www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall "Greek Catholic" or "Byzantine Catholic"

This question in my mind was prompted by a current discussion on another forum. As well, my deacon and I have been lone voices in the parish for referring to us as "Greek Catholic" rather than "Byzantine Catholic" but that is less an issue at the moment than my own current status canonically.

My paperwork for change in church sui iuris says my transfer was to the "Russian Byzantine Catholic Church". I didn't think about it at the time. But I now am thinking there is no Russian Byzantine Catholic Church sui iuris. All the other parishes which remain open plus references to our Church in the Catholic Church statistics call the Church the "Russian Greek-Catholic Church".

Ronald Roberson [standrewelsegundo.org], CSP uses the name Russian Greek-Catholic Church when he's talking about our Church sui iuris in documents he produces for the Catholic Church.

The remaining three other Russian EC parishes in America are
St Andrew Russian Greek-Catholic, El Segundo
Ss Cyril & Methodius Russian Byzantine (Greek-Catholic) Community, Denver
St Michael the Archangel Russian Greek-Catholic Chapel, NYC
My parish here on the Find a Parish is called Our Lady of Fatima Byzantine (Russian) Greek-Catholic

Before they closed there were also:
St Michael the Archangel Russian Greek-Catholic Chapel, Boston
Presentation of the Virgin Russian Greek-Catholic, Youville QC Canada

Sometime recently, but prior to my coming to Our Lady of Fatima ECC, the then pastor, and parish, apparently began calling the parish "Our Lady of Fatima Byzantine Catholic Church". That I guess was the parish's prerogative for website and for signage but I don't think that means the Church sui iuris of which we are part is the "Russian Byzantine Catholic Church" as stated in my Attestation for change in canonical status.

I don't think a parish can change the name of the Church sui iuris which it's a part of.

Suggestions?

Yes, not to worry. Russian Greek-Catholic Church describes the Russian Church that serves according to the Byzantine or Constantinoplian Rite. Russian Byzantine Catholic Church does likewise.

Formal names of the Churches sui iuris are not embedded in the Canons and one supposes that the AP usage is the closest one could come to 'official'. However, given the constant vacillation by the Catholic Church in use of terminology (e.g., Oriental vs Eastern, etc, etc, etc ad infinitum), I'd put the wording to the thought process, at that particular moment, of the minutante who drafted the form.

Many years,

Neil

Excellent advice, applicable to most things!

Please, what is "the AP usage"?

I suspect Neil is referring to Annuario Pontificio [en.wikipedia.org], the official papal yearbook.

AP stands for Annuario Pontificio.

I am found of the term United Orthodox myself, which is what we were called before the Empress Maria Theresa coined the term Greek Catholic.

The late, lamented Russian Catholic Parish in Boston was under the title Our Lady of Kazan.

Also, to the best of my knowledge St. Michael's in NYC was alwats known as simply St. Michael's Russian Catholic Chapel. The community styles itself The Community of the Holy Archangel Michael.

'was' and 'always' ; that'll teach me to type an e-mail during Happy Hour -- I mean, Holy Hour!

Thank you.
Can you tell me where in the AP I would find our Church mentioned?

There is an Associated Press "stylebook," which is a reference bible for most professional news organizations. But I don't think either term is in it (I don't have one at hand). I think the closest they may come is "Eastern Rite".

In addition, local newspapers would have their own local style book, which would fill in the gaps that AP doesn't fill. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is consistent in its use of Byzantine Catholic.

Oye veh!

Maybe what I'm asking doesn't make sense to anyone else. I worship in a parish and there are 3 others in the US and a number of closed parishes, and our grandparents likewise in Harbin, which are parishes of a Church. Our Church was Russian Orthodox and then we came into Communion with the Catholic Church. Is there no one name for our Church, apart from the variations we have in use in parishes?

For example, Holy Wisdom in Sacramento calls itself "Holy Wisdom Eastern Catholic Parish" but it knows that it is in the UGCC, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, not the Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church or the Ukrainian Eastern Catholic Church, etc. All the parishes in the UGCC know they are in the UGCC. That's the name of their Church.

What about this? from http://rumkatkilise.org/necplus.htm

"Nec Plus, Nec Minus, Nec Aliter:
A Brief History of the Russian Byzantine Catholic
Church and the Russian Catholics"

By Reader Methodios Stadnik

Copyright, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005 All Rights Reserved.
(This is an abridged version of a more detailed work in progress)

The following is a brief summary of the history of the Russian Byzantine Catholic Church. For more detailed information, please consult the works listed in the Select Bibliography at the end of this history.

(An introductory note on terminology-- We tend to describe ourselves using a shorthand reference as Russian Catholics and we refer to our church as the Russian Catholic Church. Properly speaking, we should refer to ourselves as Russian Orthodox who are in communion with the Church of Rome, because we are Orthodox in our entire liturgical and spiritual practice according to Holy Tradition of the Byzantine Church and the spiritual traditions of Russian Orthodox Church. The liturgical and spiritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church and of some of its sister churches may be referred to more generally as the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite, i.e., the Byzantine liturgical and spiritual tradition as received by and adapted to the needs and use of the Slavic peoples. For purposes of the following essay on the history of our church we shall refer to it as the Russian Byzantine Catholic Church and to the members thereof as Russian Catholics.)

I think his "introductory note on terminology" indicates the lack of a specific name for the Church as far as he is aware. For the purposes of this article he says he will call it "the Russian Byzantine Catholic Church".


P.S. I do know this article, which is certainly interesting. It's one of those linked to on our parish website in the "Russian Catholicism" section.

The dusty Roman books would probably call you something like the "Catholic Church sui iuris in Rutenis Ritus Graeci" (sui iuris Catholic Church of the Greek Rite for the Russians). But that's not something anyone would dare put on a sign in front of a temple. "Russian Greek Catholic" or "Russian Byzantine Catholic" both work just fine. Choose whichever you prefer. Don't forget that in the days of old they didn't really use such terms at all. They belonged to "Dormition Church" or "St. George the Great-Martyr Church". That was enough.