Looking for the Rite answer

[jozef80]

Greetings everyone.

Compliments of the season. I wish to seek answers to a matter concerning rites of the Catholic Church in India. Ancestrally we belong to the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church’s (SMCC) Ernakulam Archdiocese in Kerala. However my father who came to Bombay in the late sixties, chose to be part of the Latin Catholic Church (LCC) and be a member of a local parish of the Archdiocese of Bombay. At a later time when the SMCC Diocese of Kalyan was setup, we were invited to change over, but we chose to continue with our active role in the LCC. And thus, having received all my sacraments in the LCC, having being nurtured and moulded in its educational institutions and having grown in its youth ministry, I love my LCC and to me it is my identity and my family.

My fiancee comes from a SMCC family like ours and was baptised as per the LCC rites just like I was but later on chose to get themselves enrolled in the SMCC Diocese of Kalyan. I wish to get married as per the LCC rites and both our families have no objection. But it seems I cannot as ‘technically speaking’ both our families are SMCC and my being on the rolls of the LCC is not of much significance. Even in order to get married as per SMCC rites (which is being offered as the only choice) I have to first get myself enrolled in a local SMCC parish. However if I still wish to get married as per LCC rites, I have to change my rite officially, which requires special permission.

Is all this really necessary inspite of the fact that we are both Catholics? I’m just an ordinary middle-class working guy who does not understand these complicated procedures. All I know is that I do not wish to be seperated from my family, I dont want a new identity, please help.

 

[Hesychios]

It seems that you are up to speed on the requirements

If you want to be married in the Latin parish you belong to, ask for a change in canonical enrollment. Your pastor can help with this, you will need to write the Latin bishop and the Syro-Malabar bishop, explaining that you have lived as a Latin Catholic on the Latin calendar and are comfortable with it. It may seem like an imposition, but it’s not that hard, just do it (the sooner the better).

Your new spouse does not have to do this, if you become canonically Latin she can change at the time of marriage if she desires with just a signature, and she would have the right to change back (although it sounds like she would not bother).

I agree that the canon law is probably more difficult than necessary, but historically the Latin church has poached upon native churches and these rules (canons) were written by the Vatican partly as a result of a need to protect them from further encroachment. Technically, the Syro-Malabar bishop of Kelyan is your spiritual leader (because your parents did not change their canonical enrollment when when you were young), even though you have not given him that recognition before this. Once you change canonical enrolment your future children will not have this problem, but if you do not, your male children may face this technicality themselves later.

Of course, by then they may themselves have discovered the beauty and spiritual blessings of the worshiping with the Syro-Malabar or Syro-Malankara church, and ask for their own change.

 

[jozef80]

Thank you sir for your kind reply and guidance. I shall discuss the above with my parish priest and do the needful. God bless you

 

[5Loaves]

And thus, having received all my sacraments in the LCC, having being nurtured and moulded in its educational institutions and having grown in its youth ministry, I love my LCC and to me it is my identity and my family.

My fiancee comes from a SMCC family like ours and was baptised as per the LCC rites just like I was but later on chose to get themselves enrolled in the SMCC Diocese of Kalyan.

Welcome!

It’s wonderful to hear that you have had such solid and nurturing formation in your Latin Church. Thanks be to God! We hope to keep Eastern and Oriental Catholics in the Eastern and Oriental Churches but sometimes it does not happen. Hopefully your pastor will be able to help you with the information Hesychios provide you.

Congratulations on your upcoming marriage! Maybe when you have children you will want to share some of your families’ heritage in the SMCC with them.

In Christ.
P.S. We have two WONDERFUL priests from India in the Latin Churches in my town. Their joy in their vocation is great.

 

[armeranda]

I agree that the canon law is probably more difficult than necessary, but historically the Latin church has poached upon native churches and these rules (canons) were written by the Vatican partly as a result of a need to protect them from further encroachment. Technically, the Syro-Malabar bishop of Kelyan is your spiritual leader (because your parents did not change their canonical enrollment when when you were young), even though you have not given him that recognition before this. Once you change canonical enrolment your future children will not have this problem, but if you do not, your male children may face this technicality themselves later.