Any Maronite Catholics out there?

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I am interested in knowing more about Maronite Catholicism and was hoping that someone here might know something about it.

Thanks!
RSF77
 
No! No! Slow down!!! I can’t keep up with all of these responses!😃
 
RedSoxFan said:
No! No! Slow down!!! I can’t keep up with all of these responses!😃
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I have read some things about that rite, but its not an option for me due to my location, and the simple reality of life that the closest catholic school to me is latin rite.

I wish to also learn more.🙂 Even, if for purely knowledge on the topic.
 
I am not a maronite, but I have a lot of experiance with them. I was hoping someone more knowledgable would post but I will give it a shot. What is your question?
 
Ok here we go.

Basically, I feel called to serve the Church in the Priesthood. I am a Roman Catholic, but being married that is an impossibility. Knowing that a Church in communion with Rome is truly Catholic I am looking at the Eastern Churches to find a seminary that might accept me.

I am leaning towards the Maronite Church. I respect all the churches in communion with Rome, but, and I may be wrong, The Maronites use statues. When I was a kid a statue of Mary cried when we were praying the Rosary in CCD. To go to a Church without them would be acceptable, but I would miss them.

So Maronites, in the US cannot marry. Fine. The in Lebanon I believe they can. I am also interested in Australia’s Maronite community and whether they are forced to be celibate as well. Anyways any advice that anyone of any Church could provide I would be grateful.

~RSF
 
I am a Roman Catholic, but being married that is an impossibility.

Don’t change to a sui juris Eastern Church and expect to be ordained as a married priest.
 
Could you be a deacon?
RedSoxFan said:
Ok here we go.

Basically, I feel called to serve the Church in the Priesthood. I am a Roman Catholic, but being married that is an impossibility. Knowing that a Church in communion with Rome is truly Catholic I am looking at the Eastern Churches to find a seminary that might accept me.

I am leaning towards the Maronite Church. I respect all the churches in communion with Rome, but, and I may be wrong, The Maronites use statues. When I was a kid a statue of Mary cried when we were praying the Rosary in CCD. To go to a Church without them would be acceptable, but I would miss them.

So Maronites, in the US cannot marry. Fine. The in Lebanon I believe they can. I am also interested in Australia’s Maronite community and whether they are forced to be celibate as well. Anyways any advice that anyone of any Church could provide I would be grateful.

~RSF
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I think every Eastern and Oriental Catholic will tell you the same thing. As brother Bpbasilphx has rightly stated, don’t expect to enroll in another sui juris Church with the hope of being ordained. That is not the reason you should transfer membership to another sui juris Church.

You need to have full appreciation for the entire spiritual heritage of the other sui juris Church FIRST before transferring your membership. You basically need to live and breathe that spirituality. And you will need to do so for many years before any responsible Eastern or Oriental hierarch will even begin to consider your candidacy for the priesthood. As they will know you come from the Latin patriarchate, you might very well be faced with a lot more hurdles than you might care to experience - not that there will be a prejudice against you being a Latin, but that you might be transferring jurisdictions to become a married priest, and not out of genuine love for our Traditions.

Does anyone know - is there an AUTOMATIC refusal for the priesthood when a married Latin transfers to an Eastern or Oriental jurisdiction?

Blessings,
Marduk
 
mardukm said:
I think every Eastern and Oriental Catholic will tell you the same thing. As brother Bpbasilphx has rightly stated, don’t expect to enroll in another sui juris Church with the hope of being ordained. That is not the reason you should transfer membership to another sui juris Church.

You need to have full appreciation for the entire spiritual heritage of the other sui juris Church FIRST before transferring your membership. You basically need to live and breathe that spirituality. And you will need to do so for many years before any responsible Eastern or Oriental hierarch will even begin to consider your candidacy for the priesthood. As they will know you come from the Latin patriarchate, you might very well be faced with a lot more hurdles than you might care to experience - not that there will be a prejudice against you being a Latin, but that you might be transferring jurisdictions to become a married priest, and not out of genuine love for our Traditions.

Does anyone know - is there an AUTOMATIC refusal for the priesthood when a married Latin transfers to an Eastern or Oriental jurisdiction?

Blessings,
Marduk
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Very good post.

As far as I am aware, there is not an “automatic refusal” of candidacy in such a circumstance, but as you pointed out, there might well be some suspicion that the person transferred rite solely for the purpose of circumventing the prevailing discipline of the Latin Church. bpbasilphx went a bit further, and in truth I can’t say I disagree. The motivation for a transfer to an Eastern or Oriental Church sui juris really has to be more than that.
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RedSoxFan:
I am leaning towards the Maronite Church. I respect all the churches in communion with Rome, but, and I may be wrong, The Maronites use statues. When I was a kid a statue of Mary cried when we were praying the Rosary in CCD. To go to a Church without them would be acceptable, but I would miss them.
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Statues among the Maronites are a Latinization from the 16th century. They more-or-less coexisted with Icons, and still do in some places although statues have been discouraged in the past 40 some years. Many Maronite churches that had them have either eliminated statues completely or relegated them to the vestibule. Icons (as well as murals and frescoes) in the Syriac tradition are becoming more and more prevalent.

