It was hot, so we moved outdoors (late at night). There is a streetlamp across from our house and I was sitting in the porch chair watching all of the insects swarming around it. (That is sort of cool, since that meant they were not swarming around me.)

Here’s the neat part: I saw a really BIG bug – and realized very quickly that I was watching a bat swoop around getting dinner! (Kind of like going to the food court at the mall)

I’ve always said that bats are the “good guys”. One park ranger out west told us that one bat, in one night, will eat a whole grocery bag full of mosquitoes. That’s a GOOD guy!

I used to have a bat house in my backyard – until a woodpecker started putting a hole in it. Maybe I should hang it up again.

If it’s acceptable to Elena, I’ll adapt my term to “Roman Catholic”. That will (possibly) be inoffensive enough for the followers of that church, without having to stop and explain every time we say that apostle’s creed that “catholic” doesn’t mean “Roman Catholic” – it means everybody who is saved.”

1. For the most part, I like to write about what I believe. Do I/Will I/Have I written about other denominations? Yes, and I’ll continue doing so.
2. I will write about non-Christian religions (Mormons are the ones I write about most).
3. Comments are open discussion. If I write about what I believe and somebody brings in what they believe, there will be a discussion. There are guidelines.

Elena posted on her blog a question about my motives for using the term “Roman church” instead of the term she prefers. She could have asked me directly, but chose not to – she does know that I’m going to post this here.

I do not call what is mostly known as the “Roman Catholic Church” by that name. It is not meant as an insult; it is a descriptive and accurate term that allows me to address the church, and allows me to stay true to part of my sincerely held religious beliefs, namely that “all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved;” thus the catholic (universal) church is all Christians, not just those who follow Rome

Why call it the “Roman church”?

This church is based in Rome. Their leader is called “The Bishop of Rome”.

There is a website that says, “Since the catacombs are only cemeteries, how can they tell us the history of the early Church in Rome? ”

Clement’s “Epistle to the Corinthians”, wrote a letter to the “sojourning Church in Corinth from the sojourning Church in Rome”.

So there is a historic precedent (used by followers of this church) for connecting this church with the city in which she resides. Also, throughout the New Testament churches are known by their city, no denominations are listed. Paul wrote as though this were a normal thing, not a pejorative. Using the New Testament as my model, referring to the Church in Rome (or Roman church), is not a pejorative and I don’t use it as one.
I don’t call this church the “Church in Rome” because there is a place called “the church in Rome” – I have used the term “followers of the church in Rome”, but that seems a little…unwieldly. Using “the Roman church” is shorter and people know exactly what I’m referring to.

Why don’t I call this church “Roman Catholic“? This is where my sincerely held religious belief comes in.The word, “catholic” means “universal”. As a believer who depends solely on Christ for salvation, by grace alone, through faith alone, I am a part of the “universal” church – the body of Christ.

Elena asked, “is she ill informed?”

I am not ill informed and Elena knows better. I know what Rome means by “separated brethren”, I know what Rome’s version of “unity” means. I know what the Council of Trent says.

I know that the church in Rome is not my church and I know that the Bishop of Rome is not my “father” (pope/papa Latin = father)

I am not a “separated brethren” – I am a part of the universal church, the body of Christ and God is my Father.

Vatican II clearly states that ecumenical activity cannot result in changing any aspect of the Catholic faith. Post Conciliar Document No. 42 says that the purpose of ecumenism is to transform the thinking and behavior of non-Catholics so that eventually all Christians will be united in one Church. It states that unity means being “in the Catholic Church.”

This is Rome’s version of “can’t we all just get along” – the only way to “get along” with Rome is to join Rome.

Before Vatican II, there was the Council of Trent. There are (I think) 33 (thirty-three) “anathemas”. By the judgment of the Council of Trent, I am damned many times over.

By Christ’s blood – I stand redeemed.

As long as the Council of Trent stands, the universal body of Christ, my “catholic” church, is NOT synonomous with the “Roman Catholic church”.

The Council of Trent and the anathemas have never been revoked, and they CANNOT be revoked (Paragraph 891 of the Catechism).

I believe that we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ -- and Him alone. Because I believe that, I stand cursed by Trent.

This “Catholic” church is not my “catholic” church. Don’t ask me to name it so.