How has the Catholic Church Developed?

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I wanted to ask simply, how has the Catholic Church Developed? I know this question may seem vague, so i will ask in terms of the actual Church (The building), interms of activities? I.e i heard, i’m not sure if this is correct, that the direction of Mass was different in comparison to the direction it is now. To put it simply, did everything that is in the Catholic Church just happen to be there or did it develop? Was it reaction to something that caused it to change ? ( if anything did change)
 
I believe you reference “ad orientem” about “the direction of the Mass”

This was one of the changes that happened after the 2nd Vatican Council.
 
hugga12 said:
I wanted to ask simply, how has the Catholic Church Developed? I know this question may seem vague, so i will ask in terms of the actual Church (The building), interms of activities? I.e i heard, i’m not sure if this is correct, that the direction of Mass was different in comparison to the direction it is now. To put it simply, did everything that is in the Catholic Church just happen to be there or did it develop? Was it reaction to something that caused it to change ? ( if anything did change)
Click to expand...
I will attempt an explaination of the Mass developement in so far as I know.
The principle 3 parts of the Mass have always been extent;
The Word of God, that is prayers; the blessing of the bread, that is the consecration or changing of the bread into the real body of Jesus, and the offering of his body as sacrifice; the Communion, that is the participation in the sacrficial meal.

As time marched on, these parts were surrounded by prayers and rituals, and varied by the places and people where the mass was celebrated. So it did change and grow but only in a superficial way, not in any essential way. So from the time of the last supper,
we can say that it is essentially the same from the beginning down to the present day.

Two different rites of the Catholic Church
  1. Latin Rite
    Roman Catholic Church
  2. Eastern Rite
    Armenian Catholic Church
    Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
    Bulgarian Catholic Church
    Chaldean Catholic Church
    Coptic Catholic Church
    Croatian Greek Catholic Church
    Ethiopian Catholic Church
    Georgian Catholic Church
    Greek Catholic Church
    Hungarian Greek Catholic Church
    Italo-Albanian Catholic Church
    Macedonian Catholic Church
    Maronite Catholic Church
    Melkite Catholic Church
    Romanian Catholic Church
    Russian Catholic Church
    Ruthenian Catholic Church (usually called the “Byzantine Catholic Church” in the United States)
    Slovak Greek Catholic Church
    Syrian Catholic Church
    Syro-Malabar Church
    Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
    Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church n Catholic Church
Here is a further expaned explaination

ewtn.com/expert/answers/catholic_rites_and_churches.htm
 
Hi thank you for your posts, In terms of reforms would i be correct in assuming most of them has happened since the second vatican council.These are what i think have happened, correct me if i am wrong or add if you want
1.Unity with other churchs, Eastern orthodox churches
2.Mass
3… changes to old rites and ceremonies (I’m reading it from a book, no specific examples)
 
hugga12 said:
Hi thank you for your posts, In terms of reforms would i be correct in assuming most of them has happened since the second vatican council.These are what i think have happened, correct me if i am wrong or add if you want
1.Unity with other churchs, Eastern orthodox churches
2.Mass
3… changes to old rites and ceremonies (I’m reading it from a book, no specific examples)
Click to expand...
  1. There has been no formal reconciliation with the Orthodox Churches. Technically, we are still in schism. Although the excommunications were lifted from the Orthodox Churches in the 1960s, there has been no act to unify them with the Catholic Church yet. There are certainly talks and whispers, but nothing formal has happened yet, so we are technically (and very actually in many places) still in schism.
  2. There were many changes in the mass after Vatican II. It was common, but not required, to turn the priest around. It was common, but not required, to celebrate mass in the vernacular language instead of Latin. Many other things happened with what we call rubrics, which are the written rules that tell the priest and people what to do, as in, physically and at what times during the mass. However, the basic essence of the mass still is, in fact, the same.
  3. Please someone else comment on this one, it’s huge and I’m tired.
 
The only book that comes to mind that may give your questions perspective/answers is “A Shorty History of the Roman Mass” by Michael Davies. Its short, to the point, and should be free online! This book was directed towards post-Vatican II Catholics, and the book has a slanted tone against the changes after Vatican II; this shouldn’t be a problem for your reading though. It covers Early Church developments as well. The only downer is the book is only a history of the Latin Rite (Rome), and not Eastern Rites.
 
I just started to read that book. i prefer it to be on Latin Rites, as im investigating Roman Catholic Churches, thanks for the suggestion of reading that book, its brilliant
 
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