Download Why do we say we believe in the holy catholic church in our prayer

Responding to Thomas’ Questions
“Doubt is one foot raised…
poised to take the next step in faith.”
“Why do we say we believe in the holy catholic church in our prayer every Sunday
when we are not a Catholic Church? Do we really believe in everything that Catholics
do?”
Great question! – That prayer is actually a Creed – a confession or proclamation of
what we do believe. In the Apostles Creed we say “I believe in the holy catholic
church”. In the Nicene Creed we say “I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic
church” The Apostles Creed was likely written in the early 1st or 2nd century and the
Nicene Creed in the 4th century. Both are written to positively affirm the orthodox or
agreed upon beliefs of the “whole” Christian faith over and against heresies that were
cropping up. Think of it like a bull’s-eye. It states the baseline or the core of what we
believe as Christians. It’s a statement of unity for the whole church even between
denominations. You are correct in saying we are not a Roman Catholic church and we
do not believe everything the Roman Catholic church does. But on these central tenets of the faith we agree with Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Western Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, Other Lutheran
denominations (Wisconsin Synod (WELS), Missouri Synod (LCMS), Lutheran Brethren,
Lutheran Church in Mission for Christ (LCMC), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA)) and many other Protestant Churches. In effect we believe what the whole
Christian or universal or catholic (small “c”) church believes. The capital “C” Catholic
denotes the proper name of the Roman Catholic Church. The small “c” catholic means
universal or worldwide Christian church with the unity of shared faith and belief. In
this day in age when everyone seems to be defining themselves from their edges and
what makes them different it’s vital to have a statement like the Creeds to positively
say what unites us as Brothers and Sisters in faith and defines the center of our bull’seye.
As a Lutheran Church we also confess and affirm our beliefs in the words of the
Athanasian Creed. This Creed very specifically describes what we believe about the
Trinity and about Jesus specifically.