Reformed Evangelical Synod of America

This statement shows us the true meaning of the word ‘catholic’ as confessed in the Creeds of the Church. Catholic does not refer to membership in an ecclesial body under a specific worldly leader, but to the Church which, in common, confesses the essentials of the Christian faith that are laid out in Sacred Scripture, the Creeds, and in the unified witness of the Church Fathers.

This often leads to confusion among individuals when members of bodies not affiliated with the Roman Pope claim for themselves the term ‘catholic’, but, as Vincent of Lerins teaches us, being catholic is a matter of embracing a faith, not a specific leader.

It is the philosophy behind the Vincentian Canon that allows us to accept the teachings of the Nicene Creed in spite of the often un-Christian actions of those who attempted to impose it upon dissenters; it is also this faith that allows us to embrace the truth proclaimed in every age of the Church in spite of the many heresies that have plagued her, and the many crimes that people claiming Christ’s sanction have perpetuated in the name of the Church. These blemishes on the institutional history of the Church in no way become blemishes on the catholic faith when the faith is viewed for what it is – not an institution, but a belief system that has been given to us by God for the transformation of the sinner into a saint, the truth which alone has the power to deliver from darkness and transfer us into God’s own kingdom of light.

Now in the Catholic Church itself we take the greatest care to hold that which has been believed everywhere, always and by all. That is truly and properly ‘catholic,’ as is shown by the very force and meaning of the word, which comprehends everything almost universally.

We shall hold to this rule if we follow universality [i.e. oecumenicity], antiquity, and consent. We shall follow universality if we acknowledge that one Faith to be true which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is clear that our ancestors and fathers proclaimed; consent, if in antiquity itself we keep following the definitions and opinions of all, or certainly nearly all, bishops and doctors alike.

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