[this_ol_patriot]

Far be it to me to explain what an author meant in his quote but I always interpreted catholic in that line as meaning universal or affecting the whole of mankind, of liberal or broad scope and not meaning the Catholic Church as a specific religion. I guess the meaning lies in if Tolkien capitalized "catholic" or not in the original quote.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

You are correct about the meaning of the word "catholic". But note that this article is from a Catholic magazine. The author assumed the audience was generally Roman Catholic. Article titles are often shortened for editorial purposes. Given the context, I think the shortened form is understandable as Catholic, the religion.