Catholic's chosen to keep head of church in charge (8)
I believe the answer is:
eclectic
'catholic's' is the definition.
(both can mean wide-ranging or showing variety)
'chosen to keep head of church in charge' is the wordplay.
'chosen' becomes 'elect' ('elect' as an adjective can mean chosen).
'to keep' indicates putting letters inside.
'head of' indicates taking the first letters.
'in charge' becomes 'ic' (abbreviation for 'in charge').
The initial letter of 'church' is 'c'.
'elect' placed around 'c' is 'eclect'.
'eclect'+'ic'='ECLECTIC'
(Other definitions for eclectic that I've seen before include "Choosing or accepting beliefs or material from several sources" , "Incorporating many influences" , "Drawn from many sources" , "Choosing ideas or beliefs from various sources" , "Deriving ideas from many sources" .)