Friend wants to join an eastern catholic church

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angell1

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I have a few questions about eaqstern Catholicism, I genuinely want to understand better and do not wish to cause any contention.

I am not seeking to join an eastern catholic church, but a friend of mine wants to convert from protestant to catholic, she joined rcia for a while and I was her sponsor but she feels more called to eastern spirituality so now she has been meeting with a Ukrainian catholic priest, I believe. so how does the process work, can you please tell me? She still wants me to be her sponsor, but I am not an eastern catholic, am I still allowed to do that or should it be someone from the byzantine rite?

also, if a latin catholic learns something from eastern cahtolicism, are we permitted to use it in our prayer life, like a prayer, or a devotion of some sortÉ would this be seen as offensive? or vice versa, are eastern cahtolics permitted to add latin devotios such as the rosary or other things to their private prayer life, or is it forbidden? not to replace what you already have, but if someone really likes something, for example.

I have been trying to research the questions, and I have seem some raging debates where it seems like latin and eastern catholic thinks they should be mutualy exclusive and have nothing to do with each other. mostly on social media, but it seems like each side almost hated the other and were very disparaging. what is the official church teacing on thisÉ I thought we were all catholic and it is beneficial to learn from each other?or were these just people being extreme? I see a similar trend between the ef and of masses.

also, are there any resources that explain each eastern catholic liturgy, its structure, parts, what the faithful should do when they attend, for example when to sit, stand, kneel, EtC…
 
It’s of course permissible for the two halves of the Church to borrow devotions from each other. I’m Maronite and I pray Rosaries all the time.

Who on earth thinks that Latins and Easterners are mutually exclusive? They’re both Catholic.
 
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well, comments in facebook groups suggest that they do. some people appear to abhor anything latin, and some latin catholics claim that married priests is the work of Satan, and on and on it goes.

it all got me a bit confused, I like learning about the different rites and want to help my friend with her conversion
 
Facebook groups are not a reliable source on the Catholic faith. Any “Catholic” who believes any practice of the Eastern Catholic Churches is Satanic is dead wrong, and vice versa.

Perhaps the Facebook groups mean Orthodox rather than Eastern Catholic?

EDIT: Just to be clear, Orthodox are not Satanic either.
 
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I’ve seen it a bit on this forum too, in other older threads.

I unfortunately `don’t know as much as I would like about all the different rites, so just wanted to get some things cleared up
 
angell1 said:
if a latin catholic learns something from eastern cahtolicism, are we permitted to use it in our prayer life, like a prayer, or a devotion of some sortÉ would this be seen as offensive? or vice versa, are eastern cahtolics permitted to add latin devotios such as the rosary or other things to their private prayer life, or is it forbidden?
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Yes. Latin Catholics and Eastern Catholics are all equal members in the One True Church, headed by the Pope, the Bishop of Rome. We are all in total communion with each other, and can avail ourselves of any devotional practices and prayers any of the constituents hold dear. Latin Catholics can attend Eastern Liturgies, receive communion, and fulfill their Sunday obligation.

There is nothing that an Eastern Catholic is allowed or required to believe that a Latin Catholic is not allowed or required to believe, and vice versa. They share the same faith, although they may differ in how that faith is expressed and explained.
 
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Of course. Don’t know about the older threads here, but Eastern Catholicism is a thing and it’s not Roman Catholicism with another liturgy or Orthodoxy tolerated by Rome. It’s a part of the universal Catholic Church.

You’re welcome to ask any question. I’ll try my best to help.
 
I believe that a convert from Protestantism, assuming he has been baptized, would need permission from the Apostolic See to enter the Catholic Church as a member of one of the 21 Eastern ritual Churches. (This is because, historically, Protestantism has derived from the Roman / Latin / Western ritual Church.) Somebody who has not been baptized can choose any of the ritual Churches to enter (Code of Canon Law, canon 112).
 
she was baptized, but we are not sure if it’s valid, there is question to whether or not it was trinatarian, apparently, her certificate seems to only indicate baptized in the name of Jesus, she is pentacostal
 
do you know any answers to the other questions in my original post?
 
Non-Trinitinarian baptisms are not valid in Catholicism.

I’m afraid I don’t know if a Roman Catholic can sponsor an Eastern Catholic. And i have no idea as to the conversion process either.
 
yeah exactly, when she was in rcia, they were going to baptize her at the easter vigil, so I’m assuming it will be done again with the Ukrainian church.

I’m assuming its fine for eastern cathotlic to attend mass as well?

oh, also, are there variations for which liturgies churches use within a particular rite? for example, are there variations between a Maronite liturgy vs, syro-malamkara, vs syriac? I believe they are all part of the west syriac rite, correct?
 
Eastern Catholics may attend any Western liturgy and fulfill their Sunday obligation, and vice versa.

Yes, the Rites vary, but never in faith. The Catholic particular Churches all share the same faith. They may differ in liturgical language, devotions, the ways they express dogmas, but they may not hold beliefs contradictory to the Catholic faith handed down by the Apostles.

I think the Malankara Rite is East Syriac. I’m not sure.
 
ok, le’ts use maronite as an example then, is that considered the rite, or is west syriac considered the rite?
 
West Syriac is the “family” that the Maronite rite belongs to. This means that the Maronite Rite shares many characteristics with other West Syriac Rites, such as Syriac Catholics. In fact, Maronites and Syriac Catholics are virtually the same, the only difference being Syriac Catholics were once Syriac Orthodox who re-established communion. Maronites, however, never broke communion with Rome.

Ethnicity might also play a part, especially in Eastern Churches. Most Maronites are Lebanese. Most Syriac Catholics are Iraqi or Syrian, I think. Cultural and racial differences prevent us from re-forming into a single church, but we are all united with each other, with Rome, and with other particular Churches (Alexandrian, Byznatine, East Syriac) in the Catholic Church.
 
angell1 said:
and some latin catholics claim that married priests is the work of Satan, and on and on it goes.
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:roll_eyes:

I think that we use the H-word for that attitude . . . among other things, it directly contradicts the teachings of Vatican II.

If your friend converts to Catholicism from Protestantism, she would initially be enrolled in the RCC. However, her conversion can be handled by an EC priest, and she can immediately be a parishioner there, and would never even have to set foot in an RC church.

Once Catholic, she can simply petition to change her canonical enrollment to her preferred eastern church.

If she wasn’t baptized (including invalid attempts), she can enroll in any Catholic church by baptism.
 
It can work vice-versa so it should be able to work like that too. My Byzantine Catholic friend is sponsor of his Latin cousin.
 
Then she will have to be baptized because it does not sound like they used the Trinitarian formula it sounds like she was baptized in Jesus Name. Tell her welcome home.
 
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