The posts in this thread seem to ignore the fact that the Books of the Bible were penned by Hebrews/Jews (GOD'S Chosen People). Yeshua (Jesus) was a Jew as were the Jewish Apostles (just in case some think that Jesus was Catholic).
Also, lest some forget it was Roman soldiers that mocked, whipped and crucified Israel's Messiah. The sixty-six Books of the Bible (OT/NT) were penned by Hebrew and Jewish authors (Luke was not a Catholic) as they were inspired by HIS Spirit. The RCC was instrumental in preserving the books, but corruption among priests led to the Protestant Reformation. The result being the increased availability of the Bible to Protestants like the Puritans that arrived in the New World.
"The Puritans believed that God had formed a unique covenant, or agreement, with them. They believed that God expected them to live according to the Scriptures, to reform the Anglican Church, and to set a good example that would cause those who had remained in England to change their sinful ways."
The Apostles
were catholic though.
The word "catholic" is one of several terms used to refer to Christ's Church. As in "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church". "Catholic" isn't the name of a church, it is an adjective describing the Church.
The word "catholic" is of Greek origin, καθολικός (katholikos) which means "according to the whole".
The first recorded Christian use of the word is found in the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch writing around 107 AD. Ignatius was the bishop of Antioch, having succeeded Evodius (who had been selected as bishop by St. Peter) after Evodius was likely martyred under the reign of Nero. Ignatius, who had been serving as Antioch's bishop since the late 60's AD was an old man when he was arrested by Roman authorities and escorted by Roman soldiers back to Rome to face trial and, ultimately, his own martyrdom.
Ignatius speaks of the "Catholic Church", by which he means "the entire Church". In contrast to the local churches, i.e. the Church in Corinth, the Church in Antioch, the Church in Rome, etc. Because the unity of Christ's Body is beyond mere locality, and is universal--there is only one Church even though the Church can be found located anywhere.
As such catholicity was one of the essential qualities of the Christian Church. This catholicity was one of the marks of the Christian Church, pointing toward the unity of faith maintained by all the churches, holding firm to the teaching and faith received from the apostles (over and against the false doctrines of the heretics).
So, absolutely, the Apostles were catholic Christians. As it is the Apostles who established, by the working of the Holy Spirit, the catholic and apostolic faith that was to be received and confessed everywhere. It is precisely this catholicity of faith that the Apostle St. Paul speaks of in his letters when he exhorts Christians to be of one mind, to be of one faith, to not follow after false teachings and heresies. When the Apostle write, "
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1:8-9) he is telling the Galatians to hold to what they had received already, to hold firm to the catholic and apostolic faith. When the Apostle writes, "
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter." (2 Thessalonians 2:15) he is saying the same sort of thing.
This is why we confess in the Athanasian Creed,
"
Now this is the catholic faith: That we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the Persons nor dividing the Essence."
The first Christians were Jews. So that means the first "catholics" were also Jews. Since "catholic" and "Christian" are two sides of the same coin.
What you are confusing is the term "catholic" with the particular entity known as Roman Catholicism; and likewise seem to be confused as to why the term "Roman" is used to refer to that particular ecclesiastical institution. You make this error by thinking that mentioning how the Roman Empire persecuted the Church that this is somehow relevant in regard to Roman Catholicism. The Roman Catholic Church has nothing to do with the Roman Empire.
There are two reasons for the use of "Roman Catholic":
1) Catholicism maintains that "Roman" in "Roman Catholic" refers exclusively to the Roman or Latin liturgical Rite--the particular liturgical forms which developed around the See of Rome and which came to largely dominate liturgical forms in Western Europe. However there are other liturgical rites, most of the western ones have largely disappeared, however among Eastern Catholics (those Eastern churches which established communion with Rome after the Great Schism) there are the Byzantine, Marionite, Chaldean, and others.
2) However, most non-[Roman] Catholics tend to apply "Roman" specifically because of the unique position which the Roman See holds within Catholicism. Namely since Catholicism insists upon the primacy of St. Peter, and that the bishop of Rome therefore holds a primacy among all bishops--what we usually refer to as the papacy. While the word "pope" originally was a term of endearment for any bishop, in the West it came to be used rather exclusively to the bishop of Rome. It is this institution of the papacy, that the bishop of Rome is a more senior bishop and with a universal pastoral jurisdiction over the entire Church catholic that is regarded as the most distinctive feature. And hence the term "Roman Catholic" as used by non-Catholics highlights this particular feature.
It has nothing to do with the Roman Empire. For most of the last two thousand years the Roman See hasn't even been part of the Roman Empire. In the 5th century the barbarian invasions effectively ended the Empire in Western Europe, and the Roman Empire was restricted to its eastern half--which later historians have termed the Byzantine Empire. However the Byzantine Empire is simply an historian's term; it was simply the Roman Empire and it continued to exist until its final collapse at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century. So for around 75% of Christian history, for the 2/3 of the time the Roman Empire existed during Christian history, the Roman See wasn't even in the Roman Empire.
-CryptoLutheran