The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

"54 THE FAITH OF OUR FATHERS.ever faith, allthe world over, knows us only by thename of Catholic. .So greatis the charm attached to the name ofCatholic, that a portion of the Episcopal body sometimes usurp the title of Catholic, though in their official books they are named Protestant Episcopalians.If they think that they have any just claim tothe name of Catholic, why not come out openlyand write it on the title-pages of their Bibles andPrayer-Books ? Afraid of going so far, they gratifytheir vanity by privately calling themselves Catholics.But the delusion is so transparent, that the attemptmust provoke a smile even among themselves.Should a stranger ask one of them to direct himto the Catholic Church, they would instinctivelypoint out to him the Eoman Catholic Church.The sectarians of the fourth and fifth centuries,as St, Augustine tells us, used to attempt the samepious fraud, but signally failed :We must hold fast to the Christian religion, andto the communion of that Church which is Catholic,and which is called Catholic not only by those whobelong to her, but also by all her enemies. Whetherthey will it or not, the very heretics themselves, andfollowers of schism, when they convert, not withtheir own, but with outsiders, call that only Catholicwhich is really Catholic. For they cannot be understood, unless they distinguish her by that name, bywhich she is known throughout the whole earth." 1St. Aug. de Ver. Bel., c. 7, n. 12.