Sarah Mitchell
Catholicism is a broad church, encompassing a wide range of beliefs and practices. While there is only one type of Catholicism in terms of central beliefs, there are many different types of Catholic churches and parishes. These include Diocesan Roman Catholic parishes, Traditional or Extraordinary form parishes, Eastern Catholic Churches, Old Catholics, Anglo-Catholics, and many more. Each of these churches and parishes has its own unique traditions and liturgical expressions of the Catholic faith. The diversity within the Catholic Church allows local communities to embed the message of Jesus Christ into their own culture.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of primary "Churches" within the Catholic Church | 24 |
| Types of Catholic parishes | Diocesan Roman Catholic, "Traditional" or Extraordinary form parishes |
| Eastern Catholic Churches | 23 |
| Names of Eastern Catholic Churches | Maronite, Ukrainian Catholic, Byzantine Catholic |
| Other names of Eastern Catholic Churches | Coptic, Syro-Malabar, Armenian, Ukrainian Greek |
| Types of Catholicism | Roman Catholicism, Anglo-Catholicism, Old Catholicism, Liberal Catholicism, Augustinian Catholicism, etc. |
| Number of Christians in the world | 2.5 billion |
| Number of Christians who are Roman Catholics | 1.3 billion |
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What You'll Learn
Roman Catholicism
There are 24 primary "Churches" within the Roman Catholic Church, each with its own traditions and liturgical expressions. These include the Albanian Catholic Church, Belarusian Catholic Church, Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church, and many others.
Roman Catholic parishes can be broadly categorised into Diocesan parishes and "Traditional" or Extraordinary form parishes. Diocesan parishes are the most common in the United States, with Mass typically conducted in English or the local language, and the priest facing the congregation. "Traditional" parishes are more traditional and are denoted by women wearing veils, Mass conducted in Latin, and the priest facing the same direction as the congregation.
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Eastern Catholic Churches
The Catholic Church is composed of 24 churches—one Latin (Roman) church and 23 "Eastern" or “Oriental” churches. The Latin church comprises approximately 98% of all Catholics worldwide, while Eastern Catholics are a minority, making up about 18 million of the 1.3 billion Catholics in communion with the pope. The largest numbers of Eastern Catholics are found in Eastern Europe, Eastern Africa, the Middle East, and India.
The Second Vatican Council's decree on the Eastern Catholic churches, Orientalium Ecclesiarum, asserts that the "variety" of the Eastern churches "in no way harms [the Catholic Church's] unity; rather it manifests it." All of the churches are of equal dignity to each other and to the Western church, under the authority of the pope.
Some examples of Eastern Catholic Churches include the Byzantine Catholic Church, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Syro-Malabar Church, the Maronite Church, and the Albanian Catholic Church.
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Anglican Catholicism
Anglo-Catholics claim to restore liturgical and devotional expressions of church life that reflect the ancient practices of the early and medieval church. They regard the Book of Common Prayer, shaped by Cranmer, as the standard liturgical text of Anglicanism. They also draw heavily from the works of the Caroline Divines of the 17th century, a group of influential Anglican theologians who opposed Calvinism, Lutheranism, and Puritanism, and stressed the importance of apostolic succession, episcopal polity, and the sacraments. The Caroline Divines also favoured elaborate liturgy and aesthetics, and their influence saw a revival in the use of images and statues in churches.
Anglo-Catholics interpret the 39 Articles, which state that there are two sacraments ordained by Christ, as allowing for a total of seven sacraments. Many Anglo-Catholics practice Marian devotion, recite the rosary and the angelus, practice eucharistic adoration, and seek the intercession of saints. They also emphasise the importance of episcopal governance and the historical episcopate, and regard themselves as part of the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church" as expressed in the Nicene Creed.
The Anglican Catholic Church, or ACC, is a worldwide body of Catholic Christians who worship in the Anglican tradition. It was formed in response to the Episcopal Church's revision of the Book of Common Prayer and the decision to allow the ordination of women, which was opposed by traditionalist Anglicans. The Anglican Catholic Church sees itself as rooted in a Catholic stream of faith and practice that embraces Henrician Catholicism, the theological method of Hooker and the Carolines, and the Oxford Movement. It has since expanded into various countries, including Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and South Africa.
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Old Catholicism
The history of the Old Catholic Church can be traced to the 18th century when members of the See of Utrecht refused to obey papal authority and were excommunicated. The Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands, which dates back to 1724, was the first to use the term "Oud-katholieke kerken" to distinguish its fidelity to the faith of the Primitive (or "Old") Church, in contrast to the novel doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. The Old Catholic Church in the Netherlands was established when Cornelius van Steenoven was consecrated Archbishop of Utrecht by a Roman Catholic bishop, Dominique Marie Varlet, without a papal mandate.
In the 19th century, the promulgation of the doctrine of the infallibility of the pope in 1870 led to widespread hostility, including from the prominent Roman Catholic scholar J.J.I. von Döllinger, who was excommunicated. Although Döllinger did not join any separatist churches, his advice and guidance were instrumental in the formation of Old Catholic churches in several countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and others.
Old Catholics accept the Scriptures, the Apostles' and Nicene creeds, and the decisions of the first seven ecumenical councils. They accept seven sacraments as permanent obligations and uphold the conciliar basis of the church. Old Catholics differ from Roman Catholics in several practices, including the use of the vernacular in public worship, the optional confession to God in the presence of a priest, and the optional celibacy of the clergy in some churches.
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Anglo-Catholicism
Anglo-Catholics are Anglicans who emphasise the Catholic nature of Anglicanism. A "Catholic" is a Christian who holds to the canonical scriptures, creeds, councils, sacraments, and apostolic succession that united the original Catholic Church (the church pre-1054). Since Anglicans hold to all of these, the Anglican Church is a Catholic Church. They sometimes identify as "Catholic and Reformed", but even the Roman Catholic Church embraced much of the Reformation in the Council of Trent and Vatican II.
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Frequently asked questions
There are 24 primary "Churches" within the Catholic Church, each with its own traditions. However, there is only one type of Catholicism, referring to the central beliefs of the Catholic Church.
Some examples of these Catholic Churches include the Albanian Catholic Church, Belarusian Catholic Church, Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church, Byzantine Catholic Church, and many more.
There are three types of Catholic parishes: Diocesan Roman Catholic parishes, "Traditional" or Extraordinary form parishes, and Eastern Catholic parishes.
Roman Catholicism is the largest of the three major branches of Christianity. Roman Catholicism differs from other Christian churches in its beliefs about the sacraments, the roles of the Bible and tradition, the importance of the Virgin Mary and the saints, and the papacy.
