While I have heard the terms “Roman Catholic” and “Orthodox” many times I never really knew the difference. The numerous archaic magic rituals in Catholicism are, to be frank, creepy as hell to me. I have been to one Catholic funeral and one Catholic wedding and the first time the preacher said something and then everyone around be gave a reprogrammed response my mind jumped straight to some Exorcist shit right there. I was that creeped out by it. And then they have the kneeling pads that flip down in front of all the pews because you have to learn what is essentially the “dance steps” (well, if you’re white it counts as “dancing”, I guess) to be a Catholic. The entirety of everything Catholic I have ever seen or learned is just the creepiest thing to me. Even so, the body part in the altar really tops it off. And Catholics use so many strange words and symbols that I just never really bothered to look into it. So thanks for that simple explanation.
Personally, I think the explanation you gave for Orthodox (Eastern Christianity) is simplistically beautiful. And you may have missed it, but the difference in these two fits in perfectly with this conversation. Eastern Christianity is from the “old world” where civilization was established and life was as comfortable for people as the times allowed. Western Christianity, however, certainly would have taken root and begun forming these differences in the early days of settlers bringing their religion over. In those times life was quite a bit less comfortable. The “new world” had to be built from the ground up. Life was much harder. Hell, the journey, alone, must have had a high death rate. Just like the angry desert God of the Old Testament written when life was hard for a nomadic people vs the much friendlier God of the New Testament written when life was much easier for a settled people God “evolved” to match the environment of the time. There are new Christian religions being formed all the time and I would bet you that most of them offer a very cuddly God indeed as we live more comfortably than any people in history right now.