So-called indeed. We do not call ourselves RCC. And the 'flavours' are cultural, not theological.
They do not revere the man in Prada shoes
There are no revered men in the Catholic Church that wear Prada shoes.
They do not slavishly adore a man in a white bathrobe, but they lift up the Lamb provided by God. They do not adhere to silly man-made traditions, rituals, ceremonies and idolatry, "...which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence."
Beware, my friend, of the god in the mirror that so many of the antiCatholics have begun to worship.
Mark, my FRiend, if only you were as literal with the Bible as with these remarks. Okay, the biblical “heretics” do not revere the man in the high-end, Prada-like, handmade, custom, red-leather, expensive shoes. They are so much like Jesus’.
The man is still errant, he is still wrong-headed, he is still teaching and implying false doctrines about being the Vicar of Christ. The Bible-thumpers here will stick with Jesus...you guys can have the man in red shoes & white bathrobe.
Culture is dictated by Theology, my FRiend. Notice in Paul's letter to the Corinthians, (I Cor.) the scolding they got for the fellow sleeping with his mother/step-mother(?) is based on the biblical understanding of appropriate morality for believers. Ooops, doctrine.
Then, notice this just in on another thread at the FR...
"An increasing number of Catholic colleges and universities have seen the addition of student-run homosexual advocacy and support groups and resource centers.
“The Jesuits, who have been historically regarded as in the vanguard of Catholic intellectual activity and social activism, might be the determining factor in LGBT acceptance,” writes Meyer, who says that Fordham “leads the way.”
"Meyer writes that Jesuit universities are not beholden to the local bishop, so therefore have more freedom.
“The Jesuits traditionally do not report to the local bishop but rather to their own officers in Rome,” writes Meyer.
“There is no one in the chain of command in the Catholic Church who can have anything to say about what happens at Boston College,” John McGargh, assistant professor of theology at Boston College, told the Edge."
Cultural? Really? Many of the distinctions between small congregations which the poster called "splintered fragments" are much smaller than this. This looks to be a disintegration.