Not Methodist, but as someone who isn't a Roman/Eastern Catholic who recites the Nicene Creed at least weekly, I feel qualified to give a response, which I believe the Methodists would agree with.
"When we say "I believe in One, holy, catholic and apostolic Church", we don't mean "Catholic" as in the Catholic Church which is headed by the Bishop of Rome. When the Creed says "Catholic church," it doesn't mean the Catholicism headed by the Pope. Here's an excerpt from an Orthodox source that the Methodists would agree with:
The Church is also catholic because of its relation to God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The word catholic means full, complete, whole, with nothing lacking. God alone is full and total reality; in God alone is there nothing lacking.
Sometimes the catholicity of the Church is understood in terms of the Churchs universality throughout time and space. While it is true that the Church is universalfor all men at all times and in all placesthis universality is not the real meaning of the term catholic when it is used to define the Church. The term catholic as originally used to define the Church (as early as the first decades of the second century) was a definition of quality rather than quantity. Calling the Church catholic means to define how it is, namely, full and complete, all-embracing, and with nothing lacking."
Now, to back out of this DIR... :run:
