Catholics

Question

When Logos mentions "Catholics" in referring to resources, etc., is Logos meaning "Roman Catholics" or Catholics?

MJ. Smith · Answer

Most people know that the Eastern Orthodox Church is the combination of the Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Bulgarian Orthodox, etc. And they know that when they see a collection of Orthodox books, Eastern Orthodox with an emphasis on Russian and Greek is meant BECAUSE that is what has been translated into English. Fewer people (in the West) know that the Catholic Church is a combination of Western (Latin or "Roman") Catholics, Maronites, Melkites, Coptic, Byzantine, Mar Tomas … etc. So when you see a collection of Catholic books you expect to see the primary emphasis to be on the Latin/Roman church but with a sprinkling of the other groups. Verbum used to offer packages aimed at the Anglo-Catholic Ordinariate use (a term meaning they have special authority to use a modified Book of Common Prayer for their services). And a package aimed at the Eastern rites e.g. Maronites, Melkites … The latter two options are no longer shown on the Verbum site - I'm not sure when they were removed. Nor do I know why the change was made - I would guess difficulty in acquiring additional resources or ignorance of the differences.

But you will never get me to claim to be Roman Catholic although my parish is firmly in the Roman/Latin rite camp. That is because much of my theology is firmly in the Byzantine camp while firmly within the Catholic tradition. But if Logos/Verbum is to succeed in the global market, it must recognize that the Catholic Church is the Catholic Church of which "Roman Catholic" is simply the largest slice.

Another way to describe it is that every  historic Orthodox Church has a Catholic parallel using the same worship service and theology. In fact, the Catholic Church has more Byzantine rite churches than the Orthodox - Maronite and Italo-Albanian (I'm counting on my memory for the second. To speak only of Roman Catholic is to deny the heritage of the 23 more "Orthodox" churches under the Catholic umbrella.

Rick Ratzlaff · Answer

MJ your above my pay grade. Sorry.

So, in an example above, when they ask this question, are the assuming NOT ROMAN CATHOLIC, but the World Wide "Catholic Church. I also see Logos offers library books groups or resources based on a selection of Denominational bent. "Catholic" is one option. Are you saying that collection is NOT bent toward Roman Catholic Church theology. I hope I'm clear?

MJ. Smith · Answer

I believe they mean the Catholic Church - all rites - not the Roman Catholic subset of Western Catholics or Latin Rite Catholics which is what most Protestants think of when they say "Roman Catholic". I don't think Logos ever use the term "Catholic" to mean the broader range of churches that consider themselves to be "catholic". That is one reason I use the acronym ACELO ((high)Anglican-Catholic-Eastern Orthodox-(high)Lutheran-Oriental Orthodox)