in 1558, leaving the crown to her illegitimate younger half-sister, Elizabeth I, who restored the Church of England. This religion is the official Christian church of the United Kingdom today, with the queen as its head. In England, its members are known as "Anglicans." They are known as "Episcopalians" in the United States, because they broke from the English church during the American Revolution. The current leader of the Episcopal Church is Presiding Bishop Michael Bruce Curry, the first African American and descendant of slaves (on both his parents' sides) to serve in that capacity. His predecessor was Katharine Jefferts Schori, the only female Christian clerical primate in history. Original theological differences with Catholics essentially involved only the authority of the Pope, but Catholics see the evolution of this religion, especially the ordination of women and acceptance of homosexual acts, as having severed it from the religion of the Apostles.

The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Pope in 1560. It was heavily influenced by religious changes in other parts of Europe and Scotland's common heritage with England and hatred of Catholic France whose Catholic queen, Mary, Queen of Scots, was their queen as well. Mary was brought to England and beheaded under the reign of Protestant Queen Elizabeth. The Reformation Parliament of 1560 disclaimed the Pope's authority, forbade the celebration of Catholic ceremonies and approved a Protestant Confession of Faith. The Scottish Reformation decisively shaped the Church of Scotland and, through it, all other Presbyterian churches worldwide.

The Catholic Church responded to the Reformation by convening the 19th ecumenical Council, the Council of Trent, from 1545 to 1563. Trent was blatantly adversarial. It repudiated and condemned Protestant theology, Protestant belief, Protestant practices, and Protestants generally. It more precisely defind Catholic doctrine, in light of Protestant objections, and created a hostile "us versus them" mentality in the Catholic Church that lasted 400 years until that attitude was formally disavowed by the Second Vatican Council in 1962.

King James I is perhaps the most influential person in the Protestant Reformation. His mother Mary, Queen of Scots, was a staunch Catholic, hated by Presbyterian Scotland and Anglican England. James was raised a Presbyterian in Scotland, and earnestly desired to demonstrate his rejection of Catholicism and his loyalty to Protestantism upon becoming king of England when the "virgin" Elizabeth died childless. At this time, few people could read, so the common man got his religious instruction from philosophers and scholars who could read and understand the Vulgate, the Latin Bible that had been compiled 12 centuries previously when there was only one Christian religion.

Realizing the political power to be achieved, James set out to provide English-speaking Protestants with their own Bible. He created a commission of 54 advisors to compile a Bible that could be understood by the common person, excluded seven books incompatible with Protestant beliefs (Tobit, Judith, First and Second Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach and Baruch), and would be the most beautiful expression of the English language possible. The result of their efforts, the King James Version (KJV) was published in 1611 and has been translated into every language of the world. (There is even a committee working on translating it into Klingon!) A version containing over 30,000 changes was published in 1881 and a Revised Standard Version (RSV), written in modern English, was published in 1951. Catholics consider the Bible to be an important element of God's revelation to mankind, written by various authors to particular audiences for their specific edification and instruction, but we believe that modern Bibles are only part of God's revelation, Catholics believe that His truth comes to mankind through many channels, including the history and beliefs of the early Christians that are not contained in Scripture.

The universality of the KJV and its translations into other languages has allowed modern Christians to read and decide for themselves what Scripture teaches. As a result, many new Christian religions have arisen in the past four centuries since its publication. Some of these are mainstream religions whose increasing popularity has stood the test of time. Others come and go. Up until 1962, the Catholic Church had an adversarial relationship with other Christians. Pope Saint John XXIII, a singulary tolerant soul, convened the Second Vatican Council specifically to heal the hurts for which the Catholic Church was responsible. Today, Catholics recognize the validity of the honest beliefs of all persons, Christian and others, and seeks to strengthen those beliefs and practices which unite us with them while respecting honest differences on both sides. Innovations such as use of local languages instead of Latin, liturgical practices which more closely resemble other Christian worship services, and joint participation in worship and Scriptural study have contributed to this effort.

Catholic and Orthodox religions are based on the authority of the Pope or the patriarch to teach what their followers must believe and must do to be saved, based on their official interpretation of the Bible and traditional beliefs. In the Catholic Church, these teachings are contained in the various decrees of the Popes or ecumenical councils. Their validity has nothing to do with their popularity or acceptance by any group of people. A compendium of Catholic belief is contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. More recent teachings are also available on the Vatican website. To be a Catholic, a person must believe what the Catholic Church teaches and do what it requires. Many people who claim to be Catholics don't do these things, even though they attend Catholic services, so they are not really Catholics even though they say and think they are.

These are some of the things that Catholics believe:

Almighty God, out of His overwhelming goodness, freely created man to live forever and to share in his own blessed life. The purpose of man is to be loved and to be happy. The quest for this love and happiness is expressed by God in His blessings to man, and in man in his desire to find and worship God.

Mankind was created in holiness, but the first humans, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God's command for them and lost the special blessings of God for themselves and all their descendants. In addition, human beings commit individual sins, which make them personally guilty before God.

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Romans 8:16-17 "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."

John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Matthew 7:21 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

Romans 2:13 "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified."

Philippians 2:12 "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling."

John 3:5 "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

Luke 10:27-28 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." And he said unto him, "Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."

Romans 2:14 "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:"

Titus 2:11 "For the grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men,"

Matthew 16:18 "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Matthew 16:19 "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Acts 2:38 "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

John 20:22-23 "And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained."

John 6:53-54 "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

Acts 8:17 "Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost."

Acts 6:5-6 "And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the Apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them."

Matthew 19:6, Mark 10:9 "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

James 5:14 "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:"

Catholics absolutely reject the idea that Salvation, once achieved, is guaranteed no matter how one subsequently lives. We believe that it is necessary constantly to strive for perfection by prayer, faith, good works and growth in the love of God.

Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

Philippians 2:12 "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

John Lindorfer