I’ve read the history of our local OCA parish here and it is interesting how they came to be. They started as members of the local Russian Orthodox Church but because they wanted services in English, they asked the bishop if they can establish their own parish for english services. The bishop agreed and at the beginning they did reader services for lack of clergy. Eventually they got a wonderful priest and they built a church under the OCA.
I’m wondering if something similar can be done with an Eastern Catholic Church, or has been done.
Many of the original set of Byzantine Catholic temples in the USA (I am not sure about Canada) were set up without permission. They began as something like mutual aid societies for immigrants, as the older members started dying off, and with the stillborn children, etc. the members began to consider they needed a priest of their own rite. Usually (due to church policy) the Latin bishops refused. In a few instances then, the groups built their own temples and sent for priests from Europe.
The priests would be sent, but instructed to introduce themselves to the local bishop and receive his permission. It was at this point that the accusation of disobedience would come to the fore. First, the congregation forming and building a temple without permission (and holding the title to the property), then an unexpected and unacceptable priest showing up, expecting or at least hoping to be incardinated.
Now according to the canons, one bishop does not have a right to send a priest into another bishop’s territory. This is technically what was happening, because the Latin local ordinary was not asking for these priests, they were showing up at the door uninvited. It was regarded as something of an affront to their authority.
The Eastern Catholic parishes were eventually separated from the control of the Latin bishops by an act of the Pope. The Latin bishops in general were upset by this.
Now there is a new hierarchy, established by the Pope, specifically for the Eastern Catholics. The UGCC exists in north America because the Pope allows it. These bishops have responsibility for establishing new congregations where needed, and would not appreciate an affront to their own authority.
I would suggest setting up as prayer and reading group first. Once that has been going with some stability a petition can be crafted, then the reader’s services can be started with permission.
It must be recognized that the bishop might not allow it, or require that the prayer group join a parish already in place. His motivation might be to infuse new life into an old collapsing parish. It can be a recipe for disaster because the old timers might resent the newcomers severely, if they come in wanting to change things.
Perhaps a way around it would be to appeal to another jurisdiction, like the Slovak Catholic church. That bishop might like the idea of starting a mission in your area and may be agreeable to your hopes.
