Latins marrying in Eastern Catholic churches?

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angelic06

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I’ve done a search for this topic on CAF and have received results only as far as mixed marriages are concerned (Catholic and non-Catholic). This has been on my mind for a while, as I have an interest in Byzantine (and other Eastern) Catholicism, so this scenario becomes a real possibility for me. So here is my scenario:

Suppose I, a Latin, start attending a Byzantine Catholic church due to pure curiosity and I stay there a while (a year, many years, whatever). After a while, I meet another Latin at the Byzantine church and we decide to get married. Neither of us desires to transfer canonically into the Byzantine Church for whatever reason (we still have an appreciation for Latin traditions—there are many genuine ones—and decide that we want to return to that Church at a later time). Assume that this state of affairs remains for a few years.

(This scenario is not too far fetched, considering that previous popes have invited us Latins to explore the venerable Catholic Churches of the East. I like to think that I am not the only Latin who plans to take the Church up on its offer.)

How is our wedding to proceed?
  1. Obtain a letter from the Byzantine Catholic priest and send it to the nearest territorial Latin parish indicating that we have been practicing Catholics in the Byzantine parish and from there let the Latin priest marry us off with the exchange of rings ceremony?
  2. Obtain the consent of the Latin ordinary and/or the Byzantine hierarch or of the Holy See for us to be married in the Byzantine Church (Melkite, Ruthenian, etc.) with the Mystery of Crowning?
  3. Any others?
Or is it illicit for us to remain parishioners at the Byzantine parish, since we have our own holy days of obligation we have to follow, and they have theirs? How about our children? Where are they to be baptized and chrismated into the Church and admitted to first Holy Communion?

(I consider this a genuine post. No sarcasm or anti-Catholic remarks or any others unbefitting servants of His Majesty our God, please—these will be reported to the moderators. Also, no posts assuming that the above scenario most likely will NOT occur—these, too, will also be reported to the moderators as off-topic. Keep in mind in your reply also that we are in a country where we Latins are the majority, not in one where we are the minority, so solutions appropriate for Ethiopia may or may not apply here. Assume also that we have no preference for either ceremony, whether that of the Latins or those of the Eastern churches—we just want to have a valid wedding, that’s all.)

Thank you, and may God bless you all.

Paul R. Viola
 
I had the opposite case in an Adult Confirmation class. One of my students was Maronite and wanted to marry another Maronite. They regularly attended our Latin Church. The Maronite bishop delegated permission to our pastor to confirm the lady, but we were informed that they must be married in the Maronite church unless the Pope granted permission to do otherwise. Our pastor was invited, and accepted the invitation, to concelebrate at the wedding.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
I had the opposite case in an Adult Confirmation class. One of my students was Maronite and wanted to marry another Maronite. They regularly attended our Latin Church. The Maronite bishop delegated permission to our pastor to confirm the lady, but we were informed that they must be married in the Maronite church unless the Pope granted permission to do otherwise. Our pastor was invited, and accepted the invitation, to concelebrate at the wedding.
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Sllghtly off topic, but I’m surprised you had a Maronite student who had been baptized, but not confirmed. I know that the Maronite Church doesn’t practice infant communion, but I thought that they confirm at the same time as Baptism.
 
CCEO Canon 830 1. As long as they legitimately hold office, the local hierarch and the pastor can give the faculty to bless a determined marriage within their own territorial boundaries to priests of any Church sui iuris, even the Latin Church. 2. However, only the local hierarch can give a general faculty for blessing marriages with due regard for can. 302 §2. §3. In order that the conferral of the faculty for blessing a marriage be valid, it must be expressly given to specified priests; further, if the faculty is general, it must be given in writing.
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According to Inter-Ecclesial Relations Between Eastern and Latin Catholics: A Canonical-Pastoral Handbook
… Eastern Catholics often ask for permission to celebrate their marriage according to the liturgical rite of the Latin Church with a Latin priest as officiant; the same happens with Latin Catholics who want their weddings celebrated in the liturgical rite of an Eastern Church… Although a celebration according to another rite is illicit, it can be permitted in a specific case by the Holy See… [pg 29 ] Thus, a duly delegated Eastern priest may celebrate the marriage of Latin faithful according to the Latin rite; to officiate at their wedding according to an Eastern rite requires the specific faculty from the Holy See. [pg 30]
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babochka said:
Sllghtly off topic, but I’m surprised you had a Maronite student who had been baptized, but not confirmed. I know that the Maronite Church doesn’t practice infant communion, but I thought that they confirm at the same time as Baptism.
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I didn’t get into the background on this one; so don’t know what was the cause. However, I have heard that many Maronite Churches have drifted into Latin practices to varying degrees. I understand that they are trying to get back to basics now.
 
