Here We Stand.
by Frank G. Ramirez
In my own historical-theological studies over the past 11 years as a catholic, I have discerned four kinds of catholicism in the West. There is papal catholicism, which is the most widely known (a.k.a., Roman Catholicism). There is a “catholicism without a pope,” which is manifested by certain Anglo-Catholics (or Anglo-papists, as my bishop once described them to me) and the Anglo-Lutheran Church. There is also anti-catholicism or ”no catholicism.” Granted this last one isn’t actually a form of catholicism, but I include it because its anti-catholicism is so strong and passionate that it actually is a part of its identity. The fourth kind of Western catholicism is that of reformed catholicism, which is manifested in the Catholic Reformation of the 16th century and its descendents. (more…)
