What do Roman Catholics want or need to know about Eastern Catholicism?

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I’m making a pamphlet in this style to answer the most important questions as a response to Miserissima’s thread How to Explain…like Miss Manners.

Miserissima brought up if Eastern Catholics are really Catholic and if attending there fulfills a Mass obligation. What else do you want included on the 2-sided single sheet pamphlet? This is a stand-alone document meant for people who don’t know anything about Eastern Catholicism and have no desire to go look up more. If this is all they ever know, what should they know?
 
Why is it important? I am Roman Catholic and that is where my interest lays. Sure, I know there are a lot of other Catholics, we even have American Catholics who call me a papist! I listen to the Pope and the others do not, what else do I need to know? 🤷
 
KrazyKat, You seem to have Eastern Catholics confused with Eastern Orthodox.

Eastern Catholics are in full communion with the Pope; they are just as Catholic as Roman Catholics. You should read this document from the Second Vatican Council to acquaint yourself with Eastern Catholicism: ewtn.com/library/councils/v2east.htm As the document states, the Eastern Catholic Churches are part of the Catholic Church, and are of equal dignity with the Roman Church.
 
Jeffgo said:
KrazyKat, You seem to have Eastern Catholics confused with Eastern Orthodox.

Eastern Catholics are in full communion with the Pope; they are just as Catholic as Roman Catholics. You should read this document from the Second Vatican Council to acquaint yourself with Eastern Catholicism: ewtn.com/library/councils/v2east.htm As the document states, the Eastern Catholic Churches are part of the Catholic Church, and are of equal dignity with the Roman Church.
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You were correct in your assumption. Thank you for the clarification. 🙂
 
KrazyKat said:
Why is it important? I am Roman Catholic and that is where my interest lays. Sure, I know there are a lot of other Catholics, we even have American Catholics who call me a papist! I listen to the Pope and the others do not, what else do I need to know? 🤷
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The American “Catholic” Church is WAY out of communion with Rome.
 
JamesTheJust said:
The American “Catholic” Church is WAY out of communion with Rome.
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There’s a member of CAF that identifies his religion with them. He says that they have approved of so-called same-sex “marriage”. By the way he describes it, they don’t sound any different than Anglicans or Episcopalians.
 
livingwordunity said:
There’s a member of CAF that identifies his religion with them. He says that they have approved of so-called same-sex “marriage”. By the way he describes it, they don’t sound any different than Anglicans or Episcopalians.
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Yeah, I’ve seen him around. His denomination has absolutely no claim to the title of Catholic.
 
That it’s legit.

That they should probably go to some Divine Liturgies.
 
Here’s a short list of things I would include:
  1. While Eastern/Oriental Catholics are “Catholic,” they are NOT Roman Catholic.
  2. Eastern Catholics have their own liturgical traditions. Please respect those traditions when you visit our parishes.
  3. Eastern Catholics do not necessarily follow apparitions such as Fatima and Lourdes.
  4. Eastern Catholics have their own approach to theology. It is not Thomistic or Scholastic, but tends toward Pastristics, Scripture, and Liturgical expression.
  5. While Eastern Catholics do have the same core beliefs that Roman Catholics hold, they express those beliefs very differently, sometimes to the point of sounding contradictory to the Roman tradition. Please respect these differences. Dynamic tension and paradox in the Church keep us all humble. No one sui iuris Church has God “figured out.”
  6. Eastern Catholics are not “under” the Pope. They are under their Bishops and Patriarchs, and the Bishops and Patriarchs are in communion with the Pope of Rome.
  7. Eastern Catholics don’t want to “convert” the Eastern/Oriental Orthodox. They long for the day that communion between Catholicism and Orthodoxy will be restored and they can rejoin their Mother Orthodox Churches.
  8. Some Eastern Catholics only hold to 7 ecumenical councils. This is perfectly fine as there is no definitive/dogmatic list stating that there are 21 ecumenical councils, plus most of the post-Schism councils dealt with disciplinary issues that were unique to the Church of the West, how could they be considered “ecumenical?”
  9. There is not just one Eastern Catholic tradition. There are many. There is a great deal of diversity within Eastern Catholicism. Each particular Church has its own past that has given rise to its own traditions. Don’t think that if you have experience the Byzantine tradition you know the totality of Eastern Catholicism. Remember that within Eastern Catholicism there is also the Coptic, Ethiopian, Maronite, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, Chaldean, etc. traditions. These Churches are all unique in and of themselves and deserve to be experienced and studied carefully.
 
