As a LAtin Rite Catholic (the term “Roman Catholic” was coined to sow distrust), I dismiss anything claiming that “the Roman Catholic Church is the One Tru Church”. For starters, there are Eastern Rite Catholic Churches that are as “Catholic” as the Latin Rite.
The same Church that through Petrine authority confirmed the true Word of God in its assembly of the canonical texts after researching for over 200 years, hundreds of texts, cross-checked against the received oral tradition.
Whatever Church that does not believe in Petrine authority is an unvarnished heresy. I suggest you read the book by the renowned essayist Hillaire Belloc, “The Great Heresies.”
I’ll go with St. Ignatius of Antioch.
As early as 110 A.D., not even fifteen years after the book of Revelation was written, while on his way to execution St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote:
“Where the bishop is present, let the congregation gather, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church”. The Church believes that when the bishops speak as teachers, Christ speaks; for he said to them: “He who hears you, hears me; and he who rejects you, rejects me” (Lk 10, 16).
Here are just three examples that we can all agree are far more knowledgeable on the subject than the contrarians here. We can all agree these are not shallow or the low-IQ Christians who believe in Rapture, the Moonies, Joel Osteen and that crowd.
1. Ulf Ekman, the founder of Scandinavia’s biggest Bible school, with a congregation of some 4000 individuals, converted to Catholicism because his theological inquiry confirmed for him the indispensability of the Catholic sacraments.
2. Francis J. Beckwith, a “born-again” evangelical, a tenured professor at Baptist-affiliated Baylor University in Waco, Tex, was the president of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS), an association of 4,300 Protestant theologians resigned and joined the Catholic Church.
3. Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, was a pre-eminent Lutheran theologian in America. He knew his Bible-text and history like no other Protestant having taught and written extensively on the subject. When he converted to Catholicism he said, “I have long believed that the Roman Catholic Church is the fullest expression of the church of Christ through time.”
No one denies that....they separated over the issue of leadership....they are still Catholic and will return to the fold...