Many Catholic Churches

Most people, when they think of or refer to the "Catholic Church," are speaking of the Latin or Roman Church, but often forget that while the Latin Church is by far the largest one, there are actually 24 separate churches of the Catholic Church, The other 23 are referred to as the Eastern Catholic Churches, with the Latin Church being the sole Western Catholic Church.

Of the 1.3 billion Catholics in the world, only 18 million of them are members of the Eastern churches. All of these Churches, though possessing diverse cultures, histories, and traditions, are all united together under the Pope, the successor of the apostle Peter, and share the same core beliefs.

At OLMC, the liturgy (Mass) we celebrate is called the Roman Rite, but it is not the only Rite within the Latin Church, let alone the only Rite within the Catholic Church. The Eastern churches can be broken down by which Rite they celebrate, 14 of them celebrate the Byzantine Rite, 3 celebrate the West Syriac Rite, 2 celebrate the East Syriac Rite, 2 celebrate the Ge'ez Rite, 1 celebrate the Coptic Rite, and 1 celebrate the Armenian Rite. Within the Latin Church, there are multiple Rites currently in use, including Roman, Ambrosian, Lyonese, Mozarabic, Benedictine, Carmelite, Carthusian, Cistercian, Dominican, and Norbertine. Most of these rites in the Latin Church are very localized, and you're unlikely to come across them, but they are still celebrated regularly.

Here in Phoenix, we are home to two Catholic cathedrals, which is quite rare! We have our cathedral for the Latin Church's Diocese of Phoenix, St. Simon and Jude, and also the cathedral for the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church's Eparchy of Phoenix, whose territory encompasses the entire western United States from New Mexico north and west to Alaska.

As you can see from the wide array of different Rites of celebrating the liturgy across many different Churches, such intricacies stemming from thousands of years of history, the Catholic Church is indeed catholic (universal), bridging complex and sometimes contentious histories of cultures from around the world together in a shared faith in Christ, We celebrate the liturgy in different ways and give different meanings to certain signs and symbols, but the beauty of Catholicism is the unity, not uniformity, that we possess and profess at each liturgy across the 24 churches, especially when we recite the Nicene Creed: I believe one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.