Can a Roman Catholic Attend a Byzantine Catholic Liturgy?

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Sometimes a simple “like” is not enough. Probably because of people like you who have diluted their true meaning with overuse. 🤣

Seriously, I always thought I was pretty generous with likes, but I’ve never gotten a notice that I’m about to run out.
 
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This is a fascinating video. I’m going to have to go through it later with my rusty Russian and verify the translation, but what was said about Purgatory is not something that any Catholic of the Latin Rite would object to. In fact, it is the most explicit and detailed mention of a belief in an intermediate state that I have ever heard from an Orthodox source and exactly mirrors the Latin belief.
 
Yes, it’s usually the older crowd who are set in their ways…the same can be said of the Baby Boomer generation in the Latin church who don’t want to give up their guitars and Marty Haugen songs…lol…sorry I couldn’t’ resist! (my mom is in this category and I’ve seen it first hand!)
 
Yes and yes. If you really like it, and are attending it all the time, then like someone said earlier, you might want to consider getting a canonical transfer, that is, switch from Roman Catholic to Byzantine Catholic.
 
Back to the original topic - yes a Roman Catholic is always welcome to attend a Byzantine Catholic liturgy. If it is a Divine Liturgy (Mass), it satisfies the Sunday/Holy Day obligation to attend Mass.

However, if it is just Vespers, Matins, or Typica (other liturgies where the Eucharist is not consecrated), it only fulfills the obligation for those who are canonically Eastern Catholic. While Roman Catholics are welcome to attend, those services alone would not satisfy their obligation to attend Mass.
 
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IMO I just don’t understand the logic here. Roman Catholics apparently have a different disposition that needs to actually witness the consecration? This is quite skewed…
 
marhaba said:
Very interesting IrishUkrainian.
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In the Eastern Catholic churches, the obligation is simply to attend one of the Divine Services on Sundays/Holy Days or the on the prior evening. Of course, since it is the most solemn and the Eucharist is consecrated there, attending Divine Liturgy is the ideal.

According to Roman Catholic canon law, their obligation is specifically to attend Mass. That is why the other divine services don’t satisfy their obligation.
 
Angel_Gabriel said:
IMO I just don’t understand the logic here. Roman Catholics apparently have a different disposition that needs to actually witness the consecration? This is quite skewed…
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It’s the difference in disciplines between Roman-rite and Eastern canon law. It’s no different in principle than having different Holy Days of Obligation or allowing RC Deacons to witness marriages but not EC deacons, etc.
 
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Yes, but logically it just doesn’t make sense…but again, I have an issue with the whole concept of Holy Days of obligation. If you love God, you will try your best to be there regardless. I know that I attend liturgy because I WANT to be there. I am genuinely upset when I have to miss due to illness or a child’s illness etc.

I suppose this topic (obligation) should be it’s own thread lol!
 
Angel_Gabriel said:
Yes, but logically it just doesn’t make sense…but again, I have an issue with the whole concept of Holy Days of obligation. If you love God, you will try your best to be there regardless. I know that I attend liturgy because I WANT to be there. I am genuinely upset when I have to miss due to illness or a child’s illness etc.

I suppose this topic (obligation) should be it’s own thread lol!
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I see where you’re coming from. For some of us, it’s helpful for the Church to prioritize a handful of days and say, “These days are especially important and you really should attend Divine services on these days.” Of course, only going on these days is the minimum, and those who truly love their faith should be more involved if they can.

It helps me though. For example, the Ascension of our Lord is celebrated on Thursday and is a HOD. I live over 90 min. away from my Ukrainian Catholic parish. I intend to ask my boss if I can leave work an hour early so I can make it to Vespers by 6 pm. If I truthfully tell him that this is an obligation of my faith, I’m fairly certain that he’ll accommodate me. However, if Ascension was not an HOD, I could still ask to be released from work early, but I would not be justified in saying that I have a true need to go.
 
Oh I understand. The Ascension is a sore spot for me. We rarely are able to hold liturgy on the day itself so it’s often celebrated the following Sunday (same day as the Latins). Now, I could try to attend liturgy in the TLM parish here on that day or with the Orthodox (in the years our calendars actually match up…yet another sore spot lol!) but usually I just end up going on that following Sunday and observing it then.
( I’m not sure if we’re doing that again this year as I haven’t asked Fr. yet. But the Sunday following Ascension is usually the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council and it’s also nice to remember that and not have it be overshadowed by the Ascension. )
 
Angel_Gabriel said:
Oh I understand. The Ascension is a sore spot for me. We rarely are able to hold liturgy on the day itself so it’s often celebrated the following Sunday (same day as the Latins). Now, I could try to attend liturgy in the TLM parish here on that day or with the Orthodox (in the years our calendars actually match up…yet another sore spot lol!) but usually I just end up going on that following Sunday and observing it then.

( I’m not sure if we’re doing that again this year as I haven’t asked Fr. yet. But the Sunday following Ascension is usually the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council and it’s also nice to remember that and not have it be overshadowed by the Ascension. )
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Yes, this is a challenge with my former Ukrainian parish back in my hometown. The pastor there has to support three full-time parishes on his own, and the two furthest ones are separated by about 150 miles (which in DC-area traffic, can take hours to travel). Although we had Divine Liturgy every Sunday, since our parish was the smallest of the three, we got the short end of the stick on weekday HOD. Many of the parishioners were canonical RCs anyway (so technically only had to observe the RC HOD), but for those of us who were canonically Eastern, we had to attend the Ruthenian parish on those days.
 
