Eastern Catholic in Texas?

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Hi,
I am a recent convert although I have not yet begun RCIA (Roman Catholic convert at this time). It is my understanding that priests are allowed to marry in the Eastern rite. In Texas, my Evangelically influenced family is deeply concerned wiht priest abuse and sees the fact that priests cannot marry in Roman Catholicism as a major reason for these scandals. My girlfriend and I want to be Catholic, but also have our concerns about this and feel similarly. I am being incredibly frank, so please understand, I mean no offense. I respect church teachings or I would not be asking this question.

So, I feel like Eastern Catholicism would be a good fit for us since it is considered to be in communion with the Church and priests can marry. Am I correct in these assumptions?

Second, does anyone know how to find an Eastern Catholic parrish? And are there any in Texas?

Thirdly, I feel that I may be called to seminary, but I know that I have been called to marriage. Would this be a problem in the Eastern rite?

Thanks,
K
 
You should also contact Fr. Prof. Peter Galadza at the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute in Ottawa (tell him I sent you!).

You can discuss your plans with him.

Alex
 
I guess it depends on where you are in Texas. 😉 I am in Dallas and there is an Eastern Rite Church that I know of for sure in my area. There’s St. Basil’s church in Irving, TX. and the one I know of which is the Orthodox Church of St. Seraphem.

I hope that you might also address your concerns about the child sex abuse with a Roman Catholic priest as well to perhaps gain any understanding as to what steps the church is taking to address this issue. However, I do understand your other reasons for wanting to become part of the Eastern Rite as well.
God bless you in your search and I hope you find a magnificant church family to become a part of.
 
kkozlovs said:
Hi,
I am a recent convert although I have not yet begun RCIA (Roman Catholic convert at this time). It is my understanding that priests are allowed to marry in the Eastern rite. In Texas, my Evangelically influenced family is deeply concerned wiht priest abuse and sees the fact that priests cannot marry in Roman Catholicism as a major reason for these scandals. My girlfriend and I want to be Catholic, but also have our concerns about this and feel similarly. I am being incredibly frank, so please understand, I mean no offense. I respect church teachings or I would not be asking this question.

So, I feel like Eastern Catholicism would be a good fit for us since it is considered to be in communion with the Church and priests can marry. Am I correct in these assumptions?

Second, does anyone know how to find an Eastern Catholic parrish? And are there any in Texas?

Thirdly, I feel that I may be called to seminary, but I know that I have been called to marriage. Would this be a problem in the Eastern rite?

Thanks,
K
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I think that you are putting facts together as cause and effect like if it were true. You cannot decide which Catholic Church you want to attend based on those facts. You have to understand that most of the Eastern Catholic priests are unmarried and so if your correlation is valid then you have a high risk of abusers in the Eastern Churches too.

I think that you better invest some of your time in trying to understand the details of this terrible malaise that affects all cultural, social, and economical environments including the Catholic Church.

Usually in the Eastern Churches (USA case) if you feel that you are called to seminary and to marriage you are not allowed to follow up on both. For example you are also not allowed to change from the Latin rite to an Eastern rite if your goal is the married priesthood.

Irving, Houston, Austin and San Antonio have Eastern Catholic Churches. However, you must understand that there is not only one Eastern Catholic Church and their disciplines, Liturgies, history and culture can be quite different.
 
kkozlovs said:
Hi, my Evangelically influenced family is deeply concerned wiht priest abuse and sees the fact that priests cannot marry in Roman Catholicism as a major reason for these scandals. K
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your family is misinformed and you owe it to them and yourself to get the facts. There are no statistics to show that unmarried men, priests or not, are any more likely to be abusers, and in fact a high proportion of abusers are married men.
 
Yes, there are many married clergy and ministers in the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant faiths who have been abusing children. A lot of people would point it to celibacy but that is just a cop out. Its an easy way out of actually understanding the problem. They view sex as a craving, much like food, that if you don’t satisfy your hunger then you look to satisfy it. But the fact is, one who is sexually active is more likely to have sexual disorders than one who is chaste. And this is for those who abuse sex outside of marriage.
 
Like others have said, most Eastern Catholic priests in the USA are not married.
 
puzzleannie said:
your family is misinformed and you owe it to them and yourself to get the facts. There are no statistics to show that unmarried men, priests or not, are any more likely to be abusers, and in fact a high proportion of abusers are married men.
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Thank you, Annie … I’m very glad you noted that. 👍 😃 There’s far too much fiction floating about and it absolutely needs to be set straight. Again, thanks. 🙂
 
The abuse of children by priests and religious is, of course, a great scandal. It will cause harm to the Church and the wounds will take a long time to heal.

However, the celibacy rule in the Latin Church is not the cause of this issue. For some reason the media have decided to concentrate on these dreadful events in the Latin Catholic Church. However, the abuse of children is not confined to Latin Catholic clergy or religious. It happens in other Christian Churches and ecclesial communities and in non-Christian faiths. It is carried out by clergy, religious and laity. Most child abuse is not from strangers but from within the family.

You must put this scandal into perspective and not let it be the deciding factor which determines whether or not you choose you be received in the Latin Catholic Church.
 
