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Folk Catholicism is a term used to refer to varieties of Catholicism as actually practiced in Catholic communities around the world. Practices that are identified by outside observers as "folk Catholicism" vary from place to place, and often vary as well from official Roman Catholic Church doctrine. Such practices occur everywhere that Catholicism is a major religion, not only in the often-cited cases of Latin America and the West Indies . Folk accommodations between orthodox Catholicism and local beliefs can be found in Gaelic Scotland, the Philippines, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, and Poland. (See also Folk Religion .) Many common folk Catholic practices are local elaborations of Catholic custom, and do not contradict orthodox Catholic doctrine. The term used by the Catholic hierarchy for such practices is Popular Piety . Examples of such practices include Compadrazgo in modern Latin America, which developed from standard medieval European Catholic practices that fell out of favor in Europe after the seventeenth century, and ritual Pilgrimages in medieval and modern Europe. Modern folk Catholic beliefs and practices include miracle stories about priests in Ireland, stories about Apparitions Of The Virgin Mary and other saints in Spain, and folk practices surrounding vows to saints in Latin America and Europe. The church hierarchy takes a pragmatic stance towards popular piety, and may often declare Marian apparitions and similar miracles "worthy of belief" (e.g. Our Lady Of Fatima ), or will Confirm The Cult of local saints, without actually endorsing or recommending belief. Other forms of folk Catholic practices are based on Syncretism with non-Catholic beliefs and may involve the syncretism of Catholic saints and non-Christian deities. Some of these folk Catholic forms have come to be identified as separate religions, as is the case with Caribbean and Brazilian syncretisms between Catholicism and West African religions. The latter include Haitian Vodou , Cuban Santeria , and Brazilian Candomblé . Unlike the examples of "popular piety," these syncretic religions are generally rejected by the Catholic hierarchy. Complex syncretisms between Catholic practice and indigenous or Native American belief systems are also common in Maya communities of Guatemala and Quechua communities of Peru , to give just two of many examples. Unlike the syncretic Afro-Catholic religions named above, these syncretisms are typically not named as separate religions. Rather, their practitioners generally regard themselves as "good Catholics" (Brintnall 1979; Allen 2002). BIBLIOGRAPHY
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