Picking up where I left off …
please excuse the typos in my prior post
(usually, I carefully proofread before leaving the screen, but a suddenly inoperative furnace on a very cold night was a bit of a distraction). I just PM’ed our esteemed Mod and asked that he indulge me by fixing them
- How often did he exercise his biritual faculties?
Impossible to know. As I referenced above, it’s likely that he did so in 1932, 1946, and 1955 - but, it’s doubtful that this once per decade record constitutes the definitive registry of such occasions. On the other hand, it’s not likely that he did so regularly.
Most Latin clerics with bi-ritual faculties use them infrequently unless they are serving in an Eastern or Oriental Catholic jurisdiction, either by incardination or on “loan”, or are providing pastoral care to a non-Latin parish which is presently without clergy of its own Church. (Note that the same is generally true for those Eastern and Oriental Catholic clerics with bi-ritual faculties in the Latin Rite.)
It is even the more likely that a Latin hierarch would ordinarily not have occasion to exercise his bi-ritual faculties with anything approaching regularity. One could feel reasonably secure in suggesting that he would most likely have done so: * at the episcopal ordination of an Eastern hierarch;* on the occasion of the erection of an Eastern canonical jurisdiction;* at a Liturgy celebrating elevation of such a jurisdiction to a higher canonical status;* at a significant liturgical celebration involving Eastern Catholics (such as the pilgrimage mentioned earlier);* during observance of the (then) Chair of Unity Octave (now called the
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity); or,* on in conjunction with the rare occasions in that era when it was decided to educate our Latin brethren about our existence, most often accomplished by exposing them to the beauty of the Divine Liturgy.
Now, having given less than satisfying answers to questions 4 and 3 (respectively,
why? and
when?), I promise to follow-up with a couple of folks who may be able to expand on my reply in those respects. One of them (the man who wears the paper bag
- for the benefit of Deacon Ed, Michael, James, and David, who will know of whom I speak
) may know the answers to one or both; the other, Charles Bransom, a personal friend and the principal chronicler of events involving the US Catholic episcopacy, may well know the “when”.
On to other points raised or which weren’t raised, but occur to me as worth raising …
SemperFi posted a link to a question and reply by my friend, Anthony Dragani, on the Eastern Church section of EWTN’s
Ask the Experts Q&A site. The inquiry asked whether or not it was possible for a bishop to be bi-ritual. Anthony’s answer was:
No. At one time this was permitted. In fact, the famous Archbishop Fulton Sheen was biritual and frequently celebrated the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. In the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council this was no longer permitted. (emphasis mine)
I disagree. Bi-ritual bishops were uncommon even before the Second Vatican Council and are more so now, but they do exist. Whatever change has occurred really had nothing to do with the Council directly, but is more a function of revisions in Canon Law and the manner in which Rome and, particularly, the curial dicasteries, choose to exercise authority.
The present uncommonness is, frankly, a reflection of a limited need for bishops to be such, not that there was any greater need previously. In earlier times, bishops with bi-ritual faculties obtained them: * as priests and deemed them carried over into their episcopacy; or,* as a result of an interest in and love for the East and its Liturgy; or,* on a whim; or,* most rarely, because they had a pastoral need for such faculties in their episcopal capacity.
I think one can surmise that Archbishop Sheen’s motivation was one of interest and love (but his faculties may also have been carried over from his priesthood), as it was for another, lesser-known but also highly-regarded, US Latin hierarch of the same era, who is thought by some to have had such faculties. Richard Cardinal Cushing, of blessed memory, (who can be seen in the background of the photo posted by Deacon Ed) presided at several Divine Liturgies during his tenure as Latin Archbishop of Boston, garbed in Byzantine hierarchical vesture.
I have to quit for now, as sleep is calling. I still want to discuss: * the issue of how such faculties were and are obtained;* the vesture in which Archbishop Sheen is garbed in the photo;* the situation involving Cardinal Cushing;* who those are who presently have such faculties and why; and,* the question of whether there are Eastern hierarchs with Latin faculties.
Many years,
Neil
looking back through the thread to see what other points I might want to address, I see that it has garnered an interesting collection of respondents.
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