What is the Catholic Church?

Dr. Timothy LeCroy adds his voice to the discussion. His doctorate in Historical Theology gives him a unique perspective into early medieval ecclesiology. LeCroy engages the Roman Catholic claim that a church is defined by "apostolic succession." Dr. LeCroy responds:

The only problem is that the bible doesn’t define the true church this way, and neither did the catholic church before the late middle ages. I don’t have a copy of Denzinger on me, but I would guess that, as with most things, the doctrine of apostolic succession as we know it today was not articulated until the Council of Trent. Nevertheless, even the article from the New Catholic Encyclopedia on “apostolic succession” admits that all the churches did not even have bishops until the 2nd or 3rd century, and that in many churches before that time rule was by a college of presbyters, what we today call a presbytery.

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