Christ is risen!
angelic06 said:
… as I have an interest in Byzantine (and other Eastern) Catholicism, so this scenario becomes a real possibility for me. So here is my scenario:

Suppose I, a Latin, start attending a Byzantine Catholic church due to pure curiosity and I stay there a while (a year, many years, whatever). After a while, I meet another Latin at the Byzantine church and we decide to get married…
How is our wedding to proceed?
… How about our children? Where are they to be baptized and chrismated into the Church and admitted to first Holy Communion?,
Thank you, and may God bless you all.
Paul R. Viola
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Paul- I didn’t read your original post closely before posting earlier.

I think you’re jumping ahead here. 🙂 To become familiar with an Eastern Church one needs to participate in that Church. According to your profile it looks like you are a little over an hour from the Byzantine (Ruthenian) Community of Austin. This appears to be a Mission parish. I’d encourage you to contact them if you do decide to go there and let them know of your plans to visit.

As a Latin Church Catholic that might seem far to travel for Mass (Divine Liturgy) but for many of us in the East traveling such distances is common. I allow an hour to get to my church and several of our parishioners have longer commutes. As you know, as a Catholic you can attend any Catholic Church and receive Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist in any parish, when properly disposed. 🙂
 
5Loaves,

The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! 🙂

Well, I am planning on going to either medical or dental school in the next few years, so chances are I won’t be here for very much longer. I have been studying up on Byzantine theology (sort of) as well as watching youtube videos of DLs (I know this is not enough). I just want to make sure that, supposing I do end up in an Eastern parish, that I won’t be stuck in canonically illicit situations where I can’t get out of. (I doubt I’m going to find a wife before I leave San Antonio, and most likely I won’t be married before graduating from MD/DDS school.) I do hope to visit a Byz church when I get to my permanent abode, wherever it is.

Now, that being said, the Maronite Catholic Church here in San Antonio was the first parish I joined upon arriving here 4 years ago. Unfortunately, my mother and sister didn’t think it was Catholic despite my best attempts at some kind of explanation (over the phone for my mother and in person with my sister when she visited), so my mother made me pick another church, leading me to several territorial Latin ones before ending up at my current one. I went back to the DL yesterday, although admittedly so that I can go to confession before DL. (However, yesterday was also First Communion Sunday, so the priests were naturally busy—and consequently, no confessions—I didn’t even know where they were held in the first place.)

I do plan on visiting, with the appropriate pastor’s permission, an Orthodox church here in SA over the summer----and maybe I’ll make the trip over to Austin.

Thanks again!

Paul R. Viola
 
A little off topic from my own OP, but we have a small Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholic community here in San Antonio which I have been attending for the past almost three years as of March of next year (though I didn’t go much this year due to the need to study for school, and Divine Liturgy is in the afternoon). Consequently in the future the above scenario may not be too far fetched…

5Loaves,

I see that you are Russian Catholic. Doing a Google search this morning, I saw that there are very few Russian Catholic parishes in the U.S. Have you always been Russian Catholic, or did you transfer into it?
 
angelic06 said:
5Loaves,

I see that you are Russian Catholic. Doing a Google search this morning, I saw that there are very few Russian Catholic parishes in the U.S. Have you always been Russian Catholic, or did you transfer into it?
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There are four Russian Greek Catholic Church parishes in the US: New York, El Segundo, San Francisco, and Denver. We have a handful more around the world.

I made the canonical transfer from the Latin Church.
 
babochka said:
Sllghtly off topic, but I’m surprised you had a Maronite student who had been baptized, but not confirmed. I know that the Maronite Church doesn’t practice infant communion, but I thought that they confirm at the same time as Baptism.
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I think this sometimes happens in scenarios where a Maronites may be baptised in a Latin Church. In my case it was because we had no local Maronite Parish around us when I was born. I was later confirmed in a Maronite Church when I got older and Maronite Parishes were established around us.

I am surprised that the couple were required to get permission to get married in the Latin Church (practically I mean, I know it is a requirement). Never heard that happening in our surrounding Parishes. The Latins just go ahead and marry them, baptise them, confirm them, give them first Holy Communion and no one blinks a eyelid…
 
5Loaves,

There is actually a Russian Catholic Church about an hour away from where I live, in Melbourne (Australia). I’ve been meaning to go there quite some time, but never made it out… anyways, as far as I’m aware, Russian Catholics have no hierarchy, so how was your canonical transfer accomplished? Was the acting Latin ordinary for the Russian Church the one who gave you permission on their end to transfer? Just curious 🙂
 
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