Multiple Denominations?

[Curieux]

Why are there more then one specific Catholic branches? To clarify; I know Catholicism  is the one true religion, but why are there different titles? like Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and  Marionite catholic, etc and all the different rules that they all follow..

 

I'm curious because I saw on the news today that a married man became a priest in the Church...so many other questions are bothering me about this and I might ask more, but for  now, I'll settle down.

 

Thank you so much in advance.

[cappie]

It may surprise most people to know that there are many different rites within the Catholic Church.

 

A rite represents an ecclesiastical tradition about how the sacraments are to be celebrated. As the early Church grew and spread, it celebrated the sacraments as would be best understood and received in the context of individual cultures, without ever changing their essential form and matter. The early Church sought to evangelize in the major cultural centers of the first centuries A.D. These centers were Rome, Antioch (Syria), and Alexandria (Egypt). All the rites in use today evolved from the liturgical practices and ecclesiastical organization used by the churches in these cities.

 

The Church of Christ represented in these ecclesiastical traditions is known as a ritual church. The church in a certain territory is known as a particular church.

 

The Catholic Encyclopedia describes the situation this way: "Within the Catholic Church ... Canonical rites, which are of equal dignity, enjoy the same rights, and are under the same obligations. Although the particular churches possess their own hierarchy, differ in liturgical and ecclesiastical discipline, and possess their own spiritual heritage, they are all entrusted to the pastoral government of the Roman pontiff, the divinely appointed successor of St. Peter in the Primacy.

 

The Catechism lists seven rites. These rites so listed: Latin, Byzantine, Alexandrian, Syriac, Armenian, Maronite, and Chaldean,2 are actually families of liturgical expression. These rites are the descendants of the liturgical practices that originated in centers of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria. Each will be discussed in turn.

 

Continue reading

 

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resources/liturgy/rites/the-rites-of-the-catholic-church/