Greek Orthodox to Roman Catholic

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alexander1230

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As I wrote in the Meet & Greet thread:

I have been lurking here for a while and decided to take the plunge and join to be able to ask some questions.

I was baptized and brought up Greek Orthodox (grew up in Greece too) but, after my own research, I’ve come to agree with the supremacy of Peter and the See of Rome.

I’ve always been partial to the Catholic Church since my mom is Catholic (who always spoke to me of her Church) and, now that I’m married, so is my wife. We even had 2 wedding ceremonies, one in a Catholic Church here in the US and one in an Orthodox one in Greece.

I am now contemplating moving to the Catholic Church.

Knowing that the first “official” step would be to speak with a local Catholic parish priest, I would like to have as much information as I can before doing so.

So, what would be the process for me? What should I expect?

(Mods: if this is the wrong forum, please move it. It looked like the appropriate place to post this thread)
 
alexander1230 said:
As I wrote in the Meet & Greet thread:

I have been lurking here for a while and decided to take the plunge and join to be able to ask some questions.

I was baptized and brought up Greek Orthodox (grew up in Greece too) but, after my own research, I’ve come to agree with the supremacy of Peter and the See of Rome.

I’ve always been partial to the Catholic Church since my mom is Catholic (who always spoke to me of her Church) and, now that I’m married, so is my wife. We even had 2 wedding ceremonies, one in a Catholic Church here in the US and one in an Orthodox one in Greece.

I am now contemplating moving to the Catholic Church.

Knowing that the first “official” step would be to speak with a local Catholic parish priest, I would like to have as much information as I can before doing so.

So, what would be the process for me? What should I expect?

(Mods: if this is the wrong forum, please move it. It looked like the appropriate place to post this thread)
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If you are a baptised Orthodox Christian, I believe all you have to do is go to a Catholic priest, make a declaration of your intent to convert et voila, you’re a Catholic in communion with Rome.

The matter may be somewhat more complicated than this but this is the advice I have seen given to others in your position.

Also, as a Greek Orthodox, officially you wouldn’t become a ‘‘Roman Catholic’’ but a Greek Catholic.

Welcome home.
 
LDNCatholic said:
If you are a baptised Orthodox Christian, I believe all you have to do is go to a Catholic priest, make a declaration of your intent to convert et voila, you’re a Catholic in communion with Rome.

The matter may be somewhat more complicated than this but this is the advice I have seen given to others in your position.

Also, as a Greek Orthodox, officially you wouldn’t become a ‘‘Roman Catholic’’ but a Greek Catholic.

Welcome home.
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Thank you LDNCatholic!

About the “Greek Catholic” part, what do you mean? I am assuming you are referring to those Churches in communion with Rome that use the Byzantine liturgy, right?

According to Wikipedia, there are 14 different Churches using that liturgy, one of which is the “Greek Byzantine Catholic Church”. I guess, that would be the closest one in tradition and liturgy. However, it only exists in Greece and Turkey. Living in South Florida, what are my options?

Would the Latin rite be out of the question?
 
alexander1230 said:
About the “Greek Catholic” part, what do you mean? I am assuming you are referring to those Churches in communion with Rome that use the Byzantine liturgy, right?

According to Wikipedia, there are 14 different Churches using that liturgy, one of which is the “Greek Byzantine Catholic Church”. I guess, that would be the closest one in tradition and liturgy. However, it only exists in Greece and Turkey. Living in South Florida, what are my options?

Would the Latin rite be out of the question?
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I’m no expert but it’s my understanding that if an Orthodox Christian chooses to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, then they are automatically ‘registered’ for want of a better word, into the Eastern Catholic Church that corresponds to their previous Orthodox affiliation.

If it is an issue of distance I’m not sure if that would mean that you would be ‘registered’ to a different sui juris Church, but in any case you’d be free to attend and fully participate in the Mass of the Latin rite. Your best bet is to ask this question in the Eastern Catholicism subforum, there are some very knowledgeable posters there, including some clergy, who could help you much better than I can.
 
alexander1230 said:
Thank you LDNCatholic!

About the “Greek Catholic” part, what do you mean? I am assuming you are referring to those Churches in communion with Rome that use the Byzantine liturgy, right?

According to Wikipedia, there are 14 different Churches using that liturgy, one of which is the “Greek Byzantine Catholic Church”. I guess, that would be the closest one in tradition and liturgy. However, it only exists in Greece and Turkey. Living in South Florida, what are my options?

Would the Latin rite be out of the question?
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You would always be canonically a Greek Catholic, bound by the rules of that particular Catholic Church (for things like fasting, the sacraments, etc). BUT… as a Catholic in general, you would be free to worship in any church of any branch of the Catholic Church.

