Must Eastern Catholics Accept Ic?

[Nihil Obstat]

The strange syntax in that post is because I started to type "the Church he founded", realized that sounded much too Protestanty, and changed it to "the Church he became the patron of". "Founded" got lost in the shuffle.

[Byzantine]

Thank you!  Unfortunately I'm hundreds of miles from the closest Melkite parish.  :(  I'll try to find another Eastern church to visit in the area though.

There are other Byzantine-rite Catholic Churches besides the Melkites, ya know.

 

Here are the directories for the three Ruthenian eparchies (dioceses) and the archeparchy in the US. Keep in mind that the eparchy with jurisdiction over an area isn't always the logical one (Pittsburgh has jurisdiction over Texas, for example) and that some eparchies share states between them (Passaic and Pittsburgh share PA, for instance):

 

Archeparchy of Pittsburgh, PA: http://archpitt.org/directories/parishes

Eparchy of Parma, OH: http://www.parma.org/parishes.html

Eparchy of Phoenix, AZ: http://eparchyofphoenix.org/directory.html

Eparchy of Passaic, NJ: http://www.eparchyofpassaic.com/parish.htm

 

Also, if you live anywhere near Cleveland, go to the Byzantine Catholic Cultural Center.

[chrysostom]

So there's a Byzantine Catholic Church and a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the vicinity - still pretty far but close enough to visit.  (if this means you know where I live now, plz don't mention it thanks haha)

 

I've put this off for too long since becoming Catholic - the only other time I've been to a Divine Liturgy was before my conversion when I happened to catch the last twenty minutes of a Slovenian Catholic Divine Liturgy in a little baroque cemetery church in Germany. (I don't believe the community had their own parish church.)

 

:)

Edited June 23, 2014 by chrysostom

[chrysostom]

I have to say, even those twenty minutes were quite entrancing, even to my hardened sola scriptura heart.

[Anastasia13]

Ok, so someone can only change rites like twice, right? So the person has used up their chance to change rites. They roman or Maroni te or.something, but they find that in all.hoary, they can't help but believe like the Melki te. What then?

Edited June 24, 2014 by Light and Truth

[CatholicsAreKewl]

Ok, so someone can only change rites like twice, right? So the person has used up their chance to change rites. They roman or Maroni te or.something, but they find that in all.hoary, they can't help but believe like the Melki te. What then?

 

Then they die.

[Nihil Obstat]

I think you can only officially change sui juris Churches once in your lifetime. 

[marigold]

I'm not claiming to know all the differences among Eastern Catholics. But Selah is correct in that they a) are 'in communion with' rather than 'directly under' the Pope of Rome, and b) that they have all been subject to varying degrees of Latinisation, which has affected doctrine and practice. They are historically Orthodox who were brought into communion with the Roman Catholic Church, so you could argue that the whole experience has been one of Latinisation.

 

The big problem I see with it, especially with the 'in communion' thing, apart from the concept being a late historical invention, is that it makes acknowledging the primacy of the Pope of Rome the only criterion for membership of the Body of Christ, and therefore of the Christian faith. Which is just silly.

[Selah]

I think you can only officially change sui juris Churches once in your lifetime. 

 

 

Yes. Twice if you're lucky. But yeah, once is right.

 

So if you wanna change, make sure you choose wisely xD

[tinytherese]

How come they limit how many times you change?

[marigold]

How come they limit how many times you change?

Because the Roman Catholic Church has to codify everything.

Seriously though, I think it's because of how the Roman Catholic Church has codified, divided up and streamlined all the various cultures of the original undivided Church. It says such-and-such rite belongs to such-and-such time, place and people. It would make that system look silly to then allow people to run all over the place willy-nilly to different rites.

Edited to add: hence the Melkites, Maronites etc. which are tied to a specific ethnic group. Contrast with the Orthodox Church, where you'll meet crazy nationalists but see a remarkable liturgical unity between them, with only small variations. Edited June 26, 2014 by marigold

[Anastasia13]

I think you can only officially change sui juris Churches once in your lifetime. 

 Yes but suppose someone, we can call him J, is Greek Catholic because his family used to be Orthodox, then his family moves to the US, and they become Roman rite while he I  young. Now he grows up. Now because he was only a child before, he is allowed to change rites, an  he joins a rite like that Maronites so he  can be  part of an eastern church. Now upon later examination, he decides he really does believe more like a melkite than a Maronite. Is he sinning  or a heretic or anything I  he doesn't accept things that Melkites don't have to accept? How should J approach this?

[Nihil Obstat]

 Yes but suppose someone, we can call him J, is Greek Catholic because his family used to be Orthodox, then his family moves to the US, and they become Roman rite while he I  young. Now he grows up. Now because he was only a child before, he is allowed to change rites, an  he joins a rite like that Maronites so he  can be  part of an eastern church. Now upon later examination, he decides he really does believe more like a melkite than a Maronite. Is he sinning  or a heretic or anything I  he doesn't accept things that Melkites don't have to accept? How should J approach this?

Hm. That is a tough one, and really gets to the heart of why switching Churches in the first place is kind of a bad idea.

I mean, ultimately speaking J can go to whatever Mass he wants. There is no rule that Maronites have to attend a Maronite Liturgy all the time, or over half the time, or anything like that. So on the day to day level it makes no difference if J is 'officially' Maronite but attends a Melkite church for Mass.

All other things being equal, a person born into a family that is culturally part of the Greek church should stay within that Greek Christian family. Frankly, the situation you are describing has me stumped in terms of what a preferable scenario would be, besides simply "it would have been better if nobody had switched in the first place."

I would not think that there is any sin attached to anything you are describing here though. More of a jurisdictional oddity, and possibly a small issue when sacraments such as marriage are concerned..

[Anastasia13]

Hm. That is a tough one, and really gets to the heart of why switching Churches in the first place is kind of a bad idea.

I mean, ultimately speaking J can go to whatever Mass he wants. There is no rule that Maronites have to attend a Maronite Liturgy all the time, or over half the time, or anything like that. So on the day to day level it makes no difference if J is 'officially' Maronite but attends a Melkite church for Mass.

All other things being equal, a person born into a family that is culturally part of the Greek church should stay within that Greek Christian family. Frankly, the situation you are describing has me stumped in terms of what a preferable scenario would be, besides simply "it would have been better if nobody had switched in the first place."

I would not think that there is any sin attached to anything you are describing here though. More of a jurisdictional oddity, and possibly a small issue when sacraments such as marriage are concerned..

Cool, thanks.

[Byzantine]

Is he sinning  or a heretic or anything I  he doesn't accept things that Melkites don't have to accept? How should J approach this?

My answer would be no, because the Catholic faith is one, and there is nothing Melkites "don't have to accept." Though, terminology-wise, could be a completely different question. So, as I understand it, Maronites will refer to Purgatory, Immaculate Conception, etc (real Maronites correct me if I'm wrong), while Melkites won't. That doesn't have to be a rejection of the truths they pertain to, though.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Byzantine