Dear brother Phillip,

EXCELLENT list! I especially wanted to comment on #6:
  1. Eastern Catholics are not “under” the Pope. They are under their Bishops and Patriarchs, and the Bishops and Patriarchs are in communion with the Pope of Rome.
When I was still only looking into the Catholic Church, I recall that when I visited the local Coptic Catholic Church in Los Angeles, and asked many who the head of their Church was, EVERY single one of them answered “Pope Antonios.” Initially, I was surprised, because I thought they would say, “Pope John Paul II.”

Blessings,
Marduk
Phillip_Rolfes said:
Here’s a short list of things I would include:
  1. While Eastern/Oriental Catholics are “Catholic,” they are NOT Roman Catholic.
  2. Eastern Catholics have their own liturgical traditions. Please respect those traditions when you visit our parishes.
  3. Eastern Catholics do not necessarily follow apparitions such as Fatima and Lourdes.
  4. Eastern Catholics have their own approach to theology. It is not Thomistic or Scholastic, but tends toward Pastristics, Scripture, and Liturgical expression.
  5. While Eastern Catholics do have the same core beliefs that Roman Catholics hold, they express those beliefs very differently, sometimes to the point of sounding contradictory to the Roman tradition. Please respect these differences. Dynamic tension and paradox in the Church keep us all humble. No one sui iuris Church has God “figured out.”
  6. Eastern Catholics are not “under” the Pope. They are under their Bishops and Patriarchs, and the Bishops and Patriarchs are in communion with the Pope of Rome.
  7. Eastern Catholics don’t want to “convert” the Eastern/Oriental Orthodox. They long for the day that communion between Catholicism and Orthodoxy will be restored and they can rejoin their Mother Orthodox Churches.
  8. Some Eastern Catholics only hold to 7 ecumenical councils. This is perfectly fine as there is no definitive/dogmatic list stating that there are 21 ecumenical councils, plus most of the post-Schism councils dealt with disciplinary issues that were unique to the Church of the West, how could they be considered “ecumenical?”
  9. There is not just one Eastern Catholic tradition. There are many. There is a great deal of diversity within Eastern Catholicism. Each particular Church has its own past that has given rise to its own traditions. Don’t think that if you have experience the Byzantine tradition you know the totality of Eastern Catholicism. Remember that within Eastern Catholicism there is also the Coptic, Ethiopian, Maronite, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, Chaldean, etc. traditions. These Churches are all unique in and of themselves and deserve to be experienced and studied carefully.
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I love the ECC’S and try to attend whenever I can. I am lucky to have some close to where I live.

I think all RC’s should go to an Eastern Catholic Church at some point. There are many who don’t even know that they exist. Also, I think if an RC were to attend a divine liturgy, they would be struck by the reverence that there is, that MIGHT be lacking in their local Latin parish.
 
I’m going down the list provided here.

I need an image for the front page. It needs to be captivating enough that it encourages people to pick up the pamphlet and look at it. Any suggestions?
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
  1. Some Eastern Catholics only hold to 7 ecumenical councils. This is perfectly fine as there is no definitive/dogmatic list stating that there are 21 ecumenical councils, plus most of the post-Schism councils dealt with disciplinary issues that were unique to the Church of the West, how could they be considered “ecumenical?”
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While there may not be a dogmatic list of councils, the additional 14 councils held after Nicea II would have to be seen as Ecumenical. According to Catholic teaching, a council is ecumenical if the Roman Pontiff confirms and recognizes it as ecumenical. The Second Vatican Council made this clear in Lumen Gentium Article 22:

A council is never ecumenical unless it is confirmed or at least accepted as such by the successor of Peter; and it is prerogative of the Roman Pontiff to convoke these councils, to preside over them and to confirm them. Source

This same teaching can be found in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, the separate code of canon law that governs the Eastern Catholic Churches. As Canon 51 states:

*It is for the Roman Pontiff alone to convoke an ecumenical
council, to preside over it personally or through others, to
transfer, suspend or dissolve it, and to confirm its decrees. * Source

Since the Eastern Catholic Churches operate under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches as their officially binding canon law, one would have to say that the official position of the Eastern Catholic Churches is that the additional 14 Councils are ecumenical, since each of them was approved by the Roman Pontiff.
 
