“But to the Protestant ears when they hear “Constatine was Catholic” they say “aha, he made the Catholic Church...” In the 19th century, the Orthodox Church was much more adamant about stressing its catholicism, which is apart of the official name of the Church (Orthodox Catholic Church), but the term “catholic” has indelibly been etched into everyone’s mind as being Latin and Roman. Perhaps Latins and Romans need to be more aware of how their message comes across.”
You know, for the past two years I have tried to get this across to our Latin brethren and “sisteren” here on FR, and to the Western non_Latins as well. The West hears or sees the word “Catholic” or even “catholic” and immediately think “Roman Catholic”. It is particularly galling that every time I see +Ignatius of Antioch’s Letter to the Smyrneans quoted by Latins or from a Latin source, the word “catholic” is always capitalized. Every time one of the pre-schism Fathers is quoted one finds some reference to “The Catholic Church” somewhere in the lines. All the denials in the world from the Latins that this means nothing in particular strike me as disingenuous at best. Its no wonder that many non-Latins think some of the things about the One Church that they do and the fault ultimately lies with the Latin way of describing Church history, especially in English.
No, I disagree completely. To St. Ignatius and St. Athanasius “catholic” meant a concrete, visible, one and only Church that was in communion with Rome and in that sense both “catholic” and “Roman Catholic”. The capitalization was not invented yet, and certainly the absurdity of “invisible church” was not invented yet. Where you might fault us is how Roman Catholic is applied to the Church of the Seven Councils in a way that makes it somehow distinct from the Orthodox, Latin in praxis, scholastic in thinking, etc. But to go along with these intricate capitalization rules is to give in to the Protestant “RCC” way of arguing by labeling.
But we Orthodox are no less to blame for having dropped our catholic name, save at Baptism or when reciting the Creed or the Prayer for the Catechumens.
I don't think most people even notice it. And in Slavonic churches, the Greek word is translated into соборност (sobornost), so that the word "catholic" is never actually mentioned unless it is in reference to the Roman Catholic.
I have heard a few Serbs in America object to English liturgy precisely because the word "Catholic" is used liturgically – for "fear" that it would be "misconstrued."
You hardly ever hear any Orthodox clergyman refer to EOC as "Catholic" for fear of being misidentified (is that a "bushism?") as "Greek-Catholic" or "Byzantine-Catholic," etc.
The idea that we are a Catholic Church not in communion with the Bishop of Rome has completely evaporated over centuries, especially in the past one hundred or so years. The whole idea that there is One Church in which some bishops do not commune with others, is completely obliterated.
That we are one Church is without a doubt. How else can we explain that priests who cross from one communion to the other do not need to be re-ordained, unless it is one and the same Church? The same doesn't hold for the "priests" of other "branches." Anglican priests who choose to return to the Church are always re-ordained in the East and in the West.
When we start to think of each other (again) as One Church, in disagreement (which can be resolved in a General Council), and when we treat each other as family who don't see eye to eye on some issues in the house, but not as two different households, perhaps using the word Orthodox and Catholic will not be restricted to capital letters or as exclusive lables for one communiyt or the other.
When we begin to refer to our Church as Catholic, and Latin rite Catholics begin to refer to +Ignatius as an Orthodox saint, proclaiming a Catholic Faith, or when we say that +Leo the Great is an Orthodox Saint (which he is) instead of "the Pope," the idea that the Church is Orthodox and the Faith is Catholic may sink in again.