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Hi,

Why is it when a discussion pertaining to the differences between disciplines of East & West Catholic Churches practices among Catholics, "especially Roman Catholics" gets the "you are from another planet look?".

two lungs?, one hand doesn't let the other hand know what it is doing, and yet it takes all parts of the body to function as one body.

All Catholics can learn about the different rites if informed when the opportunity arises.

Dandelion

Indeed. And so, that is one of the purposes of this forum: to foster mutual understanding and tolerance between Christian East and Christian West.

-- John

John,
Aside from this forum, they also can be educated by their priest from church.
More education about our Christian faith from the East as well as the West should be taught to us faithful in whatever rite we are in.

Thank You,

Dandelion

Dandelion

I really can't see anyone disagreeing with you there.

The big question is :-

Is it done ??

And frankly I'm not going there .

Hello All:

I am sort of new here. This will be my first post though I have been lurking on this forum for a number of years.

Most fellow Roman Catholics that I know are clueless and think you are from another planet when you mention the Eastern Churches

Many who I know really don't seem to care about any of it and I am afraid that there are not enough priests that care as well.

Most of the information I picked up over the years has been off of the web.

I wonder if any attempt has been made to integrate some information into the Churches "Right of Christian initiation program". I don't know.

Cheers:

Converted Norseman

Let us also remind Roman Catholics that there isn't just "one Lung" in the East. More like 17-19 different Particular Churches (don't want to use the "r" word) that make up the Eastern Pulmonary System!

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Ung

Dear Converted Norseman,

Your moniker reminds me of a cartoon on the door of one our researchers here:

A lawyer in a modern court setting has several Vikings with axes and swords sitting behind him. The lawyer implores the judge and says, "Your Honour, pillage, rape, murder - yes, but please take into consideration the defendants' cultural background!"

Personally, just don't see a real grass-roots, parish-based commitment in the Latin Church to educate about and celebrate with the Eastern Catholic Churches. Not everywhere, but there are RC bishops who simply want ritual uniformity and can't stomach the idea of "other rites." There is real opposition from RC bishops not only to the "Anglican Usage" but also to the "Extraordinary Rite" of the Tridentine Liturgy.

And the bishops are that way for more than one reason. A former Cardinal up here was simply of suspicious of the EC married priesthood and didn't want too much info about the EC Churches "out there" as he feared a movement for married Latin priests.

I know this because that hierarch went after me directly in a Catholic publication in response to a little article I wrote on the married priesthood. One of his phrases of rejoinder was, "The whole notion of married priests has reared its ugly head once again here . . ."

Others fear what they perceive to be a less structured ecclesial arrangement other than the "top-down" Roman approach that they see in the EC Churches, especially (since they are mentioned the most frequently in conjunction with this) among the Melkites.

They can see us as being "ORTHODOX in communion with, er, (rome) . . ."

Others simply see EC's as being in possessioni not only of a spirituality that is "foreign" to Latin traditions, but also as a potential threat to their Church in that regard.

Speaking of Poland, Fr. I. Nazarko OSBM in his book, "Kyivan and Galician Metropolitans" mentions a local Polish Synod held in the 18th century where the Polish bishops severely chastised the "Uniates" and their pernicious influence in the Church of Poland.

For example, the bishops' statement makes particular mention of the "annoyances" of Polish seminarians imitating the Eastern Catholics' "beards and long sleeved tunics." Some Polish seminarians took to making the Sign of the Cross with three fingers . . . (!). The word they use to describe the Uniates is "Yazva" or something not very nice. In fact, the Uniates were deemed to be a "worse yazva" than the Orthodox! At least there was a boundary that separated them from the Orthodox!

Alex

Orthodox Catholic,

Well it's too bad that certain RC bishops feel that way, maybe if educating the faithful a little more about "their" different rites ( the whole faith belongs to the people/body/church) and not try to lead by blind faith in some instances where the hierarch wouldn't be trying to combine rituals and do their own thing when it comes to the rubrics of the Mass, things may not be so confusing for the" Universal Church".
I am sorry for going off, I get so damn mad sometimes when I think and feel some of the Faithful are in a sense being taken advantage of because they don't know and are being kept in the dark by the ones want to keep them ignorant about their Catholic "ROOTS"!

Thank You,
Dandelion

Yes, Converted Norseman, I agree about that 'from another planet' look. We've had the local Catholic homeschoolers' meeting a couple of times at our parish (I'm a homeschooling mom) and at the most recent one, after the Divine Liturgy our priest (who has since moved on) met with us in the parish hall and took questions. The big thing was the filioque; other issues people seemed to have were the not kneeling, the crossing oneself like the Orthodox, and the leavened bread for Communion. As a former Roman, when I run into people from my former parish who mention that they had heard I'd 'left the church' I just smile, mumble something about being fed more nutritious Food on the Eastern side of the banquet table, and offer to pray for them. A lot of folks around these parts are ignorant simply because they choose to be - if it doesn't look, sound, smell and taste Novus Ordo or Latin, they are avoiding at all costs because it certainly can't be Catholic.
OK, I'm finished venting now. Thanks for allowing that.

Sieglinde

Ain't that the truth....

Tonight at prayer meeting, which except for us, is all Roman Catholic, it was interesting that they could not comprehend that in the Early Church Christmas was not really celebrated, it was Pascha.

So yeah, I think it takes not just the clergy, but us as brothers and sisters, one on one sharing the truths of our faith.

I have found my nearby Benedictine Abbey (Valyermo) to be very open to the East, thanking the good Lord daily...

I consider it my refuge from the questionable...

james

I can't speak for anyone else, but it was my RC priest who encouraged me to look to the EC churches (of course he in no way suggested I look east outside of the Catholic church)

Glad

Dear Friends,

When my parents took me to orientation to my Catholic high school, it was Pascha, one week after the Western Easter.

The principal, a Basilian priest, addressed us and said that he was sorry that he had to schedule orientation on "Eastern Rite Easter" that he knew a group of us celebrated.

However, the notion of holding orientation a week earlier on his Easter would not have occurred to anyone!

While the fact we are a minority is understandable, we EC's also suffer the victimization that tends to be the lot of all minority situations.

Alex

Dear Jakub,

The Benedictines are O.K.

Cheers,

Alex