We’re the only Eastern Catholic mission/parish in our city. The next closest is about 2 hrs away. We often have to move important feast days (Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, the Ascension, Theophany and the Dormition come to mind). In the future I hope that we will be able to at least hold some sort of Vesperal liturgy or something closer to the Feast Days themselves…baby steps I guess lol!
 
Angel_Gabriel said:
We’re the only Eastern Catholic mission/parish in our city. The next closest is about 2 hrs away. We often have to move important feast days (Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, the Ascension, Theophany and the Dormition come to mind). In the future I hope that we will be able to at least hold some sort of Vesperal liturgy or something closer to the Feast Days themselves…baby steps I guess lol!
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Exactly - baby steps is how it starts. My current parish just started as a mission about 5 years ago. Since it grew and a sizeable core developed of consistent attendees at Divine Liturgy, we were just elevated to the status of a parish by our Bishop last month. Now, we have divine services on every Sunday, HOD, and the other Great Feasts.

Building and sustaining parishes and missions requires three things. 1) a decent-sized core of faithful who will consistently attend liturgy (rather than just attend a more convenient Mass at an RC parish), 2) financial donations, and 3) an available priest. The faithful don’t have any direct control over #3, but there’s a lot they can do about #1 and #2.
 
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IrishUkrainian said:
a decent-sized core of faithful who will consistently attend liturgy
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Is your parish in the Sun Belt region of the United States?

There are a lot of eastern Catholics in those areas, far away from where their antecedents settled when they first came into the country. After steel and coal collapsed, the people were still around and a lot moved.

Did you reach out to these folks, and how did you do it?
 
Augustinian said:
Is your parish in the Sun Belt region of the United States?

There are a lot of eastern Catholics in those areas, far away from where their antecedents settled when they first came into the country. After steel and coal collapsed, the people were still around and a lot moved.

Did you reach out to these folks, and how did you do it?
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I live about 1 1/2 hours from Charlotte, NC (where my parish is). We do have some cradle ECs who moved down from the Northeast or the Rust Belt, but most parishioners are former RCs disaffected by the Novus Ordo Mass. It’s pretty obvious when you see ladies wearing Latin-style mantillas at liturgy. The only options for an EF Mass are an SSPX chapel and an afternoon Mass at a Diocesan parish. Hopefully I’m wrong, but if the FSSP or ICKSP came to Charlotte and set up a full-time EF-only parish with convenient Mass times, I think a good deal of our parishioners would go there instead.

I really have no idea how they reached out to people and grew the mission. I just moved here 4 months ago lol. I’ve reached out to my RC friends who I know prefer a more traditional, solemn liturgy. I took one of them to Divine Liturgy once and he had a positive experience, but it’s (understandably) a hard sell to get him to attend frequently since we live 90 minutes away.
 
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I agree. # 3 is covered (thankfully!) , #1 is hit and miss…I’m honestly not sure where everyone’s minds and hearts are (we have several RC families who come frequently but not every week)…it’s #2 that is our problem…this is like pulling teeth frankly. so frustrating! It doesn’t help that our Eparchy is not efficiently organized and although we are trying, we havn’t yet obtained a tax ID # so we can’t set up our account or anything.
 
marhaba said:
“I encourage you to look into the Catholic Church”

Thanks MCHI but I am tired of explaining myself here. I am already a Catholic. As was my father & his father & his father & so on - going back from before there was a Church for 2000+ years. We are from South Lebanon near Caesarea Phillipa (Modern day Banias/Banyas). Jesus walked our hills. We broke bread with Him.
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This reminds me of a joke I once heard: Some Christian missionaries, newly arrived in a Middle-Eastern country, approached a young man in a village and asked him if he had heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. Indeed he had heard the Good News, he told them. He was a Christian, as was his entire village. The missionaries were excited to hear this and asked him who had brought the gospel to the village. Was it the Baptists? The Pentecostals? The young man was confused and said that he did not know, but he would ask the elders. He returned to the missionaries with the answer. “They say it was Paul.”
marhaba said:
We Arab Jews & Arab Christians & Arab Muslims see ourselves as ONE people. Because we are ONE culturally (trad dress / music / musical instruments / food / language) & by DNA etc. (Early Christians were Jews and Christians & Jews converted to Islam). We are ONE people. Every single one of our Bishops say this. Bishops of Palestine & Lebanon & Syria & Iraq. Catholic & Orthodox. We do not want to be divided.
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I have experienced this. I go to a festival at the Maronite church every year and was quite surprised at the number of Muslims present. Because of the present situation with ISIS, it is easy to misunderstand the situation and not realize that most people live peacefully, side by side with their neighbors. The Muslims attend the festival because it is an opportunity to enjoy good Arab food, listen to the music of their shared culture and smoke hookah. It was really a beautiful thing to witness.

On a side note, I love so many aspects of Middle-Eastern culture. Obviously, the food 😁, but also the hospitality, the openness, and direct communication, and the love of culture and faith. Although I must say, when my Assyrian friends speak to each other in their language, I still always think they are angry about something. 🤣
 
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