Tuesday, April 16, 2013

A Strange Unity

If the Catholic Church is supposed to be unified, than why does it need different rites?

 First of all, what is a rite? A rite, in a catholic sense, is a mode of worship that a certain part of the Church uses in its liturgy. These rights can vary across the different diocese of the Catholic Church. They are morphed and developed by the impact of local culture, ethnicity and background. There are twenty-one different recognized rites in the Catholic Church. Their main difference is the language that they are spoken in; these languages vary from Arabic to Armanian.

So why does the Church allos such variation if it preaches "oneness" as one of its marks? Mostly because the core of what these liturgies are saying remain unchanged. If all the rites where communicating seperate truths about Christ there would be a serious problem, but this is not the case. These rites simply serve the universal quality of the Church. They makes sure that the Church can reach every language and preach in a way that the local population can understand and relate to. If every Chruch spoke in english and followed our customs, we would have a serious problem in the French Church, don't you think? That is why these rites are so important, they unite the Church by preaching the same message, but in a way that the local Catholics can understand

No comments:

Post a Comment