Examples of Diversity in the Catholic Church

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BASIC QUESTION: So I’d like to form a blog post in order to express how the Catholic Church is diverse (in a good way). That is, Catholicism is one in faith, and yet this faith is expressed in various cultures, rites, liturgies, spiritualities, religious orders, languages, movements, practices, devotions, and so on.

What are good categories for such diversities?


Blah blah, more info:

One obvious one is RITES: A good way to show the all-encompassing nature of Catholicism is to show how there are different ways of celebrating liturgy. There’s not just the Roman rite, for example, but the various Eastern ones as well.

Another category is religious orders. These express various charisms and spiritualities.

What are other categories I can bet express the Church’s diversity? Are there “theologies?” What about certain spiritualities (or are these identical to religious orders?)

How could I divide religious orders, and what is each known for? What about spiritualities? There is the Jesuit spirituality, the Franciscan, and so on… What else? There are also devotions. There’s the charismatic movement. There’s the Latin-lovers. What else?

I can list basic categories (rites, religious orders, etc.) But the problem is not knowing much about each one in order to best describe it. So any insight will be much appreciated!!!
 
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Go country by country and describe the Catholic Church in that country and its society.
 
Tagging off that, different dioceses can have different Holy Days of Obligation. Even in the US Roman rite churches, the day for The Ascension is different depending on if the local bishops moved it.
 
Okay what else? I’m not sure if different holy days best express diversity in the church haha
 
Perhaps visits from Our Lady? The first thing that popped in my head is how she’s typically dressed in clothes meaningful to the people she’s visiting - just look at Our Lady of Guadalupe, her attire is full of symbolism. She’s visited many different places: Our Lady of the Poor was in Banneux, Belgium, Guadalupe was in Mexico, Knock in Ireland, La Vang in Vietnam, Fatima in Portugal, La Salette and Lourdes in France, and so on… And to all these places, cultures, people, she is their Heavenly Mother.
 
I’m taking the easy way out here, but I recently bought a book at a Protestant book store titled “Four Views on Christian Spirituality”. The Catholic view was written by Scott Hahn, so I’ll quote him -
"… Think what must fall within the range of Catholic spirituality: the silence of the Trappists and the Pentecostal praise of the Charismatic Renewal: The rarified Intellectual life of the Dominicans (… not in the text - our local priest quipped recently the Jesuits have got more degrees than a thermometer…) and the profound feeling of the Franciscans; the wealth of the Knights of Malta and the elected poverty of the Missionaries of Charity; the strict enclosure of the Carthusians and the world-loving secularity of Opus Dei; the bright colours of Central American devotional art and the austere blocks of the German Cathedrals; the warrior spirit of the Templars and the serene pax of the Benedictines; Ignatian detachment and Marian warmth.

Catholic spirituality must encompass movements, schools, orders and disciplines in every period of historical development: the desert fathers of the first millenium; the consecrated virgins and widows; the cenobites, anchorites, solitaries, brotherhoods, and the various syntheses in the rules of Basil, Augustine and Benedict. Yet it must also include the rise of the friars of the Middle Ages; the mendicatns, itinerant preachers, crusaders, reformers, founders, artists, and guilds of artisans; and the lay confraternities. Catholic spirituality must somehow also contain teh rise of kaleidoscipically diverse lay movements in the twentieth century: Catholic Worker, Communion and Liberation, Cursillo, Focolare, L’Arche, Legion of Mary, Madonna House, Neocatechumenal Way, Sant’Egidio, Schoenstatt - a list alone could weight down our discussion!"
To say nothing of Universities, Schools and Colleges, Hospitals, Saint Vincent De Paul Society, Catholic Charities, and Prayers for every situation in life.
 
What are some other categories?

Spiritualities (matching religious orders)
Liturgical Expressions - like charismatic, or Extraordinary form, etc.
Liturgical Rites
Cultures (& languages)
Political Diversity & Diversity of Thought (Catholics aren’t only conservatives or only liberals, etc.)
Saint AND Sinner
Devotions
 
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