Other churches have links to Jesus

Other churches have links to Jesus

Rosemary Orbegoso's impassioned letter regarding the role of the Roman Catholic church makes a mistake by stating an exclusive link to Jesus Christ for the Roman Catholic church.

There were other Christian churches that arose in the first century that were also the direct result of the outreach of the first Apostles and their followers besides Peter including early churches in Africa, the Near East, Europe, the Arabian peninsula, and even India. The Apostle Thomas reached India in 52 AD and made converts and started a church there. The Apostle Mark founded the Coptic Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt, in 41 AD, and it continues into today though subject to fierce persecution by Islamic extremists.

Certainly Thomas and Mark were Apostles and peers of Peter. And Peter in his writings in Scripture never referred to himself as the exclusive leader of the early Christian church or that he would be the first in a lineage of infallible Popes. He was far too humble.

Rome was one seat of power in the early Christian church along with Constantinople, the seat of the Orthodox Christian Church. They both arose at the same time and paralleled each other. And the Orthodox Christian church continues today.

Also, to address another point the writer made, Protestants do not claim that their tradition is only 500 years old. They trace their lineage back through the Roman Catholic church. Martin Luther originally sought to reform the Roman Catholic church and not create a new denomination or religion.

Tom Burke

Fox River Grove