# Types of Catholics (and an unrelated question) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 2, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-catholics-and-an-unrelated-question/179049 "2003-06-02T02:33:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UnwrittenNocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-catholics-and-an-unrelated-question/179049/21 "2003-06-03T19:24:40Z")
You have all forgotten the most coomon type of Catholic: **lapsed** ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-catholics-and-an-unrelated-question/179049/22 "2003-06-03T19:57:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > **Bricker** , please note the actual statement by **YoudNeverGuess** :Are you arguing that anyone actually considers St. Peter to be the _founder_? > Are you arguing that the nascent church was ever described in the New Testament as “catholic”? > > I think we should probably drop this sideline, but I don’t see the reply by **Dogface** as an attack on RCC history or teaching. Good point - Christ founded the Church, not Peter – but He placed Peter at the head of it as his vicar. I didn’t think it was an attack either, but I thought there ought to be some clarity; the Vatican DOES claim that Peter was the first head of the Church, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-catholics-and-an-unrelated-question/179049/23 "2003-06-04T16:09:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Um, **Dogface** , perhaps some are confused by the Byzantine Catholic Rite churches. There is an Orthodox Catholic church-it is in communion with Rome and answers to the Pope, but they practice in the Byzantine Rite, as opposed to the Latin Rite. They ARE different from the Orthodox Church proper. > \*\* No such “Orthodox Catholic” church exists. There are the Unitaes, who are “Byzantine Catholics”, but they are not Orthodox. If they are Orthodox, they are not Romanist. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-catholics-and-an-unrelated-question/179049/24 "2003-06-04T16:32:45Z")
Well, no, they’re not “Orthodox”, but they are sometimes just called that, as a slang term. A classmate of mine was from a church that was originally Russian Orthodox, but then it became Byzantine Catholic. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-catholics-and-an-unrelated-question/179049/25 "2003-06-04T16:33:21Z")
Coming back to the OP: While there are many, many splinter groups that split of from the Roman Catholic Church and still call themselves “Catholic” (Sinead O’Conner was ordained by one of these; Mel Gibson is very active in a splinter Catholic group that split with the main church over Vatican II; here in the DC area, a local pastor founded the Imani Temple to better serve the African American Catholic community. Most of these mini-scisms have about a parish’s worth of followers and dwindle out of existence after one or two generations), the term as generally used refers to the Roman Catholic Church. “Irish Catholic” is an ethnic description, not a separate church. Anyone who recognizes the Pope in Rome as his spiritual leader is a Roman Catholic. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-catholics-and-an-unrelated-question/179049/26 "2003-06-04T17:22:21Z")
Here’s [a list](http://jmahoney.com/groups.htm) I found of churches that use the word “Catholic” in their name, but are not in union with Rome. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/types-of-catholics-and-an-unrelated-question/179049.md?page=1)