From Whom Do You Inherit Your Rite?

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The one thing our priest was able to tell us is that at Vatican II it was decided that children of at least one Eastern Rite parent would automatically be Eastern Rite, to preserve the numbers, culture, and tradition of the Eastern Churches. I read Orientalium Ecclesiarum and found in sections 4 and 6 where it refers to members born into the Eastern Rites and requires them to practice their own Rite to the best of their ability, but I cannot find (in this document or others) the reference he quoted.

To which Rite does a child of parents from two different Eastern Rites belong?

Can you point me in the direction of the document our priest may have been referring to?
He was mistaken in this if that is what he told you. What he may have been thinking of and spoken of was the emphasis in the Second Vatican Council for restoring and preserving the Eastern and Oriental Catholic Churches. One consequence of the Second Vatican is a decided emphasis for retaining one’s canonical status if it is of an EC/OC Church even when there is no parish near enough for one worship in that Church. Since Vatican II changing one’s canonical status from an EC/OC to the Latin Church is very much discouraged. There are ways besides worship in which one can maintain one’s patrimony, and can learn about and incorporate that sacramental, liturgical world view even when lacking access to a community of one’s own Church.

As you’ve noted that emphasis in the Second Vatican Council is addressed in Pope Paul VI’s Orientalium Ecclesiarum in 1964 and later Venerable Pope John Paul II in his apostolic letter Orientale Lumen in 1995 refers back to Orientalium Dignitas the apostolic letter of Pope Leo XIII in 1894
where says
Orientalium Dignitas the apostolic letter of Pope Leo XIII in 1894:…We consider this of paramount importance to preserving the integrity proper to the discipline of the Eastern Churches. For Our part, We have ever rendered extreme attention and concern for this endeavor. In this vein, We have already given instructions for establishing schools to form young clerics of their nationalities. We shall give a like instruction for erecting other institutes. In them the students will cultivate their rites with the greatest devotion, observe them, and have full knowledge of their usages. In point of fact** there is more importance than can be believed in preserving the Eastern rites. Their antiquity is august, it is what gives nobility to the different rites, it is a brilliant jewel for the whole Church, it confirms the God-given unity of the Catholic Faith**…
… hmmm
 
The letter which the pastor was probably quoting isn’t a papal letter, but the V II post-conciliar document on the Eastern Churches, which does call for children of Eastern Rite Parents, Catholic or Orthodox, who are married to a Latin to be raised in the Eastern Catholic Church. It doesn’t have force of law, but it is clearly the intent of the council fathers that this is the ideal.

The later issued CCEO doesn’t include their wording, retaining the traditional Father or Adoptive father, then mother or adoptive mother.
 
Does it really matter what discipline you follow? Is God going to at our judgement send us to Hell on a technicality? I mean it just makes me laugh thinking about it:

Well it appears you faithfully followed the laws of the Ukranian Church, oh but let me see, it shows here that the chain of title of baptisms and catholics shows that your father’s mother’s father was actually Melkite; that means you were supposed to follow the Melkite rules and you therefore misses some obligation days and ate meat on some prohibited days. I guess you have to go to Hell.

Doesn’t this seems a little ridiculous? I mean, it’s great and all that we follow a certain rite and choose it’s disciplines but aren’t we forgetting the point that it is for God and not for some rule? I make my own rules for obligations and my rite. It’s kind of a combination of Latin and Eastern because I am Ruthenian. The way I see it is that I should give God a minimum of 6 obligation days a year (of course we should all strive to do more and go to some daily masses/liturgies). While focusing on the Ruthenian rite’s preference, if for any reason I am unable to make an obligation (I missed the Ascension because I had an exam), then I will pick a Latin day in substitute, such as perhaps the Conception of St. Anne, (Immacuate Conception) because that is while not obligatory, still a solemn day in the Ruthenian Rite.

For Lent, I will follow the Latin Way as a minimum standard and if I feel that more is warranted, as it should be, I’ll add some stuff from the Eastern Rite. Usually this means, I’ll follow the Monday equivlant to Ash Wednesday and try to include most Wesnesdays for abstaining from meat. Sometimes I might even include more stuff.

I have no idea what the other fasts throughout the year are and I don’t think they are required in the Ruthenian Rite in the United States anyways. But the Latin Rite does not do them so I usually don’t either. However, if I ever am around people who follow these fasts then of course I will too. But I just don’t know anyone, even in my own rite, that does.

But my point is, who cares. It’s all Catholic anyways; just do what you can for God.
 
Does it really matter what discipline you follow? Is God going to at our judgement send us to Hell on a technicality? I mean it just makes me laugh thinking about it:

But my point is, who cares. It’s all Catholic anyways; just do what you can for God.
Really, what does it matter? :rolleyes: Rome reigns supreme anyway, so why not just liquidate all of the East and Orient and be done with it? We’re nothing but a small drop in the bucket.
 
Does it really matter what discipline you follow? …

The way I see it is that I should give God a minimum of 6 obligation days a year …

For Lent, I will follow the Latin Way as a minimum standard …

I have no idea what the other fasts throughout the year are and I don’t think they are required in the Ruthenian Rite in the United States anyways…
The the more effort you make, the greater the saint you will be (a.k.a. Theosis). No person can make the judgment that God will make. It you don’t follow the laws you can cause scandal (bad example). Out of love, the Church has to lay down the laws for the faithful. FYI:

CCEO Canon 713
2. Concerning the preparation for participation in the Divine Eucharist through fast, prayers and other works, the Christian faithful are to observe faithfully the norms of the Church sui iuris in which they are enrolled, not only within the territorial boundaries of the same Church, but, inasmuch as it is possible, everywhere.

CCEO Canon 881
  1. The Christian faithful are bound by the obligation to participate on Sundays and feast days in the Divine Liturgy, or according to the prescriptions or legitimate customs of their own Church sui iuris, in the celebration of the divine praises.
CCEO Canon 882
On the days of penance the Christian faithful are obliged to observe fast or abstinence in the manner established by the particular law of their Church sui iuris.

Particular Law of the Byzantine Metropolitan Church sui iuris of Pittsburgh.

Canon 294
The pastor is to celebrate the Divine Liturgy for the people of the parish entrusted to him on all Sundays and days of precept. The days of precept are:
  • Theophany of our Lord, January 6
  • Ascension of our Lord
  • Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29
  • Dormition of the Mother of God, August 15
  • Nativity of our Lord, December 25
Canon 707
§2. The Eucharistic fast shall be from solids one hour before the reception of the Divine Eucharist. Medications and water may be taken anytime.

Canon 880
§1. The special penitential seasons are:
  1. The Great Fast
  2. The Peter and Paul Fast
  3. The Dormition Fast [August 1-14]
  4. The Philip Fast [November 15-December 24]
    §2. Strict abstinence is to be observed on the first day of the Great Fast and on Great Friday. Simple abstinence is to be observed on Wednesdays and Fridays of the Great Fast.
    §3. Simple abstinence or an equivalent penance is to be observed on all Fridays throughout the year.

Definitions:

Strict Abstinence (Pure Monday and Great Friday)
The law of strict abstinence (fast) forbids the use of meat, eggs and dairy products. Facsimiles, substitutes, and synthetic derivatives, although they are permitted, violate the intention and spirit of the law of strict abstinence. All the faithful of the

Simple Abstinence (Wednesdays and Fridays of the Great Fast, all Fridays)
The law of simple abstinence forbids the use of meat, permitting the use of eggs and dairy products.
 
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