Islam has the Koran, the Hadith, and an entire corpus of Sharia law.
Judaism has the Torah, the Talmud, and a corpus of rabbinic commentary and rulings.
Well, they're certainly analogous, but there's an important distinction, which that the Code of Canon Law is generated from On High, aka the Vatican, and it's binding on all Catholics, exactly the same way in all countries, although of course there are differences in interpretation from time to time and place to place.
One more reason that the whole thing works like a well-oiled machine.
I don't usually watch EWTN or other sources of the Mass on TV, so was very surprised that the Mass for John Paul II was exactly like the Mass at my local church, only the language was different. I was able to give the responses without hesitation, just in a different langauge.
Back when it was all in Latin, I would have never assumed it was any different anywhere.
Compared to Catholics (and the same is probably true for Islam and certain types of Judaism), Protestant services differ so wildly, from the staid Episcopals to the snake-handlers, with everything in between, including Unitarians just talking. And I know so little about Buddhist ceremonies or worship services in India. |
