To Go Latin Rite or Byzantine Rite?

[OrbisNonSufficit]

That sounds great! Bishops will surely sort your situation out, and you being able to receive our Lord in the meantime is surely a big plus. I am also very happy that situation around liturgical schedules of Church fits your needs. Welcome home

 

[MatthaiosX]

Thank you Orbis! And yes, you’re right, being able to receive our Lord in the interim is huge. I didn’t know that was going to be the case until today.

The fact that I can receive the Eucharist at a Catholic Church as someone who is still Eastern Orthodox says a lot. We Orthodox certainly wouldn’t allow Catholics to commune with us, which is incredibly sad. I don’t want it to seem like I am knocking the Orthodox here because I am not; they are my brothers and sisters and in fact I don’t see any real difference between the two Churches when you get down to the core of it all. However, I will say that the fact that the Catholics will receive us but not vice versa speaks volumes. It tells me that the Catholic Church is at least open to dialogue and is more than willing to accept us with open arms. I know there are things that need to be worked out on both sides, but given my personal experience, I see the Catholic Church as at least making more of an effort to bridge the gap than the Orthodox are.

I hope for unity one day as I’m sure we all do. For me personally, coming to the Catholic Church is my personal step towards unity. It’s the least I can do to mend the relationship. And I feel like being in communion with Rome will only make me more “Orthodox”.

 

[OrbisNonSufficit]

I hope for unity one day as I’m sure we all do. For me personally, coming to the Catholic Church is my personal step towards unity. It’s the least I can do to mend the relationship. And I feel like being in communion with Rome will only make me more “Orthodox”.

That is just beautiful.

 

[dochawk]

I was using an adjective when I said “extraordinary”,

I see that now. With some of the folk around here, it sounded perfectly naturally for the Easte to be dismissed yet again as merely a cute variant . . .

And you said Novus Ordo is an obsolete term and used as dismissive. I have never heard of this and I have many Catholic friends who use the term all the time. Can you please explain what you mean? And what is preferred instead? Ordinary Form?

Ordinary Form is preferred, yes.

NO came from this initial publication of the then new Mass (which was why it was called that!) 50 years ago. There have been a couple of publications without it.

NO tends to be used dismissively by those on a spectrum from the ones who insist on the superiority of the EF to those who outright deny the validity of the OF and outright sedevacantists.

The fact that I can receive the Eucharist at a Catholic Church as someone who is still Eastern Orthodox says a lot.

It’s even in Western Canon Law!

We’ve had many Orthodox parishioners who still describe themselves as Orthodox at my Byzantine nee Ruthenian parish.

 

[MatthaiosX]

So I checked out the Byzantine Rite parish last night and I was warmly welcomed by the priest, deacon and several of the parishioners. I spoke with the priest (who is actually a hieromonk!) at length about becoming Catholic and we had a very wonderful chat. The Liturgy was really no different than the Antiochian parish I am coming from, so that was nice to see. The parish itself was very beautiful with a magnificent iconostasis and many wonderful icons adorning the church walls. The Liturgy was solemn yet joyful, which is exactly how it should be. This seems like a good fit right now. There are still some Latin Rite parishes in the area that I want to check out, but I feel like this might be “home” for me within the Catholic Church.

 

[dochawk]

So I checked out the Byzantine Rite parish last night and I was warmly welcomed by the priest, deacon and several of the parishioners.

I’ve never been to a Pittsburgh/Byzantine/nee Ruthenian parish where the welcome wasn’t warm. At first I felt like I was intruding, and came to realize that it really was that warm. I assume that other Eastern groups are similar, but the only other ones I’ve made it to were Maronite and Melchite, and their Lebanese cores are quite serious about hospitality . . . (ruthenians offer you you food, Lebanese almost force-feed you :crazy_face: . . . when I showed up as the KofC honor guard when they were consecrating the church, it was also their food festival. They sat my whole family down and made sure we tried everything !)

spiritual approach aside, the EC parishes do have the advantage that the priest usually knows everyone . . .the RC parish up the street from me is 100 or 200 times the size of my parish!