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Glory to Jesus Christ!

I'm new to this forum and I'm not sure if this is there proper place for this discussion. I'm a Roman Catholic and I desire to change rites and become Byzantine Catholic. Can someone please explain the process of how this works and what on my part would need to be done?

Thank you!

I am going through this processes right now. The first thing I did was develop a relationship with my new pastor. He has been guiding me with both the spiritual guidance and the technical paper work. Second get a copy of all you sacramental records from your Latin Parish. Third start to form a letter in your mind or journal (Diary) on why you are doing the change. I have already sent this letter to my Latin Bishop and he wrote me back for clarifications on why I want to change, it helps to have your thoughts in writing. The Latin bishop also would like me to go through one complete liturgical year in the Ukrainian Church, before asking for the change. Lastly be patient the wheels do not turn quickly. I have been in the formal change process for six months now. There also seems to be some questions on whether or not the Papal Nuncio's office needs to be involved since the Latin Canon Law still states you need permission from the Holy See. All and all keep faith that God's will be done.

Slava Isusu Christu!!

My wife and I initiated the change of rite from the Latin Rite to the Ukrainian Catholic Church in 1977. We were what you would call lapsed Catholics, we had no parish affiliation. We had moved from Scranton, PA to Toledo, OH for work. We never joined a parish when we moved. While living in Pennsylvania we had been exploring the both Russian Orthodoxy and the UGCC. We had lived in the Toledo area about five years without any church affiliation. Well, lo and behold as happens in most marriages I impregnated my wife; as the pregnancy was moving along we desired to have our child bapltized and chrismated in the UGCC. At that time we were living in the environs of Toledo, Ohio. The locale had two Byzantine Rite parishes; there were a Ukrainian Catholic parish and a Hungarian Ruthenian Byzantine parish. We had chosen the Ukraninan church and made an appointment with the pastor who was Fr. Paul Guthrie, ofm of Blessed Memory. We explained our situation and our desire to have our child baptized. We also informed Fr. Paul that we were exploring Orthodoxy as well. We then started attending liturgy on a very regular basis, in fact, Fr. Paul handed me a missal and gave me the Troopar, Kondak, Prokiemen, and Epistle which he requested that I read aloud. Fr. Paul had indicated that we would have to request a change of Rite from the Holy See. We initiated a letter to the Most Holy Father requesting a change of rite. We listed as one of the reasons for requesting the change was a more complete worship was experienced from the Byzantine liturgy than the Roman liturgy. We were contacted by a priest from the Diocese of Toledo asking what parish we had belonged to, I informed him that we were not affiliated with any parish in the Toledo Diocese. Nor were we affiliated with any parish in the Scranton Diocese either. He indicated to me that he did not see a problem and he would pass our request along with a recommendation that it allowed. I'm not sure what would have happened if we were affiliated with a parish in Toledo.

My wife, Marie, and I dove headlong into the life of the parish. We were fully accepted by other parishioners and integrated into the parish. It took approximately a year for the approval of our request. We became very close friends with Fr. Paul throughout the remainder of his life. He baptized and Chrismated each of our three children. Fr. Paul was great friend and is sorely missed as other members of this forum know.

Although we live in an area without any UGCC parishes, we do have access to a Greek Orthodox about 60 miles south in Pocatello; there is also a Serbian Orthodox Church in Butte, MT about 230 miles to the north. Attending liturgy for us is a real treat.

I'm not sure if the process to change rites is any more difficult today. We have not regretted changing rites for one second. Join a parish and jump into the life of the parish.

Looking into the process here, too. Was a long time Latin Rite with a family in a long-standing parishionership, if that's even a word, with a RC Parish...but having experienced and regularly attended Vespers, Matins, Divine Liturgies of all flavors, St. Basil's DL, St. John Chrysostom DL, and Presanctified DLs, etc... So I'm sure that if I'm doing that, I'm ready to join as a parishioner with the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Eparchy of Parma, and eventually have my Rite converted to Ruthenian Byzantine myself. So I'm definitely in the same boat. And at the Cathedral level, since you have the Bishop as well as an Archpriest, and two deacons, yeah, it should be quite easy and quick to have my Rite converted.

I made the change several years (12 just about). My wife had converted from Protestantism to Byzantine Catholic. Since that was the case, I didn't have to appeal to Rome, but write a letter declaring the change was of free will, witnessed and signed, and the change entered into the parish books. It was an exercise of canon law that allows a person to follow the rite of his or her spouse.

In Christ,
Adam

Well...I'd say that appealing to Rome shouldn't be much trouble. Considering that Pope Francis had an Eastern Rite background, and had to canonically convert before entering the Cardinate himself to become Pope, he should know the process, and he might be able to approve the changes without any trouble. I'm sure he's open to having more ECCs evangelize, and encouraging those that want to become Byzantine Rite from Latin Rite to do so.

I switched churches about 8 years ago, mine only took two or three months. I had been a member of the parish for a year before the pastor would let me officially request the transfer. I think that was more of a formality, I had been attending various Byzantine rite churches, Catholic and Orthodox, for three years prior to my transfer. No appeal to Rome was necessary. Just the Latin and Melkite bishops.

