Eastern Catholic Bishops

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David_Figueroa

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I have been doing some research into Eastern-Rite Catholicism (I am Latin rite), and there are just a couple of things that confuse me. What bishops are these Churches subordinate to? Are the subject to the local Latin-Rite bishops, or does each Eastern-Rite Church have its own bishops around the world who exercise authority over their parishes? And also, do the Eastern Patriarchs have authority over all people in their Churches (for example, would a Parish in Texas be subject to a patriarch living in another country), or is it a purely locational thing? And can an Eastern Catholic Priest become pope, even though the Pope is the Patriarch of the Western-Rite Churches?

Sorry for all the questions. I understand that Eastern-Rite Churches are just as Catholic as the Western-Rite Church, but the governing process confuses me. Thank you!!!
 
  1. No, they are not under Latin-rite bishops except to the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.
  2. Each Eastern Catholic Church do have its own Patriarch and he has suffragan bishops.
  3. In a sense, a Roman Catholics living in Asia is subject to the Pope. So even in the Latin-rite, it is not purely locational. In the same way, people in eastern churches are subject to the pope, to the patriarch of his Church, and to bishop of the ecclesiastical province of his Church to which his parish is in jurisdiction of.
 
David_Figueroa said:
I have been doing some research into Eastern-Rite Catholicism (I am Latin rite), and there are just a couple of things that confuse me. What bishops are these Churches subordinate to? Are the subject to the local Latin-Rite bishops, or does each Eastern-Rite Church have its own bishops around the world who exercise authority over their parishes? And also, do the Eastern Patriarchs have authority over all people in their Churches (for example, would a Parish in Texas be subject to a patriarch living in another country), or is it a purely locational thing? And can an Eastern Catholic Priest become pope, even though the Pope is the Patriarch of the Western-Rite Churches?
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An eastern Catholic can become Pope.
There are four kinds of sui iuris Churches:
  • Patriarchial
  • Major Archepiscopal
  • Metropolitan
  • Those without their own hierarchy. (Some places the eastern faithful are in the care of Latin, or other eastern, pastors, and Latin may be in the care of an eastern pastor - such as in Eritrea.)
“All of these churches come under the jurisdiction of the Pope through the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, one of the offices of the Roman Curia.” – CNEWA

http://www.cnewa.org/default.aspx?ID=123&pagetypeID=9&sitecode=HQ&pageno=1
 
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Thanks for the answers. One more question; I remember reading somewhere that some eastern Churches follow the Orthodox Bible canon. Is this true? And if it is, doesn’t that go against the Council of Trent? How are faithful Catholics supposed to know which canon is the true infallible Bible?
 
ThereseFrancis said:
No, they are not under Latin-rite bishops except to the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.
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See Vico’s response, below regarding your other points.

Regarding this point, it happens that the current pope is a Latin-rite bishop. If the next pope happens to be Eastern, then the whole world, including Latin Rite, would be under that pope. I believe he would need to become bi-ritual at that point, as he would also be bishop for Latin Rite Catholics in Rome.

The pope formerly had the title “Patriarch of the West”. Pope Benedict dropped that title, for reasons I do not know.

Latin rite Catholics tend to lump the other Catholics together, but keep in mind they are separate jurisdictions from each other. The Maronite Catholics in the US might be under their bishop in Brooklyn, even if they live a 1000 miles away, and even if there is another Eastern Catholic bishop in their own city.

My guess is that if Eastern Catholics live far from a parish of their own Rite, they would tend to join another Eastern Catholic parish. In a country such as the US, with its vast amount of suburban sprawl and young adults moving far to take a job, I suspect this comes up.
 
Hello David_Figueroa,

I may be wrong, so someone can correct me, but I don’t see this as an issue (using the Orthodox Bible). Since Pope Leo XII Papal Encyclical Orientalium Dignitas, Pope Paul VI Decree on the Catholic Churches of the Eastern Rite Orientalium Ecclesiarium, to recent Pontiffs such as Saint Pope John Paul the Greats Apostolic Exhortation Orientale Lumen, the Eastern Churches have been called to “preserve their spiritual heritage.” I would assume this would also mean the Scriptures that they choose to use.

ZP
 
commenter said:
Regarding this point, it happens that the current pope is a Latin-rite bishop
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Yes. That is correct. It only happens that the current Pope is a Latin-rite bishop. I did look past that. I’m sorry. Mea culpa
commenter said:
The Maronite Catholics in the US might be under their bishop in Brooklyn, even if they live a 1000 miles away, and even if there is another Eastern Catholic bishop in their own city.
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This was my point as well. If it wasn’t clear: it is not entirely locational and they would be under the bishop of to which ecclesiastical province their parish belongs to. Example, you can be living in Brooklyn and your parish is under the jurisdiction of the bishop in California.

My fault for oversimplification of my answer.
 
