Catholic Dictionary
Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
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CULTURE
The personality of a society. As understood in Catholic social philosophy, it is the totality of a people's traditions (what they believe), attitudes (what they desire), customs (what they do) and institutions (how they live). A culture has roots that go back even centuries and may be far removed form where persons now live. Cultures differ even as individuals differ, since culture is nothing else than the divinely intended distinctiveness of a people, even as individuality is the divinely intended uniqueness of each person. But like individuals, societies have not only their own inherent characteristics but their own separate history of decisions and experiences, which further distinguish one culture from another so that no two are fully the same.
