The Catholic Church is comprised of a variety of Churches, traditions, and people who share the same basic faith and receive the same seven sacraments. But, while they are united by their belief, they are diverse in their expression.
The Roman Catholic Rite, also called the Western or Latin tradition, is just one of 24 different Churches that make up the Catholic Church.
23 Eastern or Oriental Catholic Churches have made their own contributions to the mission of the Catholic Church throughout its history as it spread throughout the world.
Started by Apostles and disciples of Jesus as they moved throughout the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia, Eastern Catholic Churches have developed their own customs, disciplines, and theology throughout their histories.
Almost all Eastern Catholic Churches were once part of Orthodox Churches that are separated from the Catholic Church, but these Churches are now fully in union with the Roman Catholic Church and under the authority of the pope.
Both large and small, Eastern Catholic Churches are grouped into five major rites, including Byzantine, Alexandrian or Coptic, Armenian, West Syrian or Antiochene, and East Syrian or Chaldean rites.
Each Eastern Rite Church has their own unique traditions, practices, hierarchies, liturgies, and canon law. All are equally valid, sharing the same rights and dignity within the Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Church is not the only Catholic Church:
Just as Catholic as the pope:
Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Matthew 28: 18-20
The Catholic Church is a communion of Churches:
The diverse liturgical traditions have arisen by very reason of the Church’s mission. Churches of the same geographical and cultural area came to celebrate the mystery of Christ through particular expressions characterized by the culture: in the tradition of the “deposit of faith,” in liturgical symbolism, in the organization of fraternal communion, in the theological understanding of the mysteries, and in various forms of holiness. Through the liturgical life of a local church, Christ, the light and salvation of all peoples, is made manifest to the particular people and culture to which that Church is sent and in which she is rooted. The Church is catholic, capable of integrating into her unity, while purifying them, all the authentic riches of cultures.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1202
Different styles of liturgical celebration and tradition:
Churches with rich and ancient traditions:
Preserving the ancient traditions and identity of Eastern Catholicism:
From the beginning, the Christian East has proved to contain a wealth of forms capable of assuming the characteristic features of each individual culture, with supreme respect for each particular community. We can only thank God with deep emotion for the wonderful variety with which He has allowed such a rich and composite mosaic of different tesserae to be formed. Certain features of the spiritual and theological tradition, common to the various Churches of the East mark their sensitivity to the forms taken by the transmission of the Gospel in Western lands. The Second Vatican Council summarized them as follows: “Everyone knows with what love the Eastern Christians celebrate the sacred liturgy, especially the Eucharistic mystery, source of the Church’s life and pledge of future glory. In this mystery the faithful, united with their bishops, have access to God the Father through the Son, the Word made flesh who suffered and was glorified, in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And so, made ‘sharers of the divine nature’ they enter into communion with the most Holy Trinity.” These features describe the Eastern outlook of the Christian. His or her goal is participation in the divine nature through communion with the mystery of the Holy Trinity. In this view the Father’s “monarchy” is outlined as well as the concept of salvation according to the divine plan, as it is presented by Eastern theology after Saint Irenaeus of Lyons and which spread among the Cappadocian Fathers.
Pope John Paul II, Orientale Lumen, 2 May 1995
Churches from the Holy Land:
A singular faith communicated to many nations:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Doing the work of Christian love:
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