What makes one an Eastern Catholic?

[Warrior4Him]

It really has nothing to do with the compliance of the parents. The canons are pretty clear. If there is any question the pastor can contact the bishop’s office for further insight.

Regardless of the Sui Iuris status of the priest, the faithful are ascribed to a particular church by the rules. It’s really about the canons first, over the personal preference of the parents and the priest, I am pretty sure.

If they prefer to change this ascription that is a separate matter, and involves the agreement of the two bishops, again according to the rules. I see no reason why any bishop would oppose a transfer unless the people requesting a change are notorious ne’er-do-wells or otherwise not in good standing. But there is a formal procedure for it.

Perhaps we are not understanding each other or maybe I am just a little confused. If the parents decide to raise the child in the dad’s religion and send him to say a Methodist Church and school would that child still be considered Catholic?

 

[Peter_J]

An interesting (at least to me) statistical phenomenon.

I agree that that is an interesting statistical question. (A similar statistical question could be posed with regard to children taking their father’s last name.) However your conclusion:

When there is an overwhelming preponderance of one community the other ones will likely shrink as a proportion of the total.

is incorrect. If we’re talking about a simple statistical model (ignoring complications like people switching rites) there’s no reason for a smaller community to shrink.

1st : 50% (children, males and females after marriage)
2nd: 25%
3rd: 12.5% or one eighth of one’s great-grandchildren (only one out of every eight may be a Ruthenian/Chaldean/Ge’ez)

Yes, but in your scenario each of those great-grandchildren has 7 Latin great-grandparents and 1 non-Latin great-grandparent. So the fact the he/she has a 7-out-of-8 chance of being Latin indicates maintaining the same ratio as the older generation.

Blessings,
Peter.

 

[Athanasiy]

Greetings !
What makes me Eastern Catholic ?.
I would not dare to speak from the theological perspective , therefore I do not bring the theological argumentation in my testimony.
Also in the terms of spirituality , I personally consider the celibacy of the clergy as a heroism , and have much respect and honour to the Roman Catholic priesthood tradition.
The same I can say about the Roman Catholic understanding of the dignity of marriage institution.
Why I am Byzantine Catholic ?
In my case , its just because I am Christian , and because I am Ukrainian.
And because I believe that the Church ( East Church , West Church ) should be the one Church.
I believe that Holly Spirit dwells in the Byzantine Catholic Church and also in the Orthodox Church
In the Orthodox country like Ukraine , to be the Byzantine Catholic is like to build the bridge in order to connect the two shores.
Of course there is a difference between Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic mentalities , of course there are and there will be the theological tensions , and may be the Church unity , sounds unrealistic and impossible , but the attempt to prove that the Church united in Christ is the original idea of the Church of Christ - is very noble attempt.

I belong to the people - who are the simple people , or proletarian people.
But the people who should be proud ( in the most noble meaning of this word )of being Ukrainians.
The people who should n’t be ‘’ shy ‘’ or ‘’ afraid ‘’ of being Ukrainians.
The European , free , noble , cultural , educated nation.

The communism made the horrible damage to my country.
Therefore beside the Spiritual image , Ukraine must learn how to make the good changes in its ‘ social consciousness ‘.

Hear in Ukraine , after the collapse of communism and coming of capitalism ; we passed through the time , and I would say that we live in the time of… ‘merchandising’ of the human beings or the time when there are the attempts to see and to treat the human beings as a ‘’ commodity ‘’ .

The knowledge of the ‘social sins’ and the ‘structures of sin’ - is required !

Therefore the voice of the Catholic Church must be heard not only in the spiritual matters , but in the social matters , in the matters of economics.
Therefore instead of innocently escaping or divorcing from reality of life , the Church should not be ignorant in the knowledge of how properly exercise the God given freedom in the society - in all spheres of human life.
I personally believe that this understanding must be not just Catholic understanding but Orthodox-Catholic understanding too.
Therefore , these are one of the few reasons why I am not just a Christian but a Byzantine Catholic Christian.