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Does anyone know of any scholarly or other studies on the question of Latin religious orders and Eastern Christianity--eg., the "Byzantine Franciscans" or Jesuits of the Byzantine Rite, etc? I'm particularly interested in the Byzantine Franciscans, but the whole phenomenon of trying to bring Latin orders and Byzantine Christianity together fascinates me. I've done a few very preliminary searches and not found any sustained analysis of this. If anyone knows of any such studies and could provide the bibliographical information, I should be most grateful.

Adam,

I agree with you that it is a fascinating topic. My initial thought is threefold:

1. You might find this information in books of the history of specific orders (such as the Redemptorists and the Jesuits).

2. You might consider contacing the Motherhouses of these orders to see if they have any archives that they can provide you - or direct you to published resources.

3. You could contact existing Byzantine communities to research the topic, do interviews, etc etc.

You have probably thought about most of these, but those are my initial ideas/suggestions.

God bless!

Gordo

Adam - I am not sure within the paramonastic communities themselves there is much in terms of these sorts of studies.

Even with all that the Redemptorists have published over the years, there is not much that I know of. Good luck.

In his lengthy biography of Metropolitan Andrew, Father Cyril Korolevsky devotes an entire chapter to the phenomenon of Eastern Catholic "branches" of Latin paramonastic communities. It's worth an attentive reading.

Fr. Serge

Thanks, gentlemen, for your input. These are helpful suggestions. I read the Korolevsky biography many years ago but forgot about the chapter Fr. Serge mentions. I will revisit it.

there are Jesuits who are trained to be Priests for Eastern "Rite" parishes. case in point: the previous Priest at St. Michael's Russian Catholic in New York is a Jesuit. then there is the late Father Maloney (eternal memory), a prolific writer on topics EC, was also a Jesuit who served as an EC Priest. does this cast any more light on this topic?
Much Love,
Jonn

I've known quite a bit of bi-ritual Latin order priests, and they always seem to me to be happy to play "Byzantine" dress up for a day or so, but are usually somewhat anti-Orthodox, oddly enough. Of course that is a gross generalization.

In addition, I've found that "Byzantine X (order)" priests tend to be less than ideally "Byzantine". I'm sure we can think of many examples to support this, especially among those of you who detest the RDL.

My point is that there really shouldn't be any Eastern Catholic priests who are members of Latin religious orders, even under the guise of "Byzantine".

We need real, true MONASTERIES! They should be looking to Mt Athos or other suitable Orthodox monasteries for their inspiration, not to the Jesuits or Franciscans. Let the Latins have their orders.

Just my 2 cents.

Aren't 3 of our 4 Byzantine Catholic Bishops bi-ritual as such?

According to the website http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org Archbishop Basil Schott was ordained Order of Friars Minor, Bishop John Kudirck was ordained Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance. This site does not state what Bishop William Skurla was ordained but I understand he was ordained a Byzantine Franciscan.

And the 4th no order would take!!!

ROFL

I do know that Fr. Robert Taft, one of the preeminent scholars of the Byzantine Rite and himself a BC priest, is a member of the Jesuits. That's about all I'm aware of personally.

Really? I had no idea that Father Taft (whom I've known for a good fifty years) had any particular connection with British Columbia. I'll have to ask him about it.

Fr. Serge

The Jesuit Superior General, Fr. Peter Hans Kolvenbach was ordained an Armenian Catholic priest and is in fact, an Armenian Catholic.

As for Robert Taft, he is an Archimandrite but not sure which jurisdiction.

Oh, and to note, the Jesuits are not monastics. So try not to mistake them for that.

I am all for the return and renewel of authentic Byzantine monastic practice in the Eastern Catholic Churches... But at this time I am certainly unwilling to throw out the Byzantine Carmelites - especially at Sugarloaf.

I for one am rather sad to see that Byzantine Franciscans are noth thriving here in the US. The simple Franciscan life and spirituality combined with the Byzantine life of liturgical prayers seems to me like it would make a rather sturdy ladder to Heaven.

A universal renewal of monastic life is needed. I would certainly like to see the Byzantine's have a renewal of their monastic life, but I also know that many Latin orders are in need of their own renewal, Franciscans included, so it goes all around.