Eastern Rites

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snowman10

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I am not fully Catholic yet, but I have a question. I feel like I want to do more than just be a layperson in the Church when I join. I have gone to mostly Roman Catholic Churches, and I am aware that I could not be married if I became a priest. What about the Eastern Rites? More or less this is hypothetical.
 
Check the old threads on these forums. There are secular orders that would welcome you. You can commit to an order of this type and be married or single. They have many types of prayer and social action ministries. I was drawn to prison ministry.

Deacon Tony SFO
 
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snowman10:
I am not fully Catholic yet, but I have a question. I feel like I want to do more than just be a layperson in the Church when I join. I have gone to mostly Roman Catholic Churches, and I am aware that I could not be married if I became a priest. What about the Eastern Rites? More or less this is hypothetical.
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You should not join an Eastern Catholic Church just so you could be a ordained a priest as a married man. You should only do so if you are truely drawn to the traditions. If you are a convert you will have to wait a minimum of 5 years before you could enter formation for the diaconate or priesthood, that is in Canon Law.

But as Deacon Tony says, there are many secular thrid orders that you could be a part of.
 
I wasnt attempting to say that was my reason at all. It was simply hypothetical. The most I would want to do is scripture reader or RCIA leader. But thank you for your answers.
 
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ByzCath:
You should not join an Eastern Catholic Church just so you could be a ordained a priest as a married man. You should only do so if you are truely drawn to the traditions. If you are a convert you will have to wait a minimum of 5 years before you could enter formation for the diaconate or priesthood, that is in Canon Law.
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Well, why must one not join an Eastern rite just to be ordained? If the call is strong and he is sincere, I really don’t see any reason to reject that person. He might be a good asset for the Eastern Church with his conviction and sincerity.
 
You can never marry after being ordained unless along with being dismissed from the priesthood. You can be ordained as a married man, though, in the Eastern rites. Sometimes exceptions are made for married men in the Latin rite, but the only instance of which I am aware is Protestant pastors wanting to be ordained proper priests after conversion.
 
Anyone who wants to be a married priest, and therefore find a Church which blesses it, is already off on the wrong foot.

No Byzantine Metropolitain would ordain a “westerner” with such an agenda.
 
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Milliardo:
Well, why must one not join an Eastern rite just to be ordained? If the call is strong and he is sincere, I really don’t see any reason to reject that person. He might be a good asset for the Eastern Church with his conviction and sincerity.
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Because to do so would be simply “using” the diversity of the Eastern rites to further one’s agenda. Exploitation of another tradition is a horrible way to enter the priesthood.
 
Andreas Hofer:
Because to do so would be simply “using” the diversity of the Eastern rites to further one’s agenda. Exploitation of another tradition is a horrible way to enter the priesthood.
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That’s almost senseless. I don’t think anyone would be out to exploit it. As for agenda–by saying it you already presume that the intent of the person is to become a married priest only. By going through that logic, even those who enter the Western rite should be invalidated because their only reason for the priesthood is to become a priest–and nothing else. But I would think that there is a period of discernment before one becomes a priest, and so there is time for a person to really discern if his calling is true or not. As I mentioned, I said that the one who wants to be priest has an honest and pure intention to serve Christ and His Church–which is, I believe, what most who want to be priests’ intentions are.
 
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Milliardo:
Well, why must one not join an Eastern rite just to be ordained? If the call is strong and he is sincere, I really don’t see any reason to reject that person. He might be a good asset for the Eastern Church with his conviction and sincerity.
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One should only enter an Eastern Church because one feels called to the Eastern Traditions not because they want to be a married priest.

To become eastern to be ordained as a married man is to skirt the rules. If this was the reason for a change both the Latin Bishop and the Eastern Bishop would deny the change.

This also shows the misconception of the call. Only the Church Calls though the bishop. An individual may feel that they are called and may discern such but the calling is not proved until the bishop calls one forward to be ordained. So a man who attends a seminary and finishes all his education that the bishop does not call to ordination never had the call.
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Milliardo:
Andreas Hofer:
Because to do so would be simply “using” the diversity of the Eastern rites to further one’s agenda. Exploitation of another tradition is a horrible way to enter the priesthood.
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That’s almost senseless. I don’t think anyone would be out to exploit it. As for agenda–by saying it you already presume that the intent of the person is to become a married priest only. By going through that logic, even those who enter the Western rite should be invalidated because their only reason for the priesthood is to become a priest–and nothing else. But I would think that there is a period of discernment before one becomes a priest, and so there is time for a person to really discern if his calling is true or not. As I mentioned, I said that the one who wants to be priest has an honest and pure intention to serve Christ and His Church–which is, I believe, what most who want to be priests’ intentions are.
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Andreas Hofer said it very well and very bluntly. You appeared not to have liked it but it is the truth.

One does not enter the Catholic Church to be a priest, one enters the Church to be a Catholic.

