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GM_2013
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- I’m Melkite. If I were a Latin rite catholic, how could I be a minor cleric in the Greek Melkite Church? Please read again my previous posts and you will see that this information is there. You cannot be tonsured in another Church sui iuris other than your own.
- According to canon law, Eastern Patriarchs have no jurisdiction outside their traditional territories. This is a cause of many complaints by Eastern Bishops and Patriarchs, but it is precisely the way it is right now in canon law. I’m not making up this fact. Legally, the Patriarch can do nothing. Look at what the Melkite Eparchy of Newton (USA) has to say on the subject: “However, the present Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches distinguishes between the powers of the Patriarch and Synod of Bishops inside the patriarchal territory and outside of it; and it expressly states that their powers are exercised validly only inside the patriarchal territory, with certain limited exceptions. The basic reality is that all laws enacted by the Synod and promulgated by the Patriarch are effective inside the patriarchal territory, but for us Melkites in the United States, the only laws that are currently effective are liturgical laws.” (melkite.org/tag/patriarch)
- I would love if the world was a wonderful place, with no sorrows and difficulties, and that people and clerics just loved each other just like Jesus told us to do. Unfortunately, real life is not like that (we are not in Paradise yet). Unfortunately, the previous pastor is very, very old and now retired and he is no longer lucid - he can’t even celebrate and someone must take care of him all day long. I’ve been to his house with the bishop (the bishop comes only once an year) and we could barely have a normal conversation with him. There is no other Melkite priest in the Province (the closer one is around 120 miles away in another Province), so there is only one church with one priest around. By the way, the current pastor has already said publicly that if the old pastor dies, he will not celebrate his funeral rites because he does not like the old guy. Liked that? Period.
- The Eparchy has received an Apostolic Visitation performed by a Latin bishop appointed directly by Rome some years ago due to many internal problems (see, it is not the Patriarch who is in charge here, Rome itself is the one who sends visitators). To say the least, things are problematic over here. The bishop is a good and saintly man, but you cannot count on him to solve administrative problems - even some very grave ones.
- In my lifetime (and I am not that old), I have seen and heard many weird and twisted things inside the Church (not far away - I mean just next to me), including priests commiting serious crimes and/or sins (such as smuggling illegal drugs in international air trips, sex abuses, priests or seminarians having sex with women and then telling them to abort the baby, priests smuggling illegal weapons, etc.). So, I consider that being in the Church, after seeing all that, is in itself a miracle by the grace of God and his mercy towards me.
- As I’ve written before, I was just asking a question about fulfilling Sunday obligation. I do not want to enter into specifics about the situation of the Melkite Church or the Church in general in my country (as you can see, I did not mention my country at all - I only said I’m not in the USA).
- If I am saying all these things now it is just because it is very easy, not having a good picture of what is happening around where I live, to judge others. Anyway, I apologise for bothering you with this problem. You are right. I should never have brought up the theme here. As things always are in Church, things should be done in secrecy, just like the way bishops handled the case of sex abuse by priests for many years. No wonder why dioceses are going bankrupt all around the USA.
- I had the opportunity to talk to a Latin rite priest about the subject and he is going to report the whole matter to a professional canon lawyer who will try to answer me on the subject of Sunday Obligation. For the present time, he admonished me to go to Saturday Latin Mass (which is not my rite) in order to fulfill Sunday obligation, so that I may go to to the Orthodox Church (which worships in my rite) on Sunday morning without violating the precept.
- Again, sorry for bothering. As you can see, I’m a new member and it is my first time in a Catholic forum, but I definitely didn’t like the experience.
