www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Archbishop Chaput's letter to my wife about Orthodoxy

With my wife's permission I would like to share this letter from a RC bishop to my RC wife. (btw I'm Orthodox, my wife is not. She just wanted to ask her RC bishop some questions):

My wife's letter to her bishop:

Dear Archbishop Chaput,

I am writing to you in regards to the split between the Orthodox Catholic Church and Roman Catholism. I though that you would probably the whys better that a parish priest.

I have married a man who is an Orthodox Catholic and even though I am still Roman Catholic I have started attending the Orthodox Church with my family for the stability of my step son.

Why has the litugy changed so much? If we were unified at one time, I don't understand why things have changed so much. Why did we add the part in the Nicene creed that says the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son? If the council stated that the creed was perfect that there should'nt be anything added or subtracted from it then why did we?

Why was Vatican II necessary? Even though there were many good things that came out of Vatican II, it seems as though we traveled further from our roots and now allow beliefs in our midst that are not Christian let alone Catholic. I have many more questions, but will adress the other questions to my husband's priest.

Sincerely yours,
-name sniped-

Reply from Archbishop Chaput:

-name sniped-, I have an archdiocese of nearly 500,000 Catholics. You should really visit with your local pastor about these issues. That is what local pastors are about.

Your questions seem more like accusations than genuine questions. You make objections while asking them. I would not be able to find the time to respond to these accusations. You really should visit personally with your own pastor about them.

Have you been active in the Church? Have you been to adult education classes to update yourself?

The Church has had many Councils to clarify issues when there has been controversy. Vatican II was a response to the difficulties of the last century.

I will keep you in my prayers and ask you to do the same for me.

God bless you.

+cjc

Comments by me (JohnVIII):

My wife has been a faithful Roman Catholic all her life (more than 30 years). She was not trying to be accusatory. She was offended by her bishop�s reply. Now she doesn�t want to ask any more questions. I told her she should give the bishop another chance. I think the bishop mis-interpreted my wife�s intentions. Of course, I am not pro-catholic, but I do believe in fair dialogues. It was my wife (not me) that now said that maybe Roman Catholic has some errors that the bishops are afraid to deal with.

John,

In one sense, I can understand Archbiship Chaput's perception that there was an accusatory element present. But, in fairness, certain questions may simply carry such a tone innately, and that doesn't mean your wife meant anything accusatory or hostile by it. For what it's worth, I think the questions are perfectly fine and proper, in both form and content. I wish Archbishop Chaput had been a little more gracious and responsive in his reply.

As one who was born Jewish, coverted to Christianity by entering Eastern Orthodoxy, and have since converted to Catholicism, I can say without hesitation that there is an abundance of material and resources to deal with such questions.

Regards,
Robster

robster,

I know there is an abundance of material to read. My wife wanted to actually talk to a person in authority about these things, rather than just read about them.

People are going to be reluctant to respond to your questions because of the danger of casting aspersions on a Bishop. So, as much as I might have personal opinions about this response to your wife's letter, I will refrain from voicing them.

Joe

First of all, let me say that I am an Orthodox Christian, and I live in your neck of the woods.

Second, I have to ask: why would you post this sort of correspondence on a public discussion board?

Third, I tend to agree with Archbishop Chaput that he just doesn't have the time, as the primate of a large Archdiocese, to provide an in-depth response to every single query that comes to him. He is right to say that these sorts of questions should be posed to her local pastor. She could even seek out some of the Eastern Catholic clergy in the area (Russian, Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Maronite), who would most likely be able to give her a more informed answer on the Filioque controversy than the average Latin cleric. Furthermore, one could also very easily seek out Catholic perspectives to these questions on the internet, or even at the excellent Archbishop Vehr Theological Library at the John Paul II Center in Denver.

Fourth, I can see why the Archbishop might think that the letter sounded confrontational, even if they were not consciously meant to be. The premise seems to be that the RCC is in grave error for the Filioque and for Vatican II. One might reasonably conclude, from the tenor of the letter, that your wife is already on her way to becoming Orthodox.