In any case, I feel obliged to paraphrase the words of bpbasilphx here: Don’t change to a sui juris Eastern Church just because of statues.
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RedSoxFan:
So Maronites, in the US cannot marry. Fine. The in Lebanon I believe they can. I am also interested in Australia’s Maronite community and whether they are forced to be celibate as well. Anyways any advice that anyone of any Church could provide I would be grateful.
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Outside of the Patriarchal Territory, one will not generally find married Maronite priests. There might be a few but to my knowledge they would be natives of, and ordained within, the Patriarchal Territory and emigrated elsewhere after ordination.
 
bpbasilphx said:
I am a Roman Catholic, but being married that is an impossibility.

Don’t change to a sui juris Eastern Church and expect to be ordained as a married priest.
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If one feels that he is called to the priesthood, he should seek out to see whether there is a true vocation or not.
 
mardukm said:
I think every Eastern and Oriental Catholic will tell you the same thing. As brother Bpbasilphx has rightly stated, don’t expect to enroll in another sui juris Church with the hope of being ordained. That is not the reason you should transfer membership to another sui juris Church.

You need to have full appreciation for the entire spiritual heritage of the other sui juris Church FIRST before transferring your membership. You basically need to live and breathe that spirituality. And you will need to do so for many years before any responsible Eastern or Oriental hierarch will even begin to consider your candidacy for the priesthood. As they will know you come from the Latin patriarchate, you might very well be faced with a lot more hurdles than you might care to experience - not that there will be a prejudice against you being a Latin, but that you might be transferring jurisdictions to become a married priest, and not out of genuine love for our Traditions.

Does anyone know - is there an AUTOMATIC refusal for the priesthood when a married Latin transfers to an Eastern or Oriental jurisdiction?

Blessings,
Marduk
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Hey Marduk,

I understand I can’t just walk into a Eastern Church grab an Eparch by the shirt and demand to be a priest. That is not what i would do.

The way I look at it with the marriage thing is that there are no married Roman priests. Therefore I could never be ordained or serve as a priest in the Roman Church. Ever. Even if I were to get ordained in another Church. You’re right though there are those out there who might try to do that.

I too would like to know if there is an automatic rejection for married latins transferring to the East. Though I could hardly see why that would be.

~RSF
 
Outside of the Patriarchal Territory, one will not generally find married Maronite priests. There might be a few but to my knowledge they would be natives of, and ordained within, the Patriarchal Territory and emigrated elsewhere after ordination.

That is odd becuase the diocese I live in now recruits heavily from foreign countries such as the Philippenes.

Here’s a question for you all. If there was a shortage of priests for your Churches and Parishes were closing down because of that, would you personally be in favor of allowing Latins who are willing to become priests do so? Or recruit from a forien country?

~RSF
 
RedSoxFan said:
Outside of the Patriarchal Territory, one will not generally find married Maronite priests. There might be a few but to my knowledge they would be natives of, and ordained within, the Patriarchal Territory and emigrated elsewhere after ordination.
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I fail to anything particularly “odd” about it.
RedSoxFan said:
Here’s a question for you all. If there was a shortage of priests for your Churches and Parishes were closing down because of that, would you personally be in favor of allowing Latins who are willing to become priests do so? Or recruit from a forien country?

~RSF
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That cannot be a serious question.
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No I serious. If there were a shortage of priests would you be more in favor of recruiting among the Latins or not?
 
RedSoxFan said:
No I serious. If there were a shortage of priests would you be more in favor of recruiting among the Latins or not?
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I refer you mardukm in post #9 of this thread. What he says applies to anyone who would think to serve as a priest in an Eastern or Oriental church.
 
Yeah I got that you agreed with him when you said “Very good post.”

Still doesn’t answer the question.
 
RedSoxFan said:
Yeah I got that you agreed with him when you said “Very good post.”

Still doesn’t answer the question.
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It most certainly does answer the question, and I have nothing further to add. Perhaps someone else will be able to get through.
 
I don’t think any Eastern Catholic bishop in North America will accept a Latin candidate who is coming over just to be ordained a priest. Our bishops will want to see a commitment to the life, spirituality, liturgy, theology and people of our particular Churches.

If one is sincerely drawn to an Eastern Catholic Church, that is another thing. That would entail belonging to a parish for a number of years, and then discerning a vocation. Canonically an Eastern Catholic bishop cannot accept any candidate for ordination who is not a canonical member of his Eastern Catholic Church without a formal release from the other hierarch.
 
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