Protestants Shouldn't Fear the Word "Catholic"

Almost a year ago, I happily attended a Protestant wedding of one of my good college friends. The ceremony included lots of Scripture, beautiful music, and a prayerful sermon on the meaning of Christian marriage led by the pastor of the church. Despite a beautiful wedding and the memory of happy couple, one thing has kept coming to mind about that day. As part of the wedding the congregation recited the Apostles’ Creed, which is all very well and good, but I couldn’t help but notice that they changed one word of the prayer, a seemingly insignificant word to most of the Protestant congregation, but an important word to me, nonetheless. Towards the end of the Creed, we profess, “I believe in one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic church.” The prayer that was printed on a cue card within the pews replaced the word Catholic with the word Christian instead. What baffled me about this is that the Apostles’ Creed we said that day goes back all the way to before the Reformation and the founding of the various Protestant denominations we still have today.

More than one kind of “catholic”

Now, I don’t know the reason as to why they would change the word Catholic to the word Christian. Perhaps it was an attempt to distance themselves from the official doctrines of the Catholic Church they disagree about, or their own joy in being Protestant. What I DO know is that even Protestants should keep the word Catholic in their recitation of the Apostles’ Creed. This is because despite our theological disagreements, Protestants can still claim to be Catholic, in a special sense. To understand why we must first know what the term Catholic means. The word Catholic comes from the Greek term katholikos, which translates to “according to the whole.” This is where we get our modern definition for the word Catholic: universal. With that understanding, we can see how the Protestants can call themselves a part of this universal church. I as a Catholic hold many doctrines in common with the Protestants: belief in the Trinity, the resurrection of the dead, the existence of heaven, and the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. These doctrines that I share in common with other denominations can be referred to as truly “catholic” ones, with a small c.

The biggest difference between Catholics and Protestants

So, if Protestants can share some universal doctrines with Catholics in harmony without any sort of theological disagreement, does this automatically mean that we are one big happy family? Yes and no. While it is true that the Catholic Church officially refers Protestants using the term separated brethren, both words of the phrase separated brethren are important. We are brethren in the fact that we hold in common many of the doctrines I listed above, and we have one heavenly Father due to a common baptismal formula. At the same time, let us not forget that there are deep separations among the various denominations, even within Protestantism. The heart of the disagreement between Protestantism and Catholicism seems to come down to the question of authority. Catholics accept that Christ has given the Pope divine authority to bind things to the consciences of every Christian, enforcing teachings on faith and morals that might not be explicitly found in Scripture, but should still be followed; and Protestants do not. Protestants see the Bible as the only binding force of authority on their spiritual lives which is why we have disagreements on matters of faith (how many books are in the biblical canon) and morals (abortion, contraception, gay marriage, etc.)

Conclusion

These theological differences between Catholics and Protestants are things near and dear to my heart because Jesus himself prayed that all his followers would be one (John 17:11). It’s sad to see a Protestant version of the Apostles’ Creed replace the word “catholic” with Christian because that only deepens the divide between our churches. So, I beg you my dear readers, whichever denomination you call home, please don’t cause unnecessary squabbles over our shared Christianity to define yourself by stating what you don’t believe. That isn’t the way of true fellowship. Do I as a Catholic wish that all Protestants would become Catholic? Absolutely, and I believe there are good reasons for conversion; but I don’t want to force differences to become prominent when they don’t need to be. The Body of Christ is wounded enough as it is. Protestants, embrace the universal beliefs you share with your Catholic brothers and sisters. Just remember you’re “catholic” with a small c.