Error in apologist's response??

[a_pilgrim]

Hi, Kristine (kmktexas)!

I’m delighted every time I see one of my Latin brothers or sisters take such an interest in matters relating to Eastern Catholicism, as you have in this thread! I feel badly if you were offended by my attempt to interject an Eastern Catholic perspective into this universally Catholic issue. As has been pointed out, my issue was not with the question that was asked, but with the response, the original response, that was given to the question. Since you apparently missed it, that response read, in part, as follows:

"First Confession is always done prior to receiving First Communion. There are no exceptions." (emphasis mine)

…and made no mention whatsoever of the Eastern Catholic perspective, an obvious exception. Clearly, this choice of wording would be sufficient to cause an uninformed observer to reason that there is no Eastern Catholic perspective, or that the Eastern Catholic perspective is the same as that of the West. Neither of these cases, we realize, is true.

I stand by my original response to Ms. Frye’s original statement. There are exceptions. Ms. Frye obviously agreed with me and graciously amended her response to include the Eastern Catholic perspective with regard to this issue in her amended response. I do not take any personal credit for the change in her response. She more than likely did this because of a PM sent to her by a fellow Eastern Catholic. He handled the issue the way it should have been handled (with a PM)… I did not, and I feel badly because of it. Please note that I have since apologized publically to Ms. Frye on this forum (see my post #13).

If I may, I’d like to respond to a couple of the points you addressed to me personally…

I think you are just looking for something to stir up a debate. :tsktsk:

Not at all. Had Ms. Frye said, “First Confession is never done prior to receiving First Communion…” I’d have certainly expected you or another Latin to respond with a post similar to mine, only expressing the Latin perspective. That’s not “stirring up a debate :tsktsk: ;” that’s correcting an obvious error with regard to one of the basics of our Catholic faith.

If you want all of the discussion here to cover the Eastern rites, I am afraid you are out of luck.

What I want is for all the discussion here to cover the ***Catholic Church. ***Certainly there are topics on this forum where it would make no sense at all to interject an Eastern viewpoint. This was not one of them. This topic concerned something very basic to all Catholics… the Sacraments (or, if you’ll indulge this ol’ Easterner, the Holy Mysteries, as we refer to them). Fortunately for all of us, the fact that you may personally feel we Eastern Catholics are “out of luck” has no bearing whatsoever upon our obligation to continue to share the riches of our liturgical and theological differences with the rest of our Catholic brethren.

(continued)

 

[a_pilgrim]

People are going to discuss the church they are most familiar with…

How true… exactly what I was doing! I was giving my Catholic response to a Catholic issue, from the standpoint of the Catholic Church I’m most familiar with! I’m sorry if you interpreted my response as a threat to you and the Catholic Church that you are most familiar with. We Catholics are, after all, made up of 23 separate Churches - differences can, and do, exist - this forum represents an ideal means for us to share and celebrate those differences. Perhaps the more you become aware of those differences, the less you’ll perceive them as threats!

*** If*** Peggy Frye ammended her first response…

(emphasis mine)

Not IF, Kristine, but WHEN. If I seem a bit defensive here, it’s because the tone of your statement makes it sound as though you’ve got a bit of doubt about the very existence of Ms. Frye’s unedited version of her response. Unless Ms. Frye herself tells you that she did, indeed, type an original response that differed from the one you’re familiar with, I guess you’ll just have to take our word for it…* honest - we’re not lying! *Oh, and by the way, you are correct - she did do it pretty quickly…and effectively, I might add! (THANK YOU, Ms. Frye!).

I, for one, am very happy that such diversity of worship exists in the Church. We get it.

I’m delighted to see that you are happy with our Church’s diversity - honest! But when you say, “We get it,” I must beg to differ. The fact is, most Catholics don’t “get it.” That’s why we must continue to point out those differences at every appropriate opportunity. This is not just me saying this… our Holy Father has mandated that all of us Catholics take whatever steps necessary to learn of the riches inherent in those Churches we may not be as familiar with as our own… and that pretty much sums up my purpose in initiating this thread.

Kristine, I seriously doubt that you’ll find anyone silly enough to question the fact that Catholics of the Latin Church comprise, far and away, the VAST majority of posters in these forums, just as they do in the real world. In most instances, you’ll find that we few members of the Eastern Churches here fully understand and appreciate the tendency to “default” to the Latin perspective, if for no other reason than to avoid confrontations (probably too strong a word, huh?) such as this one. The membership differential between our Churches is not sufficient, however, to grant the Latin viewpoint an “automatic default” on all issues. I plan to continue to respond to those issues that impact the perception that my Church, the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church, enjoys within our Church Universal. I’d be willing to bet that you’ll continue to find other Eastern Catholics who will do the same with regard to their own sui iuris Churches, too.

We are, after all, all *Catholics, *each of us just as Catholic as the next!

a pilgrim

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

Marauder:

I have actually heard it talked about both ways. It depends on what the person is talking about. If people are talking about the Catholic church then the Latin Rite is one lung and the Eastern rites are another lung.

But I have also heard of people talking about valid order churches and people use the same analagy with Catholics that answer to the Pope as one lung and Eastern Orthodox and other valid order groups as the other lung. Part of the same body but different.

Which makes one wonder which is the oesophagus, spleen, appendix, colon, pancreas, liver, metatarsus, tarsus, Achilles tendon…