Lecture 1
Introduction: What does it mean to be Catholic?

This question can be asked and answered from a range of perspectives – personal, cultural, doctrinal, sociological, etc., but here the approach will be a broad and deep one. Appeals to one’s own experience of, or feelings about the Church, or descriptions of contemporary events, or debates about particular teachings or practices are the standard fare in talking about what it means to be Catholic. But we need to probe deeper into the foundations and development of Catholicism and look at its religious and cultural roots, and at the very idea of the Catholic Church.