Foot washing splits into two genuinely different kinds of practice depending on the tradition, and the difference is not merely how often it is performed but what kind of act each tradition understands it to be. In Catholic, Anglican and many Orthodox parishes it survives as an annual, symbolic re-enactment confined to the Maundy Thursday liturgy, the celebrant washing the feet of twelve people chosen to represent the twelve apostles, a rite whose meaning is essentially theatrical and commemorative, staged once a year to dramatise a specific gospel scene rather than functioning as an ongoing communal practice between ordinary members.
Anabaptist-descended traditions, including the Brethren churches, the Mennonites and some Baptist congregations, treat it altogether differently: as a standing ordinance on the same footing as baptism and the Lord's Supper, practised regularly at communion services among the ordinary congregation itself, member washing the feet of member in pairs, understood not as a re-enactment of a single gospel scene but as a directly commanded, continuing practice of mutual humility and service Christ instructed his followers to keep doing, often called the Love Feast when combined with a shared communal meal and communion in the same service.
Pope Francis drew considerable attention and some controversy within Catholic circles by departing from the traditional practice of washing only the feet of clergy or male parishioners, washing instead the feet of women, Muslims and prisoners at Holy Thursday services during his papacy, a deliberate widening of who receives the rite that critics read as a break with liturgical precedent and supporters read as recovering the servant posture the gospel scene itself describes.