<p>I think it is useful, as one of my catechists suggested, to distinguish between the Church the institution, the Church the hierarchy, and the Church the faith community. Another three-in-one.</p>
<p>Otoh, I once explained to a Jewish friend about the range of beliefs in the Roman church, the Episcopalian church, and gave a thumbnail of several of the larger Protestant denominations. At the end of it he shook his head and said, “Goys is goys.” I’d certainly make a more nuanced distinction among various flavors of Judaism but that’s another matter. Or Islam, fwiw.</p>