I believe that Canon Law states that a convert to Catholicism must wait 5 years before he can be a candidate for ordination. I know most religious orders require this before you can enter formation.
 
ByzCath, I am Catholic, so I don’t get your point saying you have to be Catholic. I’m not even a convert to the Church, since I am a cradle Catholic.
 
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Milliardo:
ByzCath, I am Catholic, so I don’t get your point saying you have to be Catholic. I’m not even a convert to the Church, since I am a cradle Catholic.
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Sorry about the confusion on my part then but…

If your Latin Bishop and one of the Byzantine Bishops who’s eparchy you live in approved of a change of Churches then you would have to wait some period of time before the Byzantine Bishop would allow you to enter formation, most likely this would be 5 years as it would take you that long to learn and feel comfortable in our tradition.

Also you must keep in mind that once you change Churches that you can never change back.

But if the sole reason to change Churches was to be ordained to the priesthood as a married man I doubt that either bishop would allow you to change.
 
Everyone, my question truly was hypothetical. My motives were simply to get an answer to a question I did not know the answer to. Come to think of it, I still dont really know the answer, so lets do it this way:

Can a man marry before or after becoming a Priest in the Eastern Rite or both? Yes or no please, and elaborate only if neccessary.

Thanks guys!!!
 
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snowman10:
Everyone, my question truly was hypothetical. My motives were simply to get an answer to a question I did not know the answer to. Come to think of it, I still dont really know the answer, so lets do it this way:

Can a man marry before or after becoming a Priest in the Eastern Rite or both? Yes or no please, and elaborate only if neccessary.

Thanks guys!!!
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Married men can be ordained to the priesthood in the Byzantine Catholic Churches, those are the only eastern ones I can speak of.

Once one is ordained to the priesthood or the diaconate, one can not marry. They must be married before ordination.

Hope that helps.
 
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ByzCath:
Sorry about the confusion on my part then but…

If your Latin Bishop and one of the Byzantine Bishops who’s eparchy you live in approved of a change of Churches then you would have to wait some period of time before the Byzantine Bishop would allow you to enter formation, most likely this would be 5 years as it would take you that long to learn and feel comfortable in our tradition.

Also you must keep in mind that once you change Churches that you can never change back.

But if the sole reason to change Churches was to be ordained to the priesthood as a married man I doubt that either bishop would allow you to change.
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I am not aware of any Eastern eparchy or even parish near our area. I live in the Philippines, specifically in Metro Manila. Not once have I seen one Eastern rite church (or even Orthodox for that matter). Would it be possible to ask an Eastern rite priest over? Bishop John Elya of the Melkite rite seems to allude to it in his reply to a question:

“Ordinarily, a parish or mission is established after a group of interested persons gathers to invite a priest to visit and celebrate an occasional Liturgy. Once a community of persons reaches a critical mass or is able to support itself in some manner, consideration can be given to establishing a mission or parish.”
 
I forgot to add: Bishop Elya also states that one has to be a member of a Melkite community for 2 years:

“The first condition to be a candidate to serve a people is to know them and to be known and accepted by them. There is a general understanding that, to be accepted in our seminary, one should have belonged to a Melkite community for two years.”
 
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Milliardo:
I am not aware of any Eastern eparchy or even parish near our area. I live in the Philippines, specifically in Metro Manila. Not once have I seen one Eastern rite church (or even Orthodox for that matter).
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Millardo,

There are no parishes of the Eastern or Oriental Catholic Churches in the Phillippines, although there are Eastern Orthodox parishes.

Many years,

Neil
 
Irish Melkite:
Millardo,

There are no parishes of the Eastern or Oriental Catholic Churches in the Phillippines, although there are Eastern Orthodox parishes.

Many years,

Neil
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Thank you, Neil. So, as Bishop Elya stated, can one ask for a Melkite priest to come over and introduce the Melkite way here? How does one go about this? I have also asked this, and the person said that the Eastern Churches do not do missionary work the way the Western Church does.
 
Milliardo:

Bishop John (Elya) is now retired. As a general rule, we call bishops “Bishop firstname” since they are almost all monks and monks generally take a new name when they are professed.

New Melkite communities are usually established only in response to Melkites in an area asking for support. For example, we have a Melkite deacon in the New Orleans area, but he serves the Ruthenian Church since there is no Melkite Church there. However, there is a community of Melkites there, and the priest from Atlanta goes there once a month or so to celebrate liturgy while the issue of establishing a mission parish there is considered. This is a long process, and I’m not sure how Archbishop Cyril is addressing it.

As for the Phillipines, that would not fall to Archbishop Cyril to address but would, rather, be a matter for Patriarch Gregory III who is the head of the Melkite Church. However, we Easterners address this issue quite differently from the Latin Church and do not, in general, do missionary work in an area that “belongs” to another Church – in this case the Latin Church.

Deacon Ed
 
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