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Catholic AnswerThat depends on what you mean by varieties. In the Catholic Church there are a number of Rites. The four parent rites in Catholicism are the Antiochene, Alexandrine, Latin (Roman), and Gallican. Some Religious Orders have their own Rites. The Latin Rite is the most well-known in the West, the Antiochene Rite uses the Liturgy of St. James from Jerusalem, which was Greek, and then was translated into Syriac. The Greek version is used twice a year by the Orthodox (who are NOT a Rite of the Church, but are in schism); the Syriac version by the Jacovites in Syria and Palestine, and by the Syrian Catholics. The Maronites use a Romanized form of this litugy. Most of the current Eastern Rites use some form of the Liturgy of St. James. The Gallican Rite was popular in Gaul in the 4th to 8th centuries, it survives in pieces in some liturgies in Milan and Toledo. When Trent mandated the "Tridentine" form of the Mass for the Latin Church, it only allowed rites older than 200 years (at that time) to survive - all others were superceded by the Tridentine Liturgy. The Carthusian Rite from the 11th century is an example of a Religious Order with its own Rite. - extracted from Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980.