I understand your question and concerns. Allow to cleart up the marriage issue first by saying that priests can’t gret married. Once a priest if your single your single. However, you could depending on the catholic church ( yes even for the roman clergy its possible but extremely rare to get approval)and its rulles be married then at a later date discern for the priest hood. You wouldn’t have to give up your wife. But know this if your married you can’t be a Bishop. All Bishops are celibates.
 
kkozlovs said:
Hi,
I am a recent convert although I have not yet begun RCIA (Roman Catholic convert at this time). It is my understanding that priests are allowed to marry in the Eastern rite. In Texas, my Evangelically influenced family is deeply concerned wiht priest abuse and sees the fact that priests cannot marry in Roman Catholicism as a major reason for these scandals. My girlfriend and I want to be Catholic, but also have our concerns about this and feel similarly. I am being incredibly frank, so please understand, I mean no offense. I respect church teachings or I would not be asking this question.

So, I feel like Eastern Catholicism would be a good fit for us since it is considered to be in communion with the Church and priests can marry. Am I correct in these assumptions?

Second, does anyone know how to find an Eastern Catholic parrish? And are there any in Texas?

Thirdly, I feel that I may be called to seminary, but I know that I have been called to marriage. Would this be a problem in the Eastern rite?

Thanks,
K
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First and foremost before you even consider Eastern Catholicism I think that you should first clear up your misunderstandings of Roman Catholicism.

The abuse has nothing to do with the priests inability to marry. Where is the causal link between not marrying and child abuse? That’s just stupid to put it bluntly. There is no such thing. Being a child abuser stems from something much different and in fact the abusers were largely homosexual. Again though there is no link between being a homosexual and a child abuser. They are just that…child abusers who have not honored their office of priest. To point to any cause would just be speculation.

Roman Catholicism does not forbid marriage. There are those who convert from protestant sects or orthodox who keep their wives of course. The Church will not say they must divorce. However if you were to start in the Roman Catholic Church you would have to take vows of celibacy and poverty in order to become a priest. The Eastern Church allows marriage within the priesthood but those who are bishop and higher offices are required to be celibate like those in the Roman Catholic Church.

If you change churches just so you can marry and become a priest I do not think it would be allowed. The Church realizes that people would think of doing this. Besides being a recent convert would not make you ready at all yet. You have a lot to learn before you can really discern your call and even then you are dating. You have to devout your time to one vocation solely and not juggle two.

Best wishes in your conversion to Catholicism 🙂
 
rben20 said:
First and foremost before you even consider Eastern Catholicism I think that you should first clear up your misunderstandings of Roman Catholicism.

The abuse has nothing to do with the priests inability to marry. Where is the causal link between not marrying and child abuse? That’s just stupid to put it bluntly. There is no such thing. Being a child abuser stems from something much different and in fact the abusers were largely homosexual. Again though there is no link between being a homosexual and a child abuser. They are just that…child abusers who have not honored their office of priest. To point to any cause would just be speculation.

Roman Catholicism does not forbid marriage. There are those who convert from protestant sects or orthodox who keep their wives of course. The Church will not say they must divorce. However if you were to start in the Roman Catholic Church you would have to take vows of celibacy and poverty in order to become a priest. The Eastern Church allows marriage within the priesthood but those who are bishop and higher offices are required to be celibate like those in the Roman Catholic Church.

If you change churches just so you can marry and become a priest I do not think it would be allowed. The Church realizes that people would think of doing this. Besides being a recent convert would not make you ready at all yet. You have a lot to learn before you can really discern your call and even then you are dating. You have to devout your time to one vocation solely and not juggle two.

Best wishes in your conversion to Catholicism 🙂
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I am sorry to correct you, but the majority of child abusers are hetero not homosexual. That is prooved by statistics.

I think that men who are not able to remain chaste have no business in the priesthood, regardless of their sexuality.
 
Matthew_Holford said:
The abuse of children by priests and religious is, of course, a great scandal. It will cause harm to the Church and the wounds will take a long time to heal.

However, the celibacy rule in the Latin Church is not the cause of this issue. For some reason the media have decided to concentrate on these dreadful events in the Latin Catholic Church. However, the abuse of children is not confined to Latin Catholic clergy or religious. It happens in other Christian Churches and ecclesial communities and in non-Christian faiths. It is carried out by clergy, religious and laity. Most child abuse is not from strangers but from within the family.

You must put this scandal into perspective and not let it be the deciding factor which determines whether or not you choose you be received in the Latin Catholic Church.
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The fear of the Lord is the begining of wisdom.

This is very well put. It seems that the Church in presenting a unified front for morality and righteousness is a rather large target for nay-sayers. As for the OP, there are many ways to worship and be Catholic. I would suggest you attend a few different services and have some conversations with priests, deacons and the laity.
 
Come and experience Eastern Catholicism if you feel you might have an interest, but the interest needs to be for the sake of the Eastern Spirtuality and not just so you can be a married priest. Have you been attending a Latin Catholic Church and do you feel comfortable there? You need to experience both and then make up your mind as to what the best spiritual fit would be for you and your girlfriend. These decisions need time and not to be taken lightly. I hope that you are able to find an Eastern Catholic parish to attend.
 
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