prodromos:
So are those who are not Eastern Catholic allowed to bring their children forward to receive Holy Communion, or is it just as those who are married and not Eastern Catholics are not permitted to enter the priesthood?
John.
Hi, John!
Because we are
all Catholic, East and West, the graces available to one Catholic are, technically, available to all.
*However… *
It is prescribed that when one is initiated into the Catholic Church, one follows the traditions of the individual Church into which they are initiated. One notable difference in tradition between the Catholic East and the Catholic West is the
order of progression with which the Sacraments are administered to the faithful. In the West, the accepted order in which an individual (usually a child) receives the Sacraments is as follows:
Baptism - Reconciliation - Eucharist - Confirmation
In the East, the progression is like this:
Baptism - Confirmation - Eucharist - Reconciliation
This may appear to be a subtle difference, but with regard to your question it makes a huge difference. According to the progression of the Sacraments within the Roman Catholic Church, a child should not receive the Eucharist until
after he/she has been graced with both the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In the Byzantine Catholic Church, the child may recieve the Eucharist after reception of the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of Confirmation,
both of which are usually administered to the infant faithful at the same ceremony (in fact, the child usually receives the Eucharist at this same ceremony as well). Reconciliation comes later in the Eastern Catholic Church.
Technically, since both children are
Catholic, all the graces of the Church should be available to both children equally. We cannot, however, ignore the aspect of
tradition and our adherence to it. The respect for and adherence to the
traditions of the Church is a Scriptural mandate that we are bound by, and even though these traditions may vary from East to West, both are equally valid. In fact, if we were allowed to cross traditions out of, say, convenience, we risk diluting them to the point where they become meaningless or even lost altogether.
All that said, a Roman Catholic child who visitis a Byzantine Catholic Church may,
as a Catholic attending a Catholic Liturgy, be
technically ellegible to receive the Eucharist just like the Eastern Catholic children in attendance. To do so, however, would violate the
traditions of the
Roman Catholic Church to which he/she is bound.
The same philosophy would hold for your example with regard to the married priesthood. A married man can,
technically, appeal to Rome for a Change of Rite in order to fulfill his priestly vocation as a married man, but, unless there were
extreme and valid circumstances behind his desire to change, Rome would most certainly deny the change. It
would not be granted merely out of convenience sake.
a pilgrim
Considering the benefit to the child in Grace, I have trouble understanding why the parents lack of faith or sincerity should have any bearing whatsoever.
