You may or may not know that the Catholic Church is actually comprised of 23 individual Catholic Churches, all with their own traditions, liturgies, and regulations, and all in
complete union with Rome. The Latin branch is so overwhelmingly large, however, that even most Catholics don’t know that these other branches exist. They include:
**
The Western (Latin) Liturgical Tradition:**
- The Latin Catholic Church
The Alexandrian Liturgical Tradition:
2) The Coptic Catholic Church (patriarchate) - Egypt (1741)
3) The Ethiopian Catholic Church (metropolia) - Ethiopia, Eritrea (1846)
The Antiochian (Antiochene or West-Syrian) Liturgical Tradition:
4) Maronite Church (patriarchate) - Lebanon, Cyprus, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Argentina, Brazil, United States, Australia, Canada, Mexico (never separated, union re-affirmed 1182)
5) Syriac Catholic Church (patriarchate) - Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Palestine, Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, United States and Canada, Venezuela (1781)
6) Syro-Malankara Catholic Church (major archiepiscopate) - India, United States (1930)
**
The Armenian Liturgical Tradition:**
7) Armenian Catholic Church (patriarchate) - Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Palestine, Ukraine, France, Greece, Latin America, Argentina, Romania, United States, Canada, Eastern Europe (1742)
**
The Chaldean or East Syrian liturgical tradition:**
8) Chaldean Catholic Church (patriarchate) - Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, United States (1692)
9) Syro-Malabar Church (major archiepiscopate) - India, United States (at latest, 1599)
The Byzantine (Constantinopolitan) liturgical tradition:
10) Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church (apostolic administration - Albania (1628)
11) Belarusian Greek Catholic Church (no established hierarchy at present) - Belarus (1596)
12) Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church (apostolic exarchate) - Bulgaria (1861)
13) Byzantine Church of the Eparchy of Križevci (an eparchy and an apostolic exarchate) - Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro (1611)
14) Greek Byzantine Catholic Church (two apostolic exarchates) - Greece, Turkey (1829)
15) Hungarian Greek Catholic Church (an eparchy and an apostolic exarchate) - Hungary (1646)
16) Italo-Albanian Catholic Church (two eparchies and a territorial abbacy) - Italy (Never separated)
17) Macedonian Greek Catholic Church (an apostolic exarchate) - Republic of Macedonia (1918)
18) Melkite Greek Catholic Church (patriarchate) - Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Jerusalem, Brazil, United States, Canada, Mexico, Iraq, Egypt and Sudan, Kuwait, Australia, Venezuela, Argentina (1726)
19) Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic (major archiepiscopate) - Romania, United States (1697)
20) Russian Byzantine Catholic Church: (two apostolic exarchates, at present with no published hierarchs) - Russia, China (1905); currently about 20 parishes and communities scattered around the world, including five in Russia itself, answering to bishops of other jurisdictions
21) Ruthenian Catholic Church (a sui juris metropolia, an eparchy, and an apostolic exarchate) - United States, Ukraine, Czech Republic (1646)
22) Slovak Greek Catholic Church (metropolia): Slovak Republic, Canada (1646)
23) Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (major archiepiscopate) - Ukraine, Poland, United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Germany and Scandinavia, France, Brazil, Argentina (1595)
Virtually all of the “Eastern” Catholic Churches are groups from the various Orthodox Churches which have since reunified (with the exception of the Maronites and the Italo-Albanians, which have always been in union).
