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user1234
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I know the Church allows you to (or to some extent), but why would anyone want to? What would be the reasons behind changing your rite?
Pietro
Pietro
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JurisPrudens
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It often happens, e.g., when a nominalOrthodox converts to Catholicism, when he(she) starts the true way to God in the Latin rite, but still has to applynfor the rite change technically.
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user1234
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I thought when an orthodox coverts, they enter the rite most similar to what theirs was as an orthodox. I’m talking about a cradle Catholic who might change his rite. Why would someone do that?
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thephilosopher6
Guest
Some people don’t feel satisfied with the liturgy of their particular Church and want to switch to another rite without breaking from Rome.
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Casilda
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I was a cradle Roman Catholic whose parents left the church in the late 60’s. I had attempted to revert in my teens but was unsuccessful. Then my Protestant husband came to the Orthodox/Catholic faith through the Byzantine Liturgy. I had given up trying to revert. So he converted as an Eastern Catholic, and by way of marriage I switched rites. We still prefer the Byzantine, but the nearest ByzCath parish is about 4-5 hours away. Yet we feel at home because St Maron, St Rafka and St Charbel have adopted us.
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Errham
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Being Eastern is more, difficult, to use the word. Fasting for a quarter of the year, using a liturgy written by St. John Chrysostom, it is all a very amazing experience.
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Kielbasi
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Probably the most popular reason by far would be marriage, followed by relocation to a geographical location where the actual practice of the rite is hampered due to few members and no churches.
Of course, neither of those circumstances would require that a person formally change rites, as any are permitted to receive sacraments in any church.
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adamhovey1988
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You know I don’t have a problem being a Latin. I do love the Melkites very much, but at the same time I have much of the beauty that permeates there in my own sui iuris. I think there’s an unfortunate problem that people have in that they think they won’t be happy unless they are Eastern. I will tell you when I went to worship with the Maronites the liturgy was beautiful. But afterwards when people went to go and get their coffee there was one lady complaining about Pope Francis and about the year of mercy and the thing with abortion and saying that she was going to tell her Bishop as somehow her Biship’s OPINION can override the Pope and I think her bishop would actually have agreed with the Pope. Believe me if I were not already Catholic and I were thinking about becoming Catholic that probably would have turned me away. That being said my own Latin Church has done many historical wrongs to Eastern Catholics in my country. The fact that I live less than 30 miles away from an Eastern Catholic Church and didn’t even know about it until after I had come into the church even though that was kind of stupid since the priest actually mentioned Eastern Churches I really should have been listening better, really I feel kind of pathetic about that about not knowing that. I’m from Iowa originally but have lived in South Carolina/Georgia most of my life. And the first time I had ever been to a Catholic Church was actually when I was little so there’s always that grace that is there. My mother was never baptized and my dad was Lutheran my mother’s still alive so there’s still a chance, but it was actually my dad I think was the main reason we went to church and then when he got sick we stopped going. My mother was telling me a story when we went to Christmas Eve Mass at the Cathedral in Davenport I think that is what it was and he said that I said they’re singing. I think I was like 4 years old. Anyway the reason I bring this up is because obviously I grew up around Catholics I even went to a Catholic school briefly (In Kewanee,Illinois). My sister Kelly went to three Catholic schools. If I would have known Eastern Catholics existed I probably would have become one but that being said I really do love the devotions that evolved in the Western Church. In Davenport Iowa where I was born to the best of my knowledge there are absolutely no Eastern Catholic churches there. Davenport has a pretty large Catholic population so that actually surprises me not to mention the adjacent cities. Pretty much when I was growing up in the Midwest you were you were a Lutheran or you were Catholic maybe Baptists. This is just my take on it since it seems that no one other than Catholics and Orthodox kno w Eastern Catholics exist
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wynd
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Do you mean attending a parish that uses another rite, or actually going through the process of officially changing your rite on paper? You can do one without the other.
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clem456
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I change my rite all the time, when I find out I am wrong.
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Augustine
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The reasons would perhaps be personal reasons. I myself have applied to change to the Maronite Church form the Latin Church because I have a found in the Liturgy of St. James the expression of my spirituality, of the Desert Fathers. This liturgy is much more eloquent to me and enables me to speak to God in a language that I am more fluent in. The Maronite Church is my home country.
Pax Christi
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Angel_Gabriel
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My reasons were because I love the Liturgy and spiritual disciplines of the Byzantine Rite. I found it easier to fully immerse myself in that tradition if I didn’t also have to remember the Latin Holy Days and such…it felt like spiritual schizophrenia. But that’s just me, others can do that without any issue
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Intransivert
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I’m considering the change for one primary reason. When I worship at a Ukrainian or other Byzantine parish, I worship through the liturgy. When I worship at any of the Latin rite parishes in my area, I worship in spite of the liturgy. The Latin liturgies [in my area] seem to distract from the true worship that our God is due.
A geographical move is not practical for me, but a move to the east may be.
A geographical move is not practical for me, but a move to the east may be.
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Matthew239
Guest
The biggest and most obvious reason is marriage. If I was marrying a woman who was more devout in her faith and really, really attached to her rite - I would have considered a change.
In the same way my wife was a non-denominational Christian and converted to Catholicism. Now we have a unified Catholic family. The kids can learn from both of us in their faith.
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Kenny_Kamel
Guest
I wholeheartedly agree with most of the posts in this thread. I commented on this in another thread earlier this year…
Kenny_Kamel:
Frankly I have developed a strong desire to transfer from the Latin to the Byzantine Rite, our pastor was a cradle Latin Catholic who transferred rites and became a celebrate Byzantine priest. He and I have had some good conversation about me doing the same as things have continued to not work out for me in discerning a Latin vocation. Perhaps this was God’s Will all along?
The Ruthenian Byzantine Parish I have attended is so warm and welcoming, they have been so encouraging towards me and everyone is genuinely interested in having me (or anyone) participate as much as feasible. All the people there are incredibly devout, I would call them hardcore Catholics myself. In fact only eight parishioners were raised in the Byzantine Rite, all others are converts or have transferred from the Latin Rite.
Frankly I have developed a strong desire to transfer from the Latin to the Byzantine Rite, our pastor was a cradle Latin Catholic who transferred rites and became a celebrate Byzantine priest. He and I have had some good conversation about me doing the same as things have continued to not work out for me in discerning a Latin vocation. Perhaps this was God’s Will all along?
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Joie_de_Vivre
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On average Eastern Catholic take their faith much more seriously than Latin Catholics in part because they avoided the travesties that occurred after Vatican II (what people thought it said and what it actually said were quite different). Furthermore while the Latin Rites feature some level of mysticism such as St. John of the Cross it overwhelmingly favors a rational approach to faith whereas the Eastern Rites favor an overwhelmingly mystical relationship with God which many find absolutely exquisite and entrancing.
A practical reason would be if you marry someone of a different rite. Another reason might be heritage for example some of Rusyn descent in the US might rediscover her roots and after attending Ruthenian Catholic Divine Liturgy may decide to embrace the practices of her forefathers.
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Casilda
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Yes, overwhelming. Compelling. I abruptly abandoned my attempts at reverting to Roman Catholicism, which seemed more like attempting to enter a dark abyss, and instead was welcomed by the hand of God through the Divine Liturgy.
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