Latin Rite Catholic following Eastern calendar

[carefullytread]

As I understand the law:

1. A Latin Catholic can receive the sacraments of reconciliation and communion in an Eastern Catholic Church as they like, even exclusively there if they prefer.
2. They are allowed to fulfill all their obligations re: attending Mass, at Eastern Divine Liturgies.
3. They may follow Eastern spirituality if they so chose.
4. They may follow the Eastern liturgical calendar if they so chose, e.g. fast according to Eastern calendar.
5. But they must also follow their Latin obligations, e.g. attending Mass and fasting on the days required in the Latin church.
6. A Latin Catholic may, through permission of both their own Latin hierarchs and the receiving Eastern Church, change rites to an Eastern Church.

If I’m wrong on any of those points, please correct me.

My question is, whether it is possible for a Latin Catholic to ‘switch’ their calendars fully to an Eastern one without changing rites, i.e. become obligated to follow the calendar of Holy Days and fasting of a different rite and be loosed from the obligations of the Latin calendar? Can one petition their bishop for such a dispensation or is it impossible without changing rites?

 

[RCTechGeek]

As long as you are in the Latin church, you are obligated to all holy days of obligation in the Latin church calendar and follow all fast and abstinence requirements of the Latin church regardless of which church you may attend to satisfy your obligation. Remember, the church you choose to attend that day may celebrate a different feast or saint than what’s specified on your church’s calendar, but it still counts for your obligation for the day. For fasting and abstinence, seeing as the fast and abstinence requirements of the eastern churches are stricter than those of the Latin church, there is nothing wrong with you personally holding yourself to a higher standard than what your church requires (as a minimum).

If you really want to be fully attached to the holy days of obligation and fasting and abstinence requirements AND be free of those of the Latin church, you must go through the process of changing churches. As part of the process to change churches, you must get the approval of both the local ordinary of your current church and the local ordinary of the church you wish to switch to.

 

[MorEphrem]

I don’t understand why anyone would want to follow a spirituality outside of their own Church. Perhaps there’s no canonical prohibition but that just seems unintuitive. The same applies to exclusively receiving sacraments outside one’s own Church - why? What is the objective? It’s like listing one GP as your primary care physicain but exclusively using another.

None of it is canonically binding without belonging to that Church - though even the idea of canonical obligation is a Latin importation.

 

[Hospodi_pomilui]

I don’t understand why anyone would want to follow a spirituality outside of their own Church. Perhaps there’s no canonical prohibition but that just seems unintuitive. The same applies to exclusively receiving sacraments outside one’s own Church - why? What is the objective? It’s like listing one GP as your primary care physicain but exclusively using another.

None of it is canonically binding without belonging to that Church - though even the idea of canonical obligation is a Latin importation.

A person might want to follow a spirituality outside of their own rite as practiced in a different sui juris church because they find it spiritually helpful. Their objective is spiritual growth.

Whether or not an individual should take the leap to formally switch to a different sui juris church is a process that should take some time, prayer, and spiritual direction. If a person is attracted to a different tradition for positive reasons, it is best to live within that liturgical and spiritual tradition as much as possible while deciding what they are doing. Yes, it is best that they observe the obligations (obligatory feasts, fasts) of their own Church sui juris, but they can satisfy those obligation in any Catholic parish.

 

[Casilda]

Not sure about 5 but 6 is wrong, in my case I did not have to petition ‘my’ Latin bishop to change rites. I was transferred by way of marriage to an Eastern Catholic church.

I am curious about all these ‘legalities’ as such since our Eastern parish is currently being overrun by Latin-rite refugees because their bishop keeps switching the priests who offer the mass in Latin. We have several visiting from the adjacent diocese already for the same reason.