There ARE Eastern Catholic Churches in the United States, and it is very likely that you might find one in South Florida. Although they are uncommon, there are enough big cities in Florida that there is likely one somewhere. I live in Alabama, and there is a Greek Melkite Catholic Church in Birmingham, for example.
 
Rolltide said:
You would always be canonically a Greek Catholic, bound by the rules of that particular Catholic Church (for things like fasting, the sacraments, etc). BUT… as a Catholic in general, you would be free to worship in any church of any branch of the Catholic Church.
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Well, not necessarily always. There is a process for Eastern Rite Catholics to change to the Latin Rite and vice versa.
 
1ke said:
Well, not necessarily always. There is a process for Eastern Rite Catholics to change to the Latin Rite and vice versa.
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True enough, BUT… the Catholic Church encourages those of the Eastern rites to stay Eastern rite due to their small numbers. It IS possible to switch rites, but ONLY if one does it because they truly feel more at home with the Latin theological perspective, not because of convenience. Even then, one may only switch rites once in their lifetime.
 
Rolltide said:
True enough, BUT… the Catholic Church encourages those of the Eastern rites to stay Eastern rite due to their small numbers. It IS possible to switch rites, but ONLY if one does it because they truly feel more at home with the Latin theological perspective, not because of convenience. Even then, one may only switch rites once in their lifetime.
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And it is a bit complicated to switch rites. I think the diocese has to petition Rome. It’s easier just to stay with the Eastern Rite and worship at the Latin Rite parish.
 
If I remember correctly, an Orthodox Christian would be received into the eastern Catholic side of the faith and if he/she desired to change rites the Eastern Catholic Bishop would have to give the approval. I know of one case where a man desired to become a Latin Rite Catholic and enter the seminary. The stipulation placed upon him for his particular case was that both his father and mother transfer their rite from the East to the Latin Rite before he was allowed to transfer rites and allowed into the Latin Rite seminary. He is now a bishop.
 
Alexander,

It seems we have a lot in common. Would you be willing to share what you’ve done since your last post?

Thanks
 
My family and I converted from the Greek-Orthodox to the Catholic Church (Latin Rite) a little more than two years ago.

Briefly, the process for Orthodox converts seeking to become Roman-Catholics involves two separate steps: 1) reception into full communion with the Catholic Church; 2) change of rites (from Byzantine to Latin).

Here are the steps we followed:
  1. we talked to our Roman-Catholic parish priest, and he contacted the Office of Canonical Affairs of the local Archdiocese for guidance;
  2. next, we were instructed to send a petition to our local Roman-Catholic Archbishop, requesting reception into full communion with the Catholic Church and making the case for our desire to become Latin Rite Catholics;
  3. the Archbishop wrote to the Greek-Catholic Bishop having jurisdiction over our case, seeking his consent;
  4. as soon as the Greek-Catholic Bishop gave his consent, we made our solemn profession of faith and were received into full communion with the Catholic Church, as Byzantine Rite Catholics;
  5. finally, our change of rite had to be approved by both the Latin and the Byzantine Bishop; as soon as this happened, the appropriate documents were sent out to our local parish for us, the priest and two witnesses to sign; the change of rite was recorded into the Baptismal Registry, and this concluded our reception into the Roman-Catholic Church.
Overall, this is a relatively slow-paced process, so patience and perseverance are of essence.

God Bless
 
My family and I converted from the Greek-Orthodox to the Catholic Church (Latin Rite) a little more than two years ago.

Briefly, the process for Orthodox converts seeking to become Roman-Catholics involves two separate steps: 1) reception into full communion with the Catholic Church; 2) change of rites (from Byzantine to Latin).

Here are the steps we followed:
  1. we talked to our Roman-Catholic parish priest, and he contacted the Office of Canonical Affairs of the local Archdiocese for guidance;
  2. next, we were instructed to send a petition to our local Roman-Catholic Archbishop, requesting reception into full communion with the Catholic Church and making the case for our desire to become Latin Rite Catholics;
  3. the Archbishop wrote to the Greek-Catholic Bishop having jurisdiction over our case, seeking his consent;
  4. as soon as the Greek-Catholic Bishop gave his consent, we made our solemn profession of faith and were received into full communion with the Catholic Church, as Byzantine Rite Catholics;
  5. finally, our change of rite had to be approved by both the Latin and the Byzantine Bishop; as soon as this happened, the appropriate documents were sent out to our local parish for us, the priest and two witnesses to sign; the change of rite was recorded into the Baptismal Registry, and this concluded our reception into the Roman-Catholic Church.
Overall, this is a relatively slow-paced process, so patience and perseverance are of essence.

God Bless
 
alexander1230 said:
Asto take the plunge and join to be able to ask some questions.

I was baptized and brought up Greek Orthodox (grew up in Greece too) but, . . .
I am now contemplating moving to the Catholic Church.

Knowing that the first “official” step would be to speak with a local Catholic parish priest, I would like to have as much information as I can before doing so.

So, what would be the process for me? What should I expect?

(Mods: if this is the wrong forum, please move it. It looked like the appropriate place to post this thread)
Click to expand...
it is fairly easy for you and does not involve RCIA. You will probably be steered to the Eastern Rite closest to your own church. Even if you are received by a Latin rite priest and join that parish it is my understanding you belong to the uniate Eastern Rite. If you were baptized you were almost certainly already chrismated at the same time so all that is required is a simple profession of faith and reception into full communion with the Church. The preparation is whatever you need to fully understand the differences that do remain between the two churches in their teaching and practice. This rarely comes up where I do RCIA so see your priest, and if necessary he can ask the diocesesan office for direction in your case.

as previous poster notes it is possible to change rites from eastern to Latin, but you will probably be encouraged to remain in the rite closest to your upbringing for cultural and family reasons as well.

Welcome home.
 
Thank you puzzleannie for the information

Florin, interesting story and thank you for sharing.

Kimon, I haven’t done anything yet, other than attend Mass at different churches nearby.

Thank you everyone for your responses
 
I am very joyful to read that you desire to take steps to join the Catholic Church. Being from Orthodox Christian traditions makes it really special as well because it provides a testimony that the unity between Catholics and Orthodox can happen.
My children are baptized into an Oriental Orthodox Church, which I consented to before I had become a Catholic - because their mother and her family come from that tradition. Now I pray for them to one day come into the Catholic Church, but it seems like a very long way off! But it is important for them to come into the Catholic Church, but also to retain the rite that they are already in.
The Church is very protective of the other than Latin rites which are 21 of of the 22 rites. So, if one spouse is of a rite that is not Latin, they are required to get married in that rite. I suppose you can get permission from the bishop to change to Latin.
So to sum it up, when you go to talk to the priest, I expect that he will be very welcoming to you and happy that you are thinking to come in communion with the Church and willing to help out all he can, and encourage you to retain the Greek Byzatine Catholic Rite if at all possible.
 
In my parish there is a woman who used to be Eastern Orthodox. She is officially an Eastern Rite Catholic but goes to Latin rite Mass. It seems it isn’t a problem.
 
I also want to add that as an Eastern Orthodox Christian, you are already welcome to receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church, so if the conversion-change of rites process is a little slow, know that according to Catholic canon/liturgical laws regarding Eastern non-Catholics, you don’t have to wait until you are formally part of us to receive Holy Communion. (While it is true that your Orthodox bishop will most likely not want you receiving Holy Communion with us, since you are already on your way out of the Orthodox church, I’m not sure that obedience to him binds you anymore.)

That being said, I, as a Latin Catholic, want to encourage you, as a prospective Eastern Catholic, to remain in the appropriate eastern Catholic church upon your conversion, since there are more of us and less of you. The Byzantines have very beautiful worship, and it would be a loss for the whole Church were you to disappear into the Latin Church----there will be even less of you to inform the rest of the Church of your spirituality and liturgical life. However, if you really find the Latin Church more conducive to your faith life, as stated above, just make sure you follow the transfer process—as noted above, you can only change your Catholic church sui iuris once in your lifetime, so make sure this is what you really want to do----you can always receive Holy Communion in any Catholic church as well as confess to any Catholic priest with the faculty to do so (assume this if you are going to the parish confessional).

Welcome home! 🙂
 
First of all, welcome home! Second as others have mentioned I don’t think you’ll have much trouble with your conversion especially compared with other types of Christians. I remember years ago I think it was in beliefnet.com or some other site about religion - can’t quite recall which one - they have/had a survey where you can find out which religion best goes with your beliefs in terms of percentage. I don’t recall how I scored in everything but I do remember well that I scored 100% in line with Roman Catholic and 100% in line with Greek Orthodox so I think their morals are the same.

ETA: Yeah, it was beliefnet.com. It’s called the Belief-O-Matic.
 
Bendecida said:
First of all, welcome home! Second as others have mentioned I don’t think you’ll have much trouble with your conversion especially compared with other types of Christians. I remember years ago I think it was in beliefnet.com or some other site about religion - can’t quite recall which one - they have/had a survey where you can find out which religion best goes with your beliefs in terms of percentage. I don’t recall how I scored in everything but I do remember well that I scored 100% in line with Roman Catholic and 100% in line with Greek Orthodox so I think their morals are the same.

ETA: Yeah, it was beliefnet.com. It’s called the Belief-O-Matic.
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I came out as 100% Eastern Orthodox and 100% Catholic too
 
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