David_Figueroa said:
I have been doing some research into Eastern-Rite Catholicism (I am Latin rite), and there are just a couple of things that confuse me. What bishops are these Churches subordinate to? Are the subject to the local Latin-Rite bishops, or does each Eastern-Rite Church have its own bishops around the world who exercise authority over their parishes? And also, do the Eastern Patriarchs have authority over all people in their Churches (for example, would a Parish in Texas be subject to a patriarch living in another country), or is it a purely locational thing? And can an Eastern Catholic Priest become pope, even though the Pope is the Patriarch of the Western-Rite Churches?

Sorry for all the questions. I understand that Eastern-Rite Churches are just as Catholic as the Western-Rite Church, but the governing process confuses me. Thank you!!!
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It really all depends on how many Eastern Catholics are in the a country and which Eastern Rite(s) are there.

For example: there is one Eastern Catholic parish in Argentina that falls under the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. That parish is part of an Ordinariate created in 1959 to cover any Eastern Catholic parishes that did not have their own local bishop. So in that Ordinariate, there is currently just 1 parish & 1 diocesan priest. All the other Eastern Catholics now have their own Bishops, so they are no longer under the Latin Archbishop of Buenos Aires.


In the United States, they all have their own Bishop or they have a national parish which is part of the local Latin Diocese, reporting to the Latin Bishop (no Ordinariate like Argentina)

God Bless
 
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I don’t think the Coptic Catholics, Ethiopian Catholics, Eritrean Catholics, Russian Catholics, or Italo-Greek-Albanian Catholics have their own hierarchy in the U.S., and are under the authority of the local Latin ordinary, or in the case of some of the Italo-Greek-Albanian Catholics, an Eastern bishop of another particular church.
 
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RyanBlack said:
I don’t think the Coptic Catholics, Ethiopian Catholics, Eritrean Catholics, Russian Catholics, or Italo-Greek-Albanian Catholics have their own hierarchy in the U.S., and are under the authority of the local Latin ordinary, or in the case of some of the Italo-Greek-Albanian Catholics, an Eastern bishop of another particular church.
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I’m sorry, you are totally correct! I will fix my post
 
I may be wrong but I’m pretty sure that the Russian Greek Catholic Churches in the U.S. are under the jurisdiction of the local Latin Bishops (San Francisco and New York).

Here is Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco visiting Our Lady of Fatima Russian Byzantine Catholic Church:


and Nativity:

 
I spoke with a friend of mine who is a Romanian Greek-Catholic monk and he told me that they are part of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s diocese. From what I have researched, there are only two Russian Greek-Catholic Churches in the United States, Our Lady of Fatima Russian Byzantine Catholic Church and Saint Michael’s Chapel in New York. Because the Russian Greek-Catholic Church has no Eparchy here they fall under the jurisdiction of the local Latin Bishop. If there is a member of one of these parishes on this forum and sure they can either vouch for me or correct me.

ZP
 
commenter said:
Regarding this point, it happens that the current pope is a Latin-rite bishop. If the next pope happens to be Eastern, then the whole world, including Latin Rite, would be under that pope.
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I wasn’t aware of that. Thanks for the info.

Can I ask, if this is the case, how many past Popes have been non Latin rite popes?
Thanks.
 
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You mean, other than Anthony Quinn (“Shoes of the Fisherman”); or maybe St. Peter? 😀

I don’t know the answer, because in the early years it was not clearly defined between Eastern and Western, and what “rite” means. This has been discussed on earlier threads on CAF.

Usually my ignorance doesn’t even slow me down from answering, but on this one I will hope someone more informed will answer.
 
In the United States, they all have their own Bishop or they have a national
parish which is part of the local Latin Diocese, reporting to the Latin Bishop
(no Ordinariate like Argentina)
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Not all of them 🙂

Our Lady of Wisdom in Las Vegas, for exempt, is Italo-Greco, but is part of the Metropolia Formerly Known as Ruthenian, under the authority of the Bishop Formerly of Van Nuys (now in Phoenix). Their other parish, though, is part of the RC Diocese of New York. My understanding is that it has to do with which provided assistance.

Were the world functioning properly, there would be one bishop for the area, who would provide for all rites present. But this isn’t the case.

The Eastern bishops were introduced in the US due to the flat-out abuse of Eastern Catholics by many Latin bishops. One in particular directly caused not one but two schism, creating both the OCA and ACROD 😦

hawk
 
dochawk said:
The Eastern bishops were introduced in the US due to the flat-out abuse of Eastern Catholics by many Latin bishops. One in particular directly caused not one but two schism, creating both the OCA and ACROD 😦
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Yeah, that’s a sad history of the Catholic Church in America. They also caused the schismatic National Polish Catholic Church too but apparently not helping Polish Catholics with their devotions.
 
David_Figueroa said:
One more question; I remember reading somewhere that some eastern Churches follow the Orthodox Bible canon. Is this true?
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Trent declared what was inspired Scripture and solidified the Roman Catholic Canon.

Trent did not declare what was not inspired, thereby leaving open the possibility that other writings could be inspired Scriptures.

Certain Eastern Catholic Churches accepting other books in their canon is therefore permissible. It is part of their legitimate spiritual patrimony.
 
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