CATHOLIC

(Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.) A word •which occurs in the New Test, in the titles of certain of the Epistles, — those of James,Peter, and John,— signifying that they are addre ed to the whole or universal body of Christians, and not to a particular section of them. Hence the term has been used in later times to distinguish the church of Christ from all heretics, and schismatics, and has been a umed by particular churches either to separate themselves from all others, as the Romish; or to include themselves as individual members of the universal body, represented under different and subordinate local names, as the English episcopal church. The Romish church appeals to the decisions of the Council of Trent for its most complete and definite rule of faith, and allows no one to be a member of the Catholic church who rejects any of the tenets therein enforced. {See art. Roman Catholic.) The English church considers itself a member of the Catholic, but pa es no judgment as to what variations from its own formularies incur the guilt of heresy and incapacitate from such incorporation. See art. Church. [s. 215]