The series continues. Last summer, I asked a series of questions, "What has [fill in the blank] tradition gifted the larger Church?" The one rule was the answers had to be edifying, which twitter people are (mostly). You can find the results of this twitter series on my blog or using the hashtag, #GiftingTheChurch (thanks for the idea Pastor Daniel).

Click here to read Day One - Methodist

Click here to read Day Two - Lutheran

Click here to read Day Three - Mennonite

Click here to read Day Four - Assemblies of God

Click here to read Day Five - Southern Baptist

Click here to read Day Six - Quaker

Click here to read Day Seven - Reformed

Click here to read Day Eight - Orthodox

As I wrote in my book, Not All Who Wander Spiritually Are Lost, my best friends in high school were Catholic. I knew very little about what that meant but I did see a real faith, and a common love of Jesus Christ. What I have often found is that what I thought I knew about Catholicism, I didn't understand completely. Often, not at all. What I know now is sitting quietly in Mass is one of my very favorite ways to worship.

Day Nine - Catholic

• A certain fearlessness in willingness to claim that lives are sacred to God.

• Rich and varied monastic orders.

• Tertiary (lay) monastic traditions.

• Benedictine spirituality (Ora Et labora).

• Household shrines.

• A love of the Blessed Virign Mary, simplicity, and silence.

• Amazing cathedrals.

• The Sacraments.

• The Magisterium.

• Respect for the sanctity of human life, especially for the unborn & those suffering from illnesses. 

• An ecumenical spirit to enter into dialogue with other denominations & religions.

• Catholic scholars are the ones who gave us the translations of many early Christian writings that we use today. Many Jesuits and others dedicated their entire lives to the study and translation of these works.

• Liberation theology.

• Contemplation and other spiritual disciplines.

• An emphasis on God’s preferential love of the poor and oppressed.

• The service of religious orders through prayer, healthcare and education. Religious orders as distinct from diocesan patriarchal hierarchy.

• A sense of reverence during Mass - how the sacrifice of Christ is front & center along with lots of Scripture reading.

• Reading some of the mystics. 

• Meaningful teaching on suffering.

• Alongside the Orthodox, created the early creeds (Apostle’s, Nicene, etc).

• Alongside the Orthodox, the keeping of the Scriptures (they were canonized as they are now sometime in the 300s-I think?).

• In the medieval women mystics, a feminine understanding of ascetic love that brings sorrow and joy together in virginity as well as motherhood.

• A sense of true spiritual authority and cohesiveness.

• Catholics and Orthodoxy equally introduced me to a batter undertanding of the communion of the saints, beauty and anchoring of liturgy, worshipping with the body and the use of symbolism in worship so well.

• Nuns! While I wish women were less restricted in their roles in the church, I love and respect the roles they do play in the world.

• A weekly liturgy grounded in the gospel.

• Just the right prayers for presidents, governors, mayors and the bishop and pope.  

• Liturgical connection with the worship of Israel, to whom we are ingrafted in Jesus.

• Contemplative tradition.

• The importance of communion of the saints.

• An umbrella that includes dissenting traditions (e.g. the Eastern Rite Catholics). 

• Lent as a form of sacrificial gift in remembrance of Jesus' forty-day fast in the wilderness prior to satanic temptation.

• The Filioque clause. 

• The image of the "Sacred Heart;" it is Christ who loves as you love (only so much more) who is our model and friend.

• Catholic Prayer Books.

• A modern connection to the ancient church through apostolic succession.

• The continuation of the incarnation in the mystery of the most Holy Eucharist which is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• Catholic charities is one of the largest charitable organizations in the world.

• A penchant for intellectualism, exact definitions for things, and needing explanations for almost everything, where in the east it might be enough to say, "It's a mystery."

• Nostra Aetate.

Small things done with great love will change the world.

-Mother Teresa