What is a Catholic?
Just as the Catholic Church has the four marks of unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity so members of this Church also have several Marks by which they are known and can be distinguished from non-Catholics. In the Bible we read of Jews and Gentiles. And at the time of Jesus Christ you were either a Jew or a Gentile. There was nothing else. And so with Catholic we will distinguish between Catholics and Non-Catholics. Everyone is either a Catholic or a non-Catholic. However, it is out opinion, as we will demonstrate, claiming to be Catholic is not sufficient, one must possess all of the marks of a Catholic to truly be a Catholic. On this page We will summarize with reference to proof of each point. The points are lined out with their opposition, here.The first mark of a Catholic is Baptism. Baptism is the door through which we must pass in order to enter the Catholic Church. All unbaptized people, including catechumens are considered as non-Catholics. The second mark of a Catholic is that he accepts each and every doctrine of the Divine and Catholic Faith without question as coming from Almighty God. Catholics accept the Rule of Faith, which has been declared as true by the Catholic Church, which Jesus and the Holy Ghost have bade infallible. The Church defines doctrine through the Popes and the Councils. Catholics are obedient to the Roman Pontiff, teh Vicar of Christ, teh Successor of Saint Peter, commonlly called the Pope. Obedience to the alful authorities of hte Church is essential to good order. We have all heard of Roman Catholics. There are also conservative Catholic and Liberal catholics. There are Tradtionalist Catholics as opposed to Novus Ordo Catholics. There are Anglican Catholics, who preach the Branch theory that there Catholic Church has three branches, Anglican, Orthodox and Roman Catholic. We could go on with the various qualifications added to Catholic, such as Apostolic Catholic. So just what then is a Catholic? We shall proceed from the assumption that Jesus Christ founded The Catholic Church upon the Apostles. So then to our question:
