How can a Priest become Bi-ritual?

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Greetings ConstantineTG,

This in in regards to Post #3. My quote feature is not working thank you for your patience.

When you say that Rome has to approve it, do you not what congregation specifically or is this a Matter Reserved to the Holy Father?

God Bless,
Anathama Sit
 
Greetings Malphono and or the rest who have been posting in here,

This has to do with post#4 What is ad-hoc faculties?

GB
AS
 
Greetings to all who answered and or posted in this thread,

My thanks to you so much. I have been on the phone with family and friends today and have not been able to log on until now.

You guys have all been so helpful, I look forward to asking more questions in this forum. You guys have been nothing but kindness and understanding.

God Bless,
Anathama Sit
 
malphono said:
If granted, those faculties are for a specified period subject to period review (I think it’s annually) and must be renewed by Rome. (I use the term “Ordinary” rather than “bishop” since a religious priest who his subject to the Superior of his Order/Congregation may also apply for and be granted bi-ritual faculties.)

Note that the process can work both ways. A Latin priest may be granted bi-ritual faculties for an Eastern/Oriental Church and an Easter/Oriental priest may likewise be granted faculties for the Latin Church.
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We had serving with us (Russian ECC) as a deacon in his final year of priestly formation a Dominican brother who had discovered after his whole life in the Latin Church, that he had been baptized an EC, I believe Ukrainian (how quickly one forgets these days…😊 ), because that was his father’s canonical Church. This required some paperwork for him to enter the Dominican order, but he was able to realize his vocation as a Dominican, ordained about a year and a half ago. When I inquired I was told that in this case he has permanent faculties to both the Latin Rite and the Byzantine, unlike his fellow Dominican priest who serves our Melkites here who is bi-ritual to the Melkites and those faculties must as you say be renewed periodically (annually?).
I probably should add here that any priest in good standing may be granted ad-hoc faculties to concelebrate in another Church, but in order to be principal celebrant in the liturgy of another Church, he must have been granted bi-ritual faculties from Rome.
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I think the key here is “principal celebrant”, right? Tho a tiny parish we typically have two priests concelebrating and now are blest to have a third Latin priest, our pastor (administrator of the parish) who is doubtless ad-hoc, not seeking regular bi-ritual faculties. He is at the altar occasionally 👍 but not the main celebrant. He chants some of the priests prayers, as does the other not-principal celebrant.

In iconography a large forehead designates great wisdom. One can clearly see our clergy are wonderfully wise! 🙂
 
Anathama_Sit said:
Greetings ConstantineTG,

This in in regards to Post #3. My quote feature is not working thank you for your patience.

When you say that Rome has to approve it, do you not what congregation specifically or is this a Matter Reserved to the Holy Father?

God Bless,
Anathama Sit
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It usually goes to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

Remember that the Vatican is in many practical ways a huge bureaucracy. They rely very heavily on what the local bishops recommend. If the petition reaches them, which already means that both bishops agree (and there’s nothing to actually cause any hesitation), quite frankly it’s not much more than some Monsignor filling in a name on a form letter and adding a big red stamp to the bottom. It looks really pretty at first. Believe you me, they don’t bother the Holy Father with things like this.
 
Anathama_Sit said:
Greetings ConstantineTG, [in response to post 11]

WOW. :eek: Lots of seeking approval there. :eek: Though is that theroretically possible?

God Bless,
Anathama Sit
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Yes it’s possible.

The term “bi-ritual” is something we use in everyday language, but it’s not the proper term.

There is actually no such thing as a “bi-ritual” priest. What we do have is priests who have faculties to celebrate in a different rite. “Ritual faculties” is actually the proper term.

There’s nothing stopping a priest from requesting faculties from as many different rites as he wants (except that there are only 6 of course). Each time, the preist has to petition both bishops, and they both have to give approval. A priest could request faculties for one rite on one day and then start the process all over again with a bishop of the next rite—but each time is independent of the other.

I suppose that after the 3rd time, this might be when someone at the Congregation does take notice and it might be cause for further questions. There’s nothing preventing this, but still, someone would probably ask if this sort of thing is really “wise” or practical; not to mention the question of “is this even necessary?” Why would there be such a need for that same priest to have faculties for so many different rites? I think it would make someone wonder just what the motivations of that priest are.

Remember too that the priest’s own bishop has to approve and that would raise the question of just what this priest is doing with his time. Outside of a big metropolitan area, there’s little chance that a priest would even have the opportunity to minister in 5 other rites, let alone have the time to do it.

It is possible, but it’s also extremely unlikely to ever happen.
 
5Loaves said:
I think the key here is “principal celebrant”, right? Tho a tiny parish we typically have two priests concelebrating and now are blest to have a third Latin priest, our pastor (administrator of the parish) who is doubtless ad-hoc, not seeking regular bi-ritual faculties. He is at the altar occasionally 👍 but not the main celebrant. He chants some of the priests prayers, as does the other not-principal celebrant.
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Is the Latin priest serving as administrator because you do not have your own bishop and are therefore under the patronage of the local Latin hierarch?
 
ByzCathCantor said:
Is the Latin priest serving as administrator because you do not have your own bishop and are therefore under the patronage of the local Latin hierarch?
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Short answer, yes.
And he, our “pastor”/administrator, is truly heaven sent, but I guess Archbishop George, bless him, acted as intermediary in that sending. 🙂
 
Greetings FrDavid96,

Thanks so much for all your help in my recent threads. I am now delving into Canon Law and am suprised to see all the congregations and things mentioned. Wow, our Church is so complex.

God Bless,
Anathama Sit
 
Greetings to those posting in this thread,

This came up today as a discussion. Is there a map that would show where all the dioceses of the Latin Rite are, all the eparchys’ *, of all the Eastern Rites. The reason I am asking, say I am sitting in oh the Phillipines. Now I would be in the diocese that the Phillipines is in, as well as in the eparchy of the different Eastern Rites.

The question is, do the Easter Rites eparchies cover the globe like the Latin Rite dioceses? I thought to ask this since this is sort of related to this discussion.

God Bless,
Anathama Sit*
 
FrDavid96 said:
Right. Both have to approve. But there doesn’t have to be the same necessity that you described earlier. Lack of a priest from one rite is certainly a good reason, but there could be others.

Example: let’s say that I’m a Latin priest, and there’s an Eastern parish in the neighborhood–one that has a resident pastor. It might be helpful for me to get those faculties so that I can be of assistance to him whenever the need arises (vacation, illness, retreats, etc.).
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where is this occurring?
 
couponfit said:
where is this occurring?
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There is a wonderful Roman Catholic priest who has a comparable arrangement with our parish. The need doesn’t arise often, but when you only have one priest, it is nice to know someone can fill in if it is needed.
 
Anathama_Sit said:
Greetings Malphono and or the rest who have been posting in here,

This has to do with post#4 What is ad-hoc faculties?

GB
AS
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Ad-hoc means “for or concerned with one specific purpose” so in our case it says that the permission is temporary, i.e. just for the Mass being celebrated. Essentially it’s a courtesy extended by the principal celebrant.

Properly in such cases, the concelebrating priest is supposed to vest according to the custom of his own Church. IOW, a Latin priest concelebrating a Byzantine DL should be vested as a Latin priest and not a Byzantine. Similarly, a Byzantine priest concelebrating in the Latin Rite should be vested as a Byzantine. Recall the Papal visit to New York where there were bishops and priests of a variety of Eastern & Oriental Churches concelebrating: the Mass was according to the Roman Rite Novus Ordo, but each of the aforementioned bishops and priests was vested according to his own Church.

OTOH, where a priest has been granted bi-ritual faculties by Rome, he vests according to the custom of the Church in which he is serving, whether he is principal celebrant or merely concelebrating. So, e.g, a Latin priest with bi-ritual faculties in the Armenian Church would vest according to the custom of the Armenian Church.
 
FrDavid96 said:
Yes it’s possible.

The term “bi-ritual” is something we use in everyday language, but it’s not the proper term.

There is actually no such thing as a “bi-ritual” priest. What we do have is priests who have faculties to celebrate in a different rite. “Ritual faculties” is actually the proper term.

There’s nothing stopping a priest from requesting faculties from as many different rites as he wants (except that there are only 6 of course). Each time, the preist has to petition both bishops, and they both have to give approval. A priest could request faculties for one rite on one day and then start the process all over again with a bishop of the next rite—but each time is independent of the other.

I suppose that after the 3rd time, this might be when someone at the Congregation does take notice and it might be cause for further questions. There’s nothing preventing this, but still, someone would probably ask if this sort of thing is really “wise” or practical; not to mention the question of “is this even necessary?” Why would there be such a need for that same priest to have faculties for so many different rites? I think it would make someone wonder just what the motivations of that priest are.

Remember too that the priest’s own bishop has to approve and that would raise the question of just what this priest is doing with his time. Outside of a big metropolitan area, there’s little chance that a priest would even have the opportunity to minister in 5 other rites, let alone have the time to do it.

It is possible, but it’s also extremely unlikely to ever happen.
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Actually, it’s the Pope alone who is technically “omni-ritual” and can (at least in theory) celebrate according to the rite of any Church at will.

That said, I suppose a priest could petition for faculties for all, but as you say, such a petition would never pass muster in Rome, and such faculties would not be granted. I have encountered a few cases where a priest holds tri-ritual faculties, but even that is rare. There are other cases where a priest has been granted bi-ritual faculties in one Church, allowed them to lapse, and then petitioned for bi-ritual faculties in another. I’ve also heard of a few cases where a priest is granted “temporary” faculties for multiple Rites on an extraordinary basis in cases where there was a specific need.
 
couponfit said:
Originally Posted by FrDavid96
Right. Both have to approve. But there doesn’t have to be the same necessity that you described earlier. Lack of a priest from one rite is certainly a good reason, but there could be others.

Example: let’s say that I’m a Latin priest, and there’s an Eastern parish in the neighborhood–one that has a resident pastor. It might be helpful for me to get those faculties so that I can be of assistance to him whenever the need arises (vacation, illness, retreats, etc.).

where is this occurring?
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I don’t understand what you’re trying to ask here.

On the one hand I could explain that this sort of thing is happening all over the US. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem like that would be much of an answer. What do you mean by the question?
 
Anathama_Sit said:
Greetings Eastern Catholicism Forum,

How can a Latin Priest become bi-ritual? I could not find this anywhere in the Code of Canon Law. Does he have to get the approval of his bishop and that of the Rite he wants to be in? But in this hypothetical case the priest does not want to leave the Latin Rite.

If my terms are messed up, I apologize as this is still very new to me.

Thank you for answering my question.

God Bless,
Anathama Sit
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Here is a web-page on just such a rescript:

dioknox.org/2640/etcnews/father-maples-granted-biritual-faculties/

Besides bi-ritual indult, there is another form, which is more extensive: an indult from the Holy See (Congregation for Eastern Churches), to follow the rules of another ritual church, without actually changing ritual churches, it is called an adaptation of rite. It could be granted for an Eastern clergy to allow incardination in a Latin diocese, for example. They can then perform both rituals as in biritualism, and more.

This is different than the indult (or faculty) of biritualism which also grants the faculty to celebrate another Church’s Mass/Divine Liturgy and sacraments/mysteries.
 
Greetings Malphono,

My thanks for your explanation.

God Bless You,
Anathama Sit
 
Greetings Vico,

Wow, thanks for posting that. That is interesting. I’ll check into that link as well.

God Bless,
Anathama Sit
 
Anathama_Sit said:
Greetings to those posting in this thread,

This came up today as a discussion. Is there a map that would show where all the dioceses of the Latin Rite are, all the eparchys’ *, of all the Eastern Rites. The reason I am asking, say I am sitting in oh the Phillipines. Now I would be in the diocese that the Phillipines is in, as well as in the eparchy of the different Eastern Rites.

The question is, do the Easter Rites eparchies cover the globe like the Latin Rite dioceses? I thought to ask this since this is sort of related to this discussion.

God Bless,
Anathama Sit*

The Philippines wouldn’t be in any Eastern Catholic Eparchy. But if they are to be included they would probably belong to the Bishop in Australia. As it is there are no established Cathedrals in South East Asia or even East Asia for Eastern Churches. The UGCC for example, has an Eparchy in Australia which is the Eparchy of Australia, New Zealand and Oceana. The Philippines is not part of any of those three, but close enough. If a UGCC parish were to be established there then it makes sense that the Australian Eparchy would extend her borders. I mean, the Orthodox has done this. The Greek Metropolitan in Hong Kong extended to the Philippines, and the Antiochian Metropolitan in Australia did likewise.
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