8IronBob

I'm still waiting for an answer on the other thread - so I'll repeat it here.

Just where - I mean reference please - did you get this Information that His Holiness was Eastern Catholic ?

Indeed. An incredible claim considering he's a Jesuit with Italian parents.

Well, with his background with the UGCC, and his serving along side Patriarch Sviatoslav at the time when they were both still in Argentina.

He wasn't Eastern Catholic. He was a Roman bishop in the same town as a Ukrainian one, and had close contact with Ukrainian Catholic clergy, including apparently in the time before they had their own local ordinary.

Why is it necessary to "change rite" when all you have to do is keep going to the new church and no one asks for your pedegree. Never been asked in any Orthodox church OCA, ROCOR, Antiochian nor in any BC church. Wonder if there was a "change of rite" when my "magyarone" grandparents immigrated from Slovakia and decided they would be Hungarian Catholics?

Not ignoring Luke's question about the 'why', but my time tonight is very limited and I want to address the OP's query with a bit more detail and up-to-date info and dispel a couple of erroneous ideas that were voiced.

First off, the formal term for requesting a change is a petition or request for transfer of canonical enrollment. And, before anyone raises the oft-repeated but erroneous belief, it is not something that can only be done once in a lifetime. But, for what I consider blatantly obvious reasons, the likelihood of a second such petition (or reversal of same) being considered is very slim. I won't claim that it has never been accomplished, but it is extraordinarily rare, as it suggests a spiritual flightiness or church-shopping mentality that isn't about to be entertained lightly and would require some truly significant justification. (Albeit there are likely some cases in which an Eastern hierarch would be more than happy to revert some former Latin malcontent back to his Church of origin.)

Except in rare instances, there is no longer any requirement in the Latin Code for the Papal Nuncio to be involved nor is any action by Rome required. That has not been the case for about 3 decades now. Any Latin diocese that still thinks that there is such a requirement needs to get a better and more up-to-date canonist on staff.

(Imier, I can't imagine that any canonist in the Detroit Latin Archdiocese believes this. EC/OC parishes are well-represented within its geographic bounds and the historic relationship there between the Latin and Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox, is very healthy. [See a YouTube video on Metropolitan Kallistos Ware's invited visit to the Latin seminary there.] Otoh, I think the request that you defer any request until you've spent a year participating with the UGCC parish to be very reasonable and I would even think two years to be so.)

It is absolutely clear in both sets of Canons that Rome has delegated the permission that it formerly exercised through the Nuncio/Apostolic Delegate to the hierarchs involved. In other words, the permission of Rome is presumed in the consent of the Latin and Eastern hierarchs who would, respectively, lose and gain canonical jurisdiction of the individual.

Typically, the petitioner should have been involved with a parish of the Church to which he seeks enrollment for a period of at least a year, two years is better, and some Eastern jurisdictions impose a requirement of two or even three years as a minumum - so as to be assured that this is not a whim. I'd frankly be surprised if most Latin or Eastern hierarchs seriously considered assenting before two years had passed.

A petitioner should develop a relationship with a priest/pastor of the Church to which he seeks to be transferred. The priest's impressions and recommendation may factor heavily in the decision of the bishop who likely does not know the individual.

You should be prepared to state, in writing, to the two hierarchs the reasons why you believe that your spiritual life would be enriched/best served in the Church to which you seek transfer. The reasons should be meaningful and reflect that your spiritual journey is predicated on something other than liking the food festival, the culture, or the 'smells and bells' of Eastern or Oriental liturgical praxis.

You cannot be running FROM Rome or the Novus Ordo - that will not fly. If you are running anywhere, you need to be running TO the East, finding a spiritual fulfillment met that has eluded you, a reaffirmation of your spirituality. If you can offer concrete examples, so much the better.

Bad-mouthing the Latin Church or its liturgical praxis or music will absolutely assure denial of the petition, as will a statement that you are married but have decided that you have a priestly calling that can only be fulfilled by becoming Byzantine/Coptic/Syriac/Armenian or whatever. Likewise, threatening that, if the petition is not granted, you will become Orthodox, is a sure way to be denied.

These may seem a bit obvious and blunt but I've heard all of them voiced, so I guess it's time to be very clear on them.

Questions?

Many years,

Neil

You might switch if you were getting married, ordained, or if a baby were arriving. Or if, like me, you were canonically on the Gregorian calendar and attending a Julian church, and troubled by the way the obligations of the one butted up against the liturgical cycle of the other, for instance.

As Neil has stated, the Nuncio is no longer involved. For many of us in the U.S. who changed under the old law, we received our letters from the Pro-Nuncio in Washington. Now you simply write to the bishop you wished to be accepted under, and copy the Latin bishop you wish to be released from. Canon Law itself presumes the consent of the Holy See if it is for spiritual benefit of the soul and there are no impediments (usually this is am unresolved vow of clergy or religious binding to the Latin Church).

The OP would write a letter to +Richard in Chicago, copying the Latin Archbishop of Detroit. We have done a number of these in Detroit, and this should not be a difficult task. The "one yar" and even more frequently "two year rule" while not written rules are often used, namely the bishop wants to see a two-year track record of living through the liturgical year and being active in parish participation affirmed by the parish priest.