For 1500 Years, If Someone Was a Christian, They Were A Catholic

For 1500 years if someone was a Christian, they were a Catholic. Even the split with the Orthodox really wasn’t complete until the 1400s after the fall of Constantinople. Even during the years of the schism with the East, there was still the idea of there being one Church. That is why the East called upon the West during the Crusades. The understanding that for 1500 years there was Christendom...there was one Church. And Jesus said, “upon this rock I shall build my Church.” As a Fundamentalist, I had to think of myself as being like a bug on a leaf that fell off of a twig that fell off of a branch that fell off of a bow that fell off the tree 500 years ago. And now as Catholics, we are back to the root. We are back to the Church that can trace itself back to Christ. It is so neat to be part of something that goes back 2000 years and stretches into eternity, that reaches up to heaven and down to earth...it’s amazing. - Michael Matthews, Former Baptist Minister