Meaning of mother church | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The Church regarded as nourishing and protecting its members.
2. A church with oversight over another or others, now especially a cathedral or metropolitan church.
3. The original church of a denomination, regarded as having birthed the others.
4. The original denomination or community of believers from which other denominations and communities of believers sprang.

Examples

“Catholics regard Mary as Mother of the Church but an all-male hierarchy as the Mother Church.”

“Mothering Sunday arose from the custom of visiting mother churches at Mid-Lent, rather than the usual parish church.”

“The mother church of Christian Scientists is in Boston, Massachusetts.”

“The Church of England is the mother church of Anglicans around the world.”

“Not Rome, but Ierusalem should be the Mother Church.”

“Puritanism is the mother church of Western democracy.”

CEFR level