Catholic=Christian

 

Evangelicals and other protestants often say:

«I am not Catholic, I am Christian».....

 

Let us recap.

 

Christianity comes from Jesus Christ: True God and True Man,

it stems from His Life, Death and Resurrection.

Soon after Jesus left, His Apostles spread His Word: the Gospel, 

to different parts of the world, and most of them were martyred 

for doing so (crucified, stoned to death, beheaded).

Christianity = Catholicism 

Catholics (Christians) were persecuted from the very beginning 

and risked their lives by attending Mass and for refusing to renounce 

their faith.

This happened all over the word, at different periods, also in Ireland, 

under the tyrannical British rule during the Great famine, when those 

who refused to renounce the faith were left to die of hunger. 

The persecution of Christians has never stopped, there has always 

been some parts of the world where this is taking place, and 

it is still happening today, in 2025, in many African countries, 

notably Nigeria.

Christ established One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

The Church is One (unified), Catholic (universal and inclusive of all

people) and Apostolic (connected through an unbroken line of succession

to Christ's own Apostles)

Christ is the Holy One who sanctifies His Church,

the Church's Holiness comes from Christ.

Christ established His Church based on 7 Sacrements:

Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Marriage, Confession,

Anointing of the Sick, The Priesthood.

Those are visible signs of God's grace and they are means for 

our personal sanctification, which is the aim of Christian life.

The Catholic Church has produced thousands of Saints, 

(Canonized; officially declared Saints by the Church), the most 

recent is Carlo Acutis (canonized today 7/9/2025) who died at 

15 years of age in 2006, and who used the Internet to spread 

information of Eucharistic Miracles and Marian apparitions 

through his website. 

But it was his holy and lively faith in the Eucharist that rendered

him saintly in his private daily life.

Then, in the 16th Century, Martin Luther: a Catholic priest, 

rebelled, protested, and was excommunicated from the Church.

He made up his own theology, his own Church.

Also during the 1530s; Henry the 8th, a great defender of the 

Catholic Faith until then, for his own very personal reasons,  

protested and broke away from the Church,

and established the protestant Church of England.

Protestantisme is based on: I will not comply.

There were also Calvin and others, of the same era, 16^th Century, 

who founded their own individual Church. 

And ever since then, 

protestant and evangelical churches have continued

dividing themselves, creating more and more denominations.

Estimated number of protestant denominations today: over 47.000.

 

While despite everything that has happened within the 

Catholic Church; the scandals and the betrayals from the hierarchy, 

and against the Catholic Church; the constant persecution,

she is still One.

 

Contrary to what many protestants assume about us, 

Catholics do not claim to be better than anybody else, 

but we do claim to have the Church that Christ Himself founded, 

not founded by somebody else.

It is Christ we follow.

 

The Catholic Church is made up of sinners, even though we strive 

for holiness, we know and acknowledge our human sinful nature. 

This awareness is important. We strive

for life in God, while still living in this low dimension ruled by Satan.

The Catholic Church do not have individual pastors for individual 

christian communities.

We have a world wide organized hierarchical structure of deacons, 

priests, bishops, in clearly defined areas of dioceses and parishes, 

and we have archbishops, cardinals and one Pope in Rome, 

who we call Holy Father.

This defines the power and responsibilities in each parish.

 

Every day the same Mass is celebrated in Catholic Churches 

all over the world.

The same words, the same Readings from the Bible, 

the same Gospel reading for each particular day. 

Every day has different readings and a different Gospel 

from the Bible.

Catholics who attend Mass regularly are therefore well 

versed in the Bible.

And nearly every day is the feast day of a Catholic Saint, 

so there is also some teaching on the Saint in question.

There also seem to be a belief amongst protestants and evangelicals 

that Catholics believe in the priest or the bishop or even the Pope; 

this is false, and it is called clericalism.

We do not, because we know that they are sinners too.

We believe in the Triune God; 

The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit; 

3 Persons in the One same Substance.