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Holy Week processions in Seville show a quite explicitly gendered form of religiosity, one that repeatedly allows for displays of masculinity even in a society that has become much more egalitarian, and in confraternities that today are open to men and women.

Semana Santa processions are unparalleled in Seville, where 60 official processions traverse the center city throughout Holy Week from afternoon deep into the night.

In many cities in Spain, and elsewhere in the Iberian-influenced world, Semana Santa — Holy Week — is marked by major public processions that recount and ritualize the events of the Passion, providing a visual catechism and giving the masses a chance to participate in the story.

Filipinos participate in religious events as families, often as extended families. More often than not, the family is the unit of analysis.

Even while Spain is a European Union member country with much more open borders and integration into Europe, Catholicism has a near monopoly on the religious life of the country.

Liturgy is inculturated in a number of interesting ways. The Jewish origins of Catholic liturgy become even more apparent when Mass is celebrated in Hebrew.

In a country created and shaped by immigration, temporary foreign workers and refugees — from the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka and parts of Africa — comprise a sizable Catholic contingent.

Post-biblical Catholic saints seem not to occupy a particularly significant place in the religious imaginations of Hebrew-speaking Catholics.

The Hebrew-speaking Catholic community was founded by — and still is composed of — men and women who by birth and self-understanding belong to the Jewish people, and Catholics who come from non-Jewish backgrounds but emigrated with Jewish family members. Most seek to find Catholic ways of living that harmonize with Jewish culture.

Each of Israel's Catholic communities is defined by particular hopes, aspirations and cultural bonds, and each faces a different challenge in defining itself in relation to Judaism and the state of Israel.