Diversity.

Our parish started up a lay Carmelite group this past year.  I haven't joined up, but it got me thinking about the lay associates with the various orders.  What's the difference between a lay Carmelite and a lay Dominican?  What are the requirements of becoming one?  Things like that.  

I stumbled across this informative article about lay Dominican spirituality not too long ago.  I'd like to read more about what is unique to other Orders and Societies and especially to their lay associates.

There are so many different ways of spirituality and even of worship within Church Tradition.  Truly mindboggling. 

Sometimes you hear people, even Catholics, trying to be all positive and ecumenical and referring warmly to the great diversity of people's paths to Christ, as if it's actually a good thing that we have Baptists and Methodists and Lutherans and what-have-you all doing something different, all believing something different, all contradicting each other in so many places.  True, much that is good has come of the work of fine people who live and worship and believe in various traditions outside the Church.  But it's a false dilemma, to think that we must disagree to have diversity, that somehow the Protestant Reformation has freed us from stifling uniformity.  It has occurred to me that in a world without heresy, all that energy and vitality that has gone into building the various denominations would have found its expression in an outblooming of wholly unique, wholly individual, wholly Catholic spiritualities and devotions.   

Maybe in some alternate, Reformation-free universe we'd see the mirror-images of wholesome practices that are today associated only with certain denominations, bearing fruit and finding their full expression in full unity of faith and belief with the Apostles.  Who knows, those vines may be grafted back on someday.

Comments

[4ddintx]

Our homeschool group's book club is reading _Paths to Renewal_ http://www.amazon.com/Paths-Renewal-Spiritualities-Religious-Augustine/dp/0818907940/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235359689&sr=8-7

This book has the thesis that there are 6 distinct spiritualities within the Catholic Church--Benedictine, Augustinian, Dominican, Franciscan, Teresian (Carmelite), and Ignatian. I am hoping to use this book and other resources to help me discern my path to Holiness and God. It really is mindboggling all of the Catholic devotions and as a convert I still don't feel like I've found my niche--though I've tried a number on "for size". I look forward to reading the article you linked to, as it should go deeper into the particulars of Dominican spirituality. I will look for similar documents/articles about the other major spiritualities, as well.

I have to agree that I wonder what Christianity would look like if we were still unified as Christ prayed that we would be. I so appreciate my Protestant (Pentecostal) background, as it led me to Jesus. But, I was never Home until 7 years ago this Easter.

Tabitha

[bearing]

Thanks for the book recommendation! That sounds really great. I'm going to see if my library has it.

[Barbara C.]

I know exactly what you mean. I think even most cradle Catholics don't appreciate the incredible diversity within the Church. I can't help wondering if many people who have left the Church for another denomination just didn't realize that they could probably could have found what they were looking for just by switching to another parish or really looking inside the Church before looking outside of it.