2. THE QUESTION WAS:
In the first few centuries
after Christ, the term Catholic Church was used to
describe________________________
a. set of Christian beliefs/
a group of believers with no necessary hierarchy
b. the Church that, by
definition, was in union with Rome, and was led by direct successors of
apostles
THE ANSWER IS .. B .the Catholic Church referred to the Church that necessarily was in union with Rome, was led by a direct successor of St. Peter, and whose bishops could trace their offices straight down the line to an apostle.
Catholic by itself means universal. But
whenever the word Church came after it, early Christians everywhere knew the
speaker was not referring merely to the body of believers. They were
referring to the visible true Church that was founded in Rome. Check out the
following web sites:
http://www.cin.org/archives/apolo/200005/0111.html
(the term Catholic)
http://www.chnetwork.org/journals/nesschurch/ness_4.htm
(The Church of the Early Fathers)
http://www.catholic.com/library/Apostolic_Succession.asp
http://www.catholic.com/library/Authority_of_the_Pope_Part_1.asp
http://www.catholic.com/library/Authority_of_the_Pope_Part_2.asp
http://www.catholic.com/library/Origins_of_Peter_as_Pope.asp
http://www.catholic.com/library/Peter_Primacy.asp
http://www.catholic.com/library/Peter_Roman_Residency.asp
http://www.catholic.com/library/Peter_Successors.asp
http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ12.HTM
(The Church)
http://www.turrisfortis.com/hierarchy.html
(The Catholic Hierarchy)
http://www.catholicapologetics.info/origin.htm
(When Was the Catholic Church founded?)
http://matt1618.freeyellow.com/unity5.html
(The Ancient Rule of Faith & Schism)
Finally,
Early Church historian J.N.D. Kelly, who is Protestant, wrote:
"As regards Catholic . . . in the latter half of
the second century at latest, we find it conveying the suggestion that the
Catholic is the true Church as distinct from heretical congregations (cf.,
e.g., Muratorian Canon). . . . What these early fathers were envisaging was
almost always the empirical, visible society; they had little or no inkling
of the distinction which was later to become important between a visible and an
invisible Church." (J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrine, Harper
& Row, 1960), p. 190.) (claires emphasis)
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