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Joined: Feb 2005
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Some of you have probably observed (if your experiences are anything like mine) that some people who talk a lot about Eastern Catholics will basically never say "Eastern Catholics". That is, they'll always say "Eastern-Rite Catholics".
I'd like to do an informal survey about the latter term. Do you, for example, see it as a term that shouldn't ever be used? Or do you think that "Eastern-Rite Catholics" is sometimes appropriate? Or always appropriate? And why?
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"Eastern-Rite" should never be used. One could say Western Rite or Latin Rite, and still include Anglican use, modern RC, 1962, Ambrosian, Carthusian, Dominican, Gallic, or what have you, since it all of those are related and a recognizable family. There is no such single "Eastern Rite". You have the Greek or Byzantine, Syriac (East and West), Coptic and the related Ethiopian, Assyrian and so on. They really aren't that closely related, so you cannot really talk about a monolithic Eastern-Rite. Such terminology is rooted in an un-nuanced understanding of the various Churches and their liturgies.
In Christ,
Adam
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Hi Adam. I guess I never thought about that particular objection before, but it makes sense: I can see how people could hear "Eastern-Rite Catholics" and think "Catholics of the Eastern Rite" (singular).
I'm not sure if that's the strongest objection there is, but I'll keep it in mind.
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I've used various terms in my conversations and discussions....Eastern Catholic, Byzantine, Byzantine Catholic, Eastern Lung, Eastern Rite, Eastern ritual, Eastern Tradition, etc.
It depends on the context and the awareness of the person to whom you're talking.
Christ is risen!
Deacon Paul
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I avoid Eastern Rite for pretty much the reasons that Adam has raised. If I'm speaking strictly of those who serve according to the Rites of Byzantium, I'll use 'Eastern Catholics'. Most often, I speak of 'Eastern and Oriental Catholics'.
Many years,
Neil
"One day all our ethnic traits ... will have disappeared. Time itself is seeing to this. And so we can not think of our communities as ethnic parishes, ... unless we wish to assure the death of our community."
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Of course, the best term is "Orthodox Catholic."
It leaves RC's with no misapprehension at all, at least in my experience.
The problem with "Eastern Rite" is that many "Eastern Rite" Catholic parishes may have so many Latinizations so as to make them virtually a "Western Usage" in the eyes of visitors.
"Orthodox Catholic" as Eugene Ivankiw of Chicago once wrote, maintains a clearer focus on the heritage of Orthodoxy.
Alex
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