Catholic to Orthodox to Catholic

[hormisdas]

Greetings!

I am currently an Orthodox Christian who, after years of struggling with theological issues, has decided to come into full communion with Rome.

My understanding is that, according to canon law (both the Latin and Eastern codes), an Orthodox Christian, upon reconciliation with the Catholic Church, automatically becomes a member of the Eastern Catholic Church which most closely corresponds to the identity of his former Orthodox Church (so, for instance, OCA becomes Ruthenian, Antiochian becomes Melkite).

However, I don’t know if this actually applies to me because I was baptized as an infant in the Roman Catholic Church, although my parents were lapsed Catholics and I was never raised in the Roman Catholic Church. I was chrismated (confirmed) and have only received communion in the Orthodox Church.

So, the question is this: Given that my baptism was in the Roman Catholic Church, canonically speaking, am I supposed to be Latin Rite or Eastern Rite?

I appreciate your help!

 

[Chaldean_Rite]

Greetings!

I am currently an Orthodox Christian who, after years of struggling with theological issues, has decided to come into full communion with Rome.

[sign]Welcome home![/sign]

 

[Pravoslavac]

Greetings!

I am currently an Orthodox Christian who, after years of struggling with theological issues, has decided to come into full communion with Rome.

My understanding is that, according to canon law (both the Latin and Eastern codes), an Orthodox Christian, upon reconciliation with the Catholic Church, automatically becomes a member of the Eastern Catholic Church which most closely corresponds to the identity of his former Orthodox Church (so, for instance, OCA becomes Ruthenian, Antiochian becomes Melkite).

However, I don’t know if this actually applies to me because I was baptized as an infant in the Roman Catholic Church, although my parents were lapsed Catholics and I was never raised in the Roman Catholic Church. I was chrismated (confirmed) and have only received communion in the Orthodox Church.

So, the question is this: Given that my baptism was in the Roman Catholic Church, canonically speaking, am I supposed to be Latin Rite or Eastern Rite?

I appreciate your help!

Which rite do you feel more comfortable with? I believe you have a choice in that don’t you???

 

[vocatio]

Greetings!

I am currently an Orthodox Christian who, after years of struggling with theological issues, has decided to come into full communion with Rome.

My understanding is that, according to canon law (both the Latin and Eastern codes), an Orthodox Christian, upon reconciliation with the Catholic Church, automatically becomes a member of the Eastern Catholic Church which most closely corresponds to the identity of his former Orthodox Church (so, for instance, OCA becomes Ruthenian, Antiochian becomes Melkite).

However, I don’t know if this actually applies to me because I was baptized as an infant in the Roman Catholic Church, although my parents were lapsed Catholics and I was never raised in the Roman Catholic Church. I was chrismated (confirmed) and have only received communion in the Orthodox Church.

So, the question is this: Given that my baptism was in the Roman Catholic Church, canonically speaking, am I supposed to be Latin Rite or Eastern Rite?

I appreciate your help!

This may not be what you want to hear, but you would be considered Latin Catholic. You can always attend the Eastern Catholic churches. You are free to do so, but if you feel more comfortable in the Eastern Rite you can “transfer” your rite by asking the bishop holding you baptismal record to do so. This takes time. But in you situation you might be able to do this without a problem.

Carrying this on a little further. Should you be married or get married and then feel called to the priesthood. If you are eastern Catholic you may be allowed to discern your vocation. However being a Latin Catholic now you would not be allowed to be married and then discern the priesthood. But if that is not an issue, do like I originally stated. Come Home through your rite. All you have to do is go to confession and tell the pastor your situation. Welcome home. Your sacraments are recognized by the Catholic Church.

 

[ASimpleSinner]

Greetings!

I am currently an Orthodox Christian who, after years of struggling with theological issues, has decided to come into full communion with Rome.

My understanding is that, according to canon law (both the Latin and Eastern codes), an Orthodox Christian, upon reconciliation with the Catholic Church, automatically becomes a member of the Eastern Catholic Church which most closely corresponds to the identity of his former Orthodox Church (so, for instance, OCA becomes Ruthenian, Antiochian becomes Melkite).

However, I don’t know if this actually applies to me because I was baptized as an infant in the Roman Catholic Church, although my parents were lapsed Catholics and I was never raised in the Roman Catholic Church. I was chrismated (confirmed) and have only received communion in the Orthodox Church.

So, the question is this: Given that my baptism was in the Roman Catholic Church, canonically speaking, am I supposed to be Latin Rite or Eastern Rite?

I appreciate your help!

If you are intending to return to full communion in the context of a correspondant Greek Catholic parish, chances are that the pastor guiding you through this process could help to process your paperwork to have your canonical enrollment - if you so choose - be in the Eastern Catholic parish you join.

Which rite do you feel more comfortable with? I believe you have a choice in that don’t you???

Technically a Latin who returns from the non-Catholic East is still a Latin when reconciled, but…

No one, I repeat, NO ONE is going to challenge a request for a change of canonical enrollment which is free to ask for, no canon lawyers needed, no hearing to go to. You tell the Eastern Catholic pastor you want it, he files the paperwork, in a few weeks it is said and done and that is that.

At 16 - after going to church with my greek Catholic granny for a year, I requested and recieved a “return to ancestoral rite”… It was all done in the mail, it took about 6 weeks, one sunday I showed up and Father said “hey, grab a witness and sign this!” I did, that was that. (Several years later I actually went to seminary for a time, and no questions were ever asked about my transfer.)

The choice is yours. As a Catholic, you will be free to attend any Catholic parish no matter your technical enrollment - in the end the enrollment largely becomes an issue over sacraments (marriage, baptism of your children, ordination)…

Welcome home, brother! (I am assuming it is brother Your SN seems more like the choice of a guy than a gal!)

-Simple

 

[catherineajt]

To the OP–Welcome home! Your situtation is just like mine and my husband’s. We converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church (OCA) when our youngest was an infant, and he was baptized in the Orthodox church, but my other two had been baptized in the Roman Catholic Church.

Returning to the True Church has blessed our family. We attend a small Byzantine prayer community in our area, and it is wonderful. We haven’t discussed canonical enrollment with our priest yet. He knows our situation, but we haven’t asked him about “officially” switching. I have heard two different opinions: one, that Orthodox Christians, upon professing the faith in a Catholic church, will be received as Eastern Catholics. The other opinion is that if you were originally baptized in the Western Church, you “revert” to that canonical enrollment. It really doesn’t matter much UNLESS you would like to discern a vocation in the priesthood later on. Since we have three boys, and would like them to have that option, we will eventually look into it and ask our priest.

So I would ask the priest at the church you are attending.

We found that what we did like about the Orthodox church was the Divine Liturgy; that is why we sought out and found a Byzantine Catholic church. For us it is the fullest expression of worship, but if I had no other option I would attend a Western rite Mass. Just being back in the Church is a heady experience.

Again, welcome back!

 

[hormisdas]

Thanks, all, for your responses!

Pravoslavac wrote:

Which rite do you feel more comfortable with? I believe you have a choice in that don’t you???

Actually, I have experience in both the Eastern Rite and the Western Rite of the Antiochian Archdiocese. In terms of liturgical piety I like to think that I “breathe with both lungs.” I love both, and could feel at home in either an Eastern Catholic church of the Byzantine tradition or a Western Catholic church which celebrates either the “Extraordinary Form” or the “Ordinary Form” in a dignified, traditional manner. Perhaps the thing to do would be to find a local community (of whatever rite) that I can be comfortable in.

Vocatio wrote:

Come Home through your rite. All you have to do is go to confession and tell the pastor your situation. Welcome home. Your sacraments are recognized by the Catholic Church.

I love the Eastern Catholic tradition, and especially the Melkites (although there are no Melkite churches in my area). There are two other wonderful Eastern Catholic churches in my area, however. I will definitely, prayerfully, consider transferring to the Eastern Rite.

ASimpleSinner wrote:

If you are intending to return to full communion in the context of a correspondant Greek Catholic parish, chances are that the pastor guiding you through this process could help to process your paperwork to have your canonical enrollment - if you so choose - be in the Eastern Catholic parish you join.

Technically a Latin who returns from the non-Catholic East is still a Latin when reconciled, but…

No one, I repeat, NO ONE is going to challenge a request for a change of canonical enrollment which is free to ask for, no canon lawyers needed, no hearing to go to. You tell the Eastern Catholic pastor you want it, he files the paperwork, in a few weeks it is said and done and that is that.

Very interesting. I had the impression that such transfers were extremely rare or difficult to process. Good to know!

Welcome home, brother! (I am assuming it is brother Your SN seems more like the choice of a guy than a gal!)

Yes, I’m a dude. Thanks for the kind welcome!

Catherineajt wrote:

To the OP–Welcome home! Your situtation is just like mine and my husband’s. We converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church (OCA) when our youngest was an infant, and he was baptized in the Orthodox church, but my other two had been baptized in the Roman Catholic Church.

It’s very rare to meet someone in my situation! I would be interested in hearing your family’s reasons for returning to full communion with Rome, and how smooth the transition was.

 

[Diak]

I would disagree with Vocatio. You are returning to full communion with the Catholic Church having practiced as an Orthodox Christian for some time.

It is entirely your choice as to which church sui iuris you may join but the canon lawyers prefer you join the parallel church ritually from whence you came. For the OCA that could be the Ukrainian, Ruthenian, Romanian or Russian Greek Catholic Churches since the OCA has historically encompassed all of these communities. If you are Antiochian or Greek this would generally correspond to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.

But in reality it often comes down to a matter of practicality in the diaspora - since we are often so spread out it may be you have to attend the nearest Eastern Catholic parish regardless of which Orthodox church you are coming from. Simple Sinner is quite correct - the Eastern Catholic priest you are working with will help take care of all of the details, and the Bishop or Chancellor of the appropriate Eparchy will process what needs to be processed.
FDRLB

 

[Ignatius]

Greetings!

I am currently an Orthodox Christian who, after years of struggling with theological issues, has decided to come into full communion with Rome.

My understanding is that, according to canon law (both the Latin and Eastern codes), an Orthodox Christian, upon reconciliation with the Catholic Church, automatically becomes a member of the Eastern Catholic Church which most closely corresponds to the identity of his former Orthodox Church (so, for instance, OCA becomes Ruthenian, Antiochian becomes Melkite).

However, I don’t know if this actually applies to me because I was baptized as an infant in the Roman Catholic Church, although my parents were lapsed Catholics and I was never raised in the Roman Catholic Church. I was chrismated (confirmed) and have only received communion in the Orthodox Church.

So, the question is this: Given that my baptism was in the Roman Catholic Church, canonically speaking, am I supposed to be Latin Rite or Eastern Rite?

I appreciate your help!

Since you were not a practicing Western Catholic, I would go the a parish of the Eastern Church which you wish to enter, speak to the priest and go from there. This should simplify things as you would be entering The through the Eastern Sui Juris Church.

 

[vocatio]

I love the Eastern Catholic tradition, and especially the Melkites (although there are no Melkite churches in my area). There are two other wonderful Eastern Catholic churches in my area, however. I will definitely, prayerfully, consider transferring to the Eastern Rite…

It’s very rare to meet someone in my situation! I would be interested in hearing your family’s reasons for returning to full communion with Rome, and how smooth the transition was.

I saw a man talk about his conversion on the Journey Home on EWTN. www.ewtn.com He was similar to you. Only he converted from 'lame" Catholic to evangalist to Orthodox [was a deacon] and then back to Catholicism. He said that it was much easier to just come home through the Latin Church. Your story is unique like this. Contact them at the Comming Home Network. I’m trying to find a way to attend their annual seminars in the future as time allows. My conversion is tied into the Journey Home and EWTN, not to mention really strange things.

 

[catherineajt]

Hormisdas–

Our 'transition" has so far been very smooth. Once we found a Byzantine chapel in our town, I emailed the priest to ask if we could receive Communion there. I told him our background. He replied that all Orthodox were welcome to receive, and that he would also offer communion to our children unless we indicated otherwise.

So we showed up, and the Liturgy was pretty much the same, just with different tones (we had been members of the OCA, and they used the Russian tones; the Byzantine church uses Carpathian plainchant, I believe).

Nobody at our church has asked us any questions, beyond, “Are you Byzantine?” when they first saw us there. When I explained that we were converts from Catholicism to Orthodoxy, looking to “come home”, they just said, “Well, welcome home!” and left it at that. We have a very, very small community—about twelve adults and four children, and our family counts for 2 adults and three kids. We are just trying to take things slow and not barge in and try to switch over. I think as far as our priest is concerned, he considers us Catholics; we have professed our faith in the Liturgy with everyone else, and received Communion. Eventually we will get around to the topic of canonical enrollment. We never got a copy of our youngest’s baptismal certificate, and are leery of going to our old church to ask for it, for various reasons.

As for why we came back to full communion with Rome…there were personal reasons having to do with the particular OCA parish we were in. There were larger concerns. My husband was having a very difficult time being out of communion with his mother, who is a very devout Catholic; it really grieved him to not be able to receive Communion with her at Mass, and for her to not be able to receive at the Orthodox church. With all the problems we were having at the parish, we wondered if it was worth it. We read some more, and prayed, and realized what had drawn us to the Orthodox church was the Liturgy. For us, it is the fullest expression of worship. We also had never liked that the Eucharist is withheld from young children, and the fact that the Eastern churches practice infant communion was such a wonderful thing to us.

Then we discovered the Byzantine Catholic church. I have told my priest and others that if we had known about this church, that there was one in our town, earlier, we wouldn’t have converted to Orthodoxy. The Divine Liturgy, infant communion, and a rich heritage that is connected to my own ancestry. It is a blessing.

 

[hormisdas]

Thanks for sharing your story, Catherineajt!

 

[ASimpleSinner]

Very interesting. I had the impression that such transfers were extremely rare or difficult to process. Good to know!

On paper it seems that way, in reality it simply is not.

If you present youself and say “Father, I would like to return to the Catholic communion and be a member of this parish” the pastor will take care of all the paperwork and within 6-8 weeks (snail mail being what it is) you will get paperwork to sign and that will be that.