Thank you for posting that, Jeffgo. Speaking for myself, I don’t have any problem with the idea that a council is never ecumenical unless it is confirmed or at least accepted as such by the successor of Peter, or that it is prerogative of the Roman Pontiff to convoke these councils, to preside over them and to confirm them.
 
It is important for Catholics to know of the problems the Church faces in working towards the return of the Orthodox.

Doctrinal disputes among Orthodox leaders pose problems for ecumenical discussions
CWN - January 20, 2014
The calendar year 2014 could furnish exciting new opportunities for ecumenical work with the Orthodox world, but progress may be impeded by disagreements between the world’s most powerful Orthodox groups, according to the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity.

At the start of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch told Vatican Radio that a meeting between Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople could be the “most important opportunity” of the year. However he acknowledged that tensions between the Orthodox churches—in particular, the resistance of the Russian Orthodox Church to a common statement on primacy—pose problems for the immediate future of ecumenical discussions.

“I think there are more tensions between the Orthodox than between the Orthodox and Catholics,” Cardinal Koch said. A key point of contention is an argument over an Orthodox statement on primacy, which the Patriarchate of Moscow refused to accept. The cardinal told Vatican Radio that representatives of the patriarchates of Moscow and Constantinople are now discussing that issue, and their talks might provide a “very good opportunity” for resolving the difficulties. But that is an “internal Orthodox dialogue,” and the Catholic Church cannot be directly involved, he said.

Cardinal Koch reported that the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue, which includes Catholic and Orthodox scholars, will meet sometime this year. He did not specify the time or place for the meeting. The Joint International Commission, which held its last meeting in Vienna in 2010, had originally been scheduled to meet again in 2012. But plans for the meeting were postponed because of the disagreements among Orthodox participants over the statement on primacy.
catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=20246
 
I know what Western Catholics need to know about Eastern Catholics: a book. Preferably an affordable one. With its histories, saints, customs, prayers (in their ecclesiastical languages and translations); et cetera. Maybe even some fairy tales to know where the distinct peoples come from; like the Maronites, the Melkites and so on.
 
Crimson_Silence said:
I know what Western Catholics need to know about Eastern Catholics: a book. Preferably an affordable one. With its histories, saints, customs, prayers (in their ecclesiastical languages and translations); et cetera. Maybe even some fairy tales to know where the distinct peoples come from; like the Maronites, the Melkites and so on.
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I don’t know of any fairy tales, but I do know of some books.

American Eastern Catholics by Fr. Fred J. Saato

Light of the East: A Guide to Eastern Catholicism for Western Catholics by Fr. George Appleyard

The Eastern Catholic Churches: An Introduction to Their Worship and Spirituality by Sr. Joan Roccasalv

Eastern Catholics in the United States of America by the USCCB

Eastern Christianity: The Byzantine Tradition by Fr. Lawrence Cross

101 Questions and Answers on the Eastern Catholic Churches by Dc. Edward Faulk
 
As a side issue, the term “Roman Catholics” is somewhat controversial. One explanation for its origin is that Anglicans in the 19th century wanted to affirm their roots both as English and as apostolic, so they described themselves as “the English Catholics”, while those guys over there will henceforth be named “the Roman Catholics”, and probably less loyal citizens.

I think Peter was the Vicar of Christ in other jobs before he set foot in Rome, and the successors of Peter were and are also Vicar of Christ, even if a few never set foot in Rome. In the future, even if the pope were driven out of Rome and the media appointed someone else bishop of Rome, Peter’s successor would still be Vicar of Christ, wherever he lived.
 
commenter said:
As a side issue, the term “Roman Catholics” is somewhat controversial. One explanation for its origin is that Anglicans in the 19th century wanted to affirm their roots both as English and as apostolic, so they described themselves as “the English Catholics”, while those guys over there will henceforth be named “the Roman Catholics”, and probably less loyal citizens.

I think Peter was the Vicar of Christ in other jobs before he set foot in Rome, and the successors of Peter were and are also Vicar of Christ, even if a few never set foot in Rome. In the future, even if the pope were driven out of Rome and the media appointed someone else bishop of Rome, Peter’s successor would still be Vicar of Christ, wherever he lived.
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It’s the Roman Rite and their patriarch is in Rome. The Latin Church embraces the title of Roman Catholic. And there isn’t an alternative that is less controversial or that is more widely accepted.

It might have some detractors, but there isn’t a better option right now.
 
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