The term Evangelical Catholic is used by Christians who consider themselves both "catholic" and "evangelical" (meaning "gospel-centered"). Evangelical Catholic (catholic is the noun with evangelical modifying) can refer variously to: evangelical Protestant Christians who consider themselves catholic Christians that identify with the historic Christian Church, who believe that the early general councils and the Protestant Reformation were both part of the progressive illumination of the Holy Spirit; Roman Catholics who, in continuity with the long tradition of the Church and empowered by Pope Benedict XVI's proclaimed "New Evangelization" stress the centrality and salvific universality of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the necessity of proclaiming it. Evangelical Catholics usually refers to Latin-Rite Catholics, but may also include Eastern-Rite Catholics or other churches that are not Roman Catholic, mainly Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist.
Read more about Evangelical Catholic: Evangelical Roman Catholicism, Lutheran Evangelical Catholicity, Among Other Church Bodies
Famous quotes containing the words evangelical and/or catholic:
“Chastity is a monkish and evangelical superstition, a greater foe to natural temperance even than unintellectual sensuality.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
“In fact what America expects of its citizens and what the Catholic Church expects of the faithful are sometimes so different that they lead to an enormous ker-KLUNK between democracy and theology.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)