Dear Jeannie:

If you are Episcopalian, then you are Episcopalian. Catholic properly only refers to the Church under the Pope.

There are people who like to claim the term "catholic" for themselves, such Anglican Catholic, Presbyterian Catholic, etc., but that is dishonest and disingenuous. All other churches, other than Catholic, are not Catholic with a capital "C" or a lowercase "c".

No other church other than the Catholic Church is truly universe (which is what Catholic means). The Orthodox Churches are ethnic or national churches. The Anglicans are a national church. None of the "churches" out there except the Catholic Church are actually universal.

The Catholic Church is universal not only because she is in every country of the world, but more importantly because she incorporates and allows different culture to keep their distinctive cultural identities and yet by under the one umbrella of the Catholic Church.  That is why the "Roman" Catholic Church is only one branch (the largest branch) of the Catholic Church. There are about 26 other branches and sub-branches of the Church representing the different major cultures in the world. The Byzantine Catholics, for example, have a different liturgy than does the Roman Catholic. Latin is the primary language in the Roman Church, Greek is the primary language in the Greek Church.

Each of these branches has their own languages and liturgy, but we all have the same faith and are all under the authority of the Pope. This is truly universal.

In any event, the Catholic Church is the official name of the Church. "Roman" designates only one branch of many in the Catholic Church.

It has become custom, however, to refer to the Church as Roman Catholic since the Pope is the Bishop of Rome. Actually the term "Roman" Catholic was originally an insult. The Anglicans wanted to think of themselves as Catholic but did not want to associated with the Pope, so they called us "Roman" Catholic. The name stuck, but the Anglicans ain't Catholic no matter how much they protest otherwise.

Bottomline: you are Episcopalian, not Catholic.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary