Do I have to follow the obligations of my rite?

[a_pilgrim]

I don’t see any Byzantine Catholic priests going to Newman Centers or universities encouraging their members to remain faithful to their rite or for that matter educating the Roman Catholics about the different rites and giving them a chance to experience a Divine Liturgy.

To give “props” where they’re due…

Fr. Thomas Loya, pastor of Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Parish in Illinois has, on more than one occasion, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. John’s Catholic Neuman Center on campus at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. That’s a drive of greater than 100 miles for him, each way! He’s also been instrumental in the attempts to establish a Byzantine Catholic mission parish in Peoria (IL), just off-campus near Bradley University. There’s certainly no lack of outreach toward the college crowd on the part of this Byzantine Catholic priest!

 

[Hesychios]

To give “props” where they’re due…

Fr. Thomas Loya, pastor of Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Parish in Illinois has, on more than one occasion, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. John’s Catholic Neuman Center on campus at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. That’s a drive of greater than 100 miles for him, each way! He’s also been instrumental in the attempts to establish a Byzantine Catholic mission parish in Peoria (IL), just off-campus near Bradley University. There’s certainly no lack of outreach toward the college crowd on the part of this Byzantine Catholic priest!

Hi Al!

I had the privilige of singing with the choir for Divine Liturgy there , it was a great experience! It was gratified to see how the young people took to the liturgy of St John Chrysostom.

Your brother,
Michael

 

[kitkatty]

What do you expect? We have nowhere else to go. I don’t see any Byzantine Catholic priests going to Newman Centers or universities encouraging their members to remain faithful to their rite or for that matter educating the Roman Catholics about the different rites and giving them a chance to experience a Divine Liturgy. Well I’ve heard of one case in Philadelphia but Pennsylvania is the exception.

So why cant a movement for involvement with younger Byzantines in the Newman center start with you? Why not talk to the priest in your home parish a bout this and if he cant help he would probably be able to give some suggestion. You would not only be helping to keep your own Byzantine spirituality but you could be very instrumental in sharing this with other young adults. Who knows how many of them would become seriously interested in the Byzantine Catholic Church with just a little exposure? You are in the perfect position to do this because you are attending Latin parish and could suggest to some of those kids in that parish they come and see what the Byzantine church is like. Pilgrim gave some good suggestions.
I think the real issue here is that you really more suited to Latin spirituality. If that is the case then just do as Theist Gal suggested, go on as you are but without a formal change you still have to keep Byzantine disciplines regarding fasting and holy days. Also you cant expect the priests to do everything, evangelization is everybodys job regardless if youre Eastern or Latin Catholic.

 

[wjp984]

I think it’s wonderful that the priest you mentioned was willing to do this and alright I’ll stop complaining and making excuses. While, I keep in contact with the people I know from my Newman Center and will always consider myself a part of it, which is why I still use the word my, I am now in law school which means I should not be posting on here this much and better get back to writing my appellate brief. In regards to my Newman Center, there were no Eastern Catholic churches in the area. We did make a trip to visit a Ukranian monestary once though. And when I would go home I would ask questions about why Eastern Catholics do things certain ways so I could explain the differences to my Newman Center even if I don’t practice them.

The main issue is I am just very theologically confused because of the deLatinization of the Ruthenian rite and therefore I don’t understand it and I just don’t know what theology I believe in, who is right, what to do, what not to do, as everything has changed.

Here is what I follow:

If I see there is a day of obligation in the Latin Rite, usually my friends will go so I will too since going to mass is always good. On my callendar, if I see an obligation day for the Ruthenian Rite, I usually will go to mass anyways.

However, the only fasting regulation I follow is this:

I will not eat meat or dairy products on the first day of Lent, (Monday and not Wednesday, as that has never been different) and on Good Friday. On all other Fridays during Lent I will just abstain from meat but not fish. Anything beyond this is because I want to do it and not because I feel obliged to. For example, this Lent I gave up meat on all days except Sunday but I still ate fish.

In regards to other Fridays I follow the you can do an act of penance instead so I usually like to chant the Divine Mercy Chaplet, which is kind of Eastern if you think about it.

If this is acceptable I see no need to change rites since I really do like the Divine Liturgy when I decide to go and as I mentioned, if there were a choir I probably would join and go every week even if it meant driving 25 miles. However, I also like the songs that can be sung at the various different churches in the Roman Rite. Oh, and there is nothing wrong with being an Eastern Catholic but participating in the youth events with the Roman Rite Catholics and I’ve always been fine with this. I never had this conflict until now I’m being told that the regulations I follow are not acceptable and I don’t understand why if I never learned otherwise while I was young.

This will be my last ong post on the topic. I appreciate the responses and I will check them post when I have time but although I am dreadding the fact that I have to do this appellate brief, I better do it soon and probably will spend all day as in 10 am to 4am Sunday on it tomorrow. For now I am enjoying being lazy since tomorrow is going to be quite a day.

 

[theistgal]

Is that parish still doing alright? Every time I visit there seems to be less and less people attending. I assumed it was because everyone decided to go to the Latin Rite like me once they started the deLatinization of the Ruthenian church. That actually is the cause of my stubborness and dislike for my rite. Blame whoever you want, but if I am going to be brought up under one standard being catechized a certain way, and then be told, whoops, I guess we screwed up and you were not supposed to learn all that but instead you need to forget all that and do things like this since we are Eastern. That kind of creates a lot of confusion and mixes up your theology a lot. As a result, I’m just now more comfortable with the Latin Rite.

I’ve only been attending for a few years. And yes, it’s rather small but I prefer small churches.

In fact, I chose to attend it regularly for precisely that reason (well … that, and the cute guy I eventually married* ).

(* and the church was packed for that! )

 

[wjp984]

A little too small since there is the possibility you might know people I might know since I know a couple people that go to that church so I better shut up.

 

[Deacon_Lance]

wjp984,

Yes, canonically you are bound to fulfill the obligations of your Church sui iuris, the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh.

On all Fridays, except the four exempt ones, you must abstain from meat or peform an equivalent act of penance.
On All Wedensdays and Fridays of Lent you must abstain from meat.
On Clean Monday and Holy Friday you must abstain from meat and dairy.
The Holy Days of Obligation are:
Theophany-Jan 6
Ascension Thursday
SS. Peter and Paul-Jun 29
Dormition of the Mother of God-Aug 15
Christmas-Dec 25

From the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches:

Canon 40-§3. Other Christian faithful are also to foster an understanding and appreciation of their own rite, and are held to observe it everywhere unless something is excused by the law.

Canon 882 On the days of penance the Christian faithful are obliged to observe fast or abstinence in the manner established by the particular law of their Church sui iuris.

Of course nothing prevents you from keeping the fasts/abstinence and you can fulfill your obligation for Holy Days at a Latin parish when their feast coincides with the Byzatine one but you would have to attend a Byzantine Church for Theophany and Ascension Thursday since the Latin Church has transferred these to Sunday.

Also if you plan on marriage, ordination, or initiation of children you will need dispensations to have these done outside the Byzantine Church.

Fr. Deacon Lance

 

[wjp984]

Thanks a lot for your response. In other words, I have no reason to be complaining provided one can still eat fish by abstaining from meat in the Ruthenian rite. I assume one can since there is a fish symbol on the callendar. I’ve already been following those regulations most of my life but I do not think it is necessary to attend a Divine Liturgy on Ascension Thursday. I have final exams around that time so I believe a quick 25 minute daily mass in a Roman Rite church would have to be sufficient. I also think it is nice that the Ruthenian Rite celebrates the Theophany since then there is the Epiphany on the moved to Sunday in the Roman rite so one can get both feast days. I thought that the regulations had changed to be much more harsh than that. A few people gave me wrong information and perhaps they meant that one should try to do those things and I misunderstood. I’m sorry I bothered everyone with my responses. Law school really stresses me out so sometime I take it out and rant about other things when I am overwhelmed like now. Tomorrow really is going to be a nightmare for me writing my brief. In regards to dispensations, I’ll worry about that if I one day need one. By complaining this much I’m kind of starting to remember the stuff I really liked about my Ruthenian rite and I posted that stuff earlier. However, I think I will always be torn between the two rites since they both are wonderful in different ways.

 

[Ungcsertez]

I think you would better off if you choose to belong totally to one Particular Ritual Church, as there really is no canoncial “proxy” that exist. I have an older brother who married a Roman Catholic and has have five childern baptized in the Roman Church. He never filed for a canonical ritual change, so he himself and his childern “technically” belong to the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Particular Church. In reality, they are Roman Catholics. So I think you need to stay in one Particular Ritual Church and if you choose to stay in the Latin Particular Ritual Church, I would recommend filing for a ritual change.

U-C

 

[bpbasilphx]

I have an older brother who married a Roman Catholic and has have five childern baptized in the Roman Church.

My understanding is that canon law requires children to be baptized in the church of their father. Has this changed?

 

[Ungcsertez]

I have an older brother who married a Roman Catholic and has have five childern baptized in the Roman Church.

My understanding is that canon law requires children to be baptized in the church of their father. Has this changed?

I’ve been told that the parents can make a choice on which Particular Ritual Church the childern would be baptized and raised. My brother really didn’t care and so, without a ritual change, the childern are baptized, confirmed, communioned in the Roman Church.

U-C

 

[wjp984]

Well I see no need to change rites especially since the more I think about it, in time I probably will go to the Divine Liturgy more often and without even knowing it I was worrying for nothing and was in compliance with the obligations of my rite. However, I really do appreciate both Eastern and Western theology and while I probably will take a cannon law class as an elective for fun towards my law degree and therefore have a much better understanding of the Western theology (I’m surprised it’s an ABA acredited course ) perhaps I’ll have time some time after I graduate to learn more about Eastern theology as well since it is my rite. I would rather accept both as true and if any of it is contradictory, then I’ll understand how they are just different interpretations of the same idea with different understandings.

 

[SVP]

"theist gal:

I’ve only been attending for a few years. And yes, it’s rather small but I prefer small churches.

In fact, I chose to attend it regularly for precisely that reason (well … that, and the cute guy I eventually married* ).

(* and the church was packed for that! )

A little too small since there is the possibility you might know people I might know since I know a couple people that go to that church so I better shut up.

wjp984:

Is that parish still doing alright? Every time I visit there seems to be less and less people attending. I assumed it was because everyone decided to go to the Latin Rite like me once they started the deLatinization of the Ruthenian church. That actually is the cause of my stubborness and dislike for my rite.

Hmm, with all that said about a parish you were familiar with, perhaps you have already made up your mind to follow the obligations of the RCC rather than the church of your baptism.
Yes it is tough being Byzantine. I findthat to be what drew me back to the parish of my youth.
Next time you visit St. Mary’s in Sherman Oaks, don’t be a stranger and just disappear after DL. I am always available after (and often before) DL to chat.

SVP

 

[eewanco]

The Code of Canon Law of Eastern Churches Can. 883 s.1 says, “The Christian faithful who are outside the territorial boundaries of their own Church sui iuris can adopt fully for themselves the feast days and days of penance which are in force where they are staying.”

I’m not sure what this means for Ruthenians, whether their territorial boundaries include the United States, but at least for other churches, this would apply.

 

[holdencaulfield]

You can receive your Sunday Obligation in any Catholic parish. However you are still bound to the Ruthenian Calendar and Feast Days. You must also fast like a Ruthenian.

 

[Digitonomy]

Can anyone provide a concrete source that I can read which would tell me I am under penalty of mortal sin if I do not follow the obligations of my rite but am in full compliance with the Latin Rite.

In addition to what Deacon Lance posted, there is also Canon 713 2

Concerning the preparation for participation in the Divine Eucharist through fast, prayers and other works, the Christian faithful are to observe faithfully the norms of the Church sui iuris in which they are enrolled, not only within the territorial boundaries of the same Church, but, inasmuch as it is possible, everywhere.

Being in law school, you will probably appreciate access to the entire Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches at this site.

For comparison, there is the Code of Canon Law (for the Latin Church).