And finally, let me say that Archbishop Chaput, who I've met on several occasions, is very far from being anti-Orthodox. He is firm about the claims of his own Church, as he should be; but he also has a very friendly relationship with Isaiah, the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Denver, and with the other Orthodox communities in the Denver area.

I'm actually impressed that he responded at all...

Chris

The Archdiocese of Denver has a fairly large office of evangelization and catechesis, which should be (or should have been) able to answer all of the questions directly addressed to Abp. Chaput. The contact persons are at:

http://www.archden.org/content/section/17/427/

From the OP, it can be discerned that John's wife is now on her way to Orthodoxy, which is not objectionable at all given the necessity for the family's common worship. However, one wonders why this Orthodox-Catholic marriage was not tackled either by John's priest or by his wife's priest before the marriage was solemnized, which could have averted these lingering issues.

On the Catholic side, I think the priest of the Catholic party would have instructed the would-be bride on the subsisting Catholic rules.

Just for her edification, the wife should obtain the answers to her questions from the archdiocesan office aforecited.

John,

I'm afraid your wife's questions would be extremely hard to answer as stated. In a face-to-face dialogue it is sometimes possible to get clues as to what a person means by a given question, but that's much harder to do from a letter. Also, there can be a considerable amount of back-and-forth questioning in order to clarify the meaning of a question, which cannot be done in a letter format. Furthermore, from a bishop's perspective, any answer he gives in writing essentially becomes an official statement, which has to be made with a great deal of care.

As for the questions "sounding like accusations," the format of all three questions is essentially, "why this, I don't think it should be because of that." Like it or not, that's an accusation.

As far as the questions themselves go, Is she talking here about the post-Vatican II Liturgical Reform ("Novus Ordo"), or is she imagining that the Roman Liturgy was at one time essentially the same as the Orthodox Liturgy? The comment, "If we were unified at one time ..." implies the latter, whether that was her intention or not.
This can be a very difficult question to answer, especially since the conditions that brought about the inclusion of the Filioque in the Creed are removed by so many centuries. (Unfortunately, most RCs--even bishops--have no idea why this is such an important issue with the OCs.)Archbishop Chaput actually does give an answer to this one, "Vatican II was a response to the difficulties of the last century." However, I think the real question here is "[why do we] now allow beliefs in our midst that are not Christian let alone Catholic?" Without giving examples of such beliefs, nor any examples to show that we are allowing them in our midst, it is impossible to answer this question.

For my part, I've had lots of experience asking questions and making statements in which my meaning was completely misconstrued by the ones to whom they were addressed. I've found that by editing myself and making sure the question I'm asking is really the one I want to ask, I can get better results.

In general, however, it's much easier to talk with someone face to face.


Peace,
Deacon Richard

Actually, there is a Russian Catholic priest in the Denver area who converted from Orthodoxy. He would be an excellent resource. If you PM me I'll tell you who he is.

Dr. Eric,

Are you referring to Father Chrysostom Frank? He's also a Church history professor at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. He would be an EXCELLENT resource for many of these questions.

Fr. Frank was my priest when I was in Denver, and he used to be Orthodox. I think he is very fair in relating Church history. He is very fair to both the Catholics and Orthodox. He is a great scholar as well. He pastors a bi-ritual community: St. Elizabeth of Hungary Roman Catholic Church/St. Cyril & Methodius Byzantine Russian Church.

Yes, but I thought that I'd keep his name out of it for now. But since you brought him up, he definitely be the best person to ask.

I understand the Bishop's response. The questions did seem, (atleast in the written word, which is often hard to discern unless one has great command of it), a bit too abrupt. I think that he was correct in telling John's wife to visit her pastor to ask these questions and/or to learn more about the history of her church. I also agree with one of our posters in being impressed that he had the time to answer it.

I don't think anymore needs to be said about this topic, and since I am uncomfortable that a Bishop's private correspondence/ letter has been posted here, I am going to now close this thread.

Alice, Moderator