'Catholic', in this sense, does not mean 'Roman Catholic'.
In your opinion. If you have proof, by all means post it. People say that all the time and Catholics post the history and then they say the history is wrong relying soley on their own bias and opinion. If you know something we Catholics have missed then tell us, show us.
You know that the Catholic Church comprises more than the Roman Catholic Church, right? The Maronites come to mind as an example: Catholic, in Communion with the Pope, not Roman Catholic.
But I take you to mean that Catholic does not mean those Churches in communion with the See of Rome, correct?
I used to think that. Then I came to think that I just thought that because I didn't want the other to be true.
Normally when ‘Catholic’ is capitalised, it is intended to refer to the Roman Catholic church.
The small ‘c’ catholic normally refers to the body of all believers.
My apologies if you were already aware of this.
I would agree with you though that the ‘meaning’ of the statement is not the Roman Catholic church, but rather the body of believers in Christ, and it is to these that the Holy Spirit is given, not to any human ‘denomination’.
James reminds us that in Christ, there are no denominations, but that we all have Christ alone as our head.