NEW DELHI, June 8 -- Absurd! This is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. How can one be both a Catholic and a Pentecostal? When we use caps to denote Proper Nouns then it may seem contradictory. But if we use small letters to denote adjectives, then the apparent contradiction is removed.
Catholic, as we know, means universal. It was initially used as an adjective to describe the church and to distinguish it from some divergent groups in the second century, by bishop and martyr St Ignatius of Antioch. It is only centuries later that it assumed the form of a Proper Noun to denote the church headed by the pope, who now resides in Rome. In like manner, pentecostal is also an adjective to describe the events of the first Pentecost. It is onl...