Hum 325: Universal Roman Church

When I first came to Walsh it was the first time I came into contact with people that were Roman Catholic. I had met people who called themselves Catholic, but this almost ancient term had eluded me for much of my life. I wondered what it meant and how someone all the way across the ocean without a hint of Italian heritage was Roman Catholic. What made this church Roman?

I have put a lot of thought into my conclusions that I have come up with as to why the church is Roman, but I would by no means claim to be an authority on the situation. The first part about the church being Roman is obviously the roots. It is in Rome, under Constantine’s rule and St Peter’s guidance that Christianity really began to get its foundation and grow into what it is today. Before it was an illegal religion, and while it had followers and they were growing, it really grew when it became the religion of the state in Rome.

Whenever we walk into these beautiful cathedrals, my first thought is,” WOW this is an incredible monument”, my next thought is, “ all this fancy stuff seems a bit unnecessary for a church when there are so many people the church could help with this money.” As I have learnt more about Rome and seen the importance of statues and monuments and decorations in their lives, I finally begin to understand why these are/were necessary. Yes, there would be many more practical uses for the time and money spent on these cathedrals, but in a time where emperors built magnificent buildings to glorify themselves, it is certainly fitting to go above and beyond to build something for the most high God. To have huge buildings like that of St Peter’s Cathedral to show a reverence for God, it is almost a way of saying we put you above everything else. I believe this to be the Roman part of the church today.

Now we can go on to look at how the church is global. The most effective and basic way to do this is to look at what the church is. We all know that a church is a building of worship, but THE church is simply a group of believers. There are catholic people on every continent of this world, and so without a doubt geographically, the church is global. The church is also global in the sense that anyone can come to the church, it is not only open to one group of people. People of different races, gender and social classes are allowed ( I choose the word allowed instead of welcomed as unfortunately I feel there are still many people within the church who do not welcome people of all kinds).
There is definitely a universal feel with a Roman twist to the Roman Catholic church.