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Since I have been comming to this fourm I have seen alot of things that are troubleing to me.First it is always a wonder to here of the latin influances in everyones parishes and how it is always tossed around that it has always been there.But others will say that it should be removed.And then they are labled ultra-orthodox.
QUOTE
"12. Because of the way in which Catholics and Orthodox once again concider each other in their relationship to the mystery of the Church and discover each other once again as sister Churches, this form of 'missionary apostolate' described above and which has been called unitism,can no longer be accepted either as a method to be followed nor as a model of the unity our churches are seeking"
(joint international commission for theological dialouge.)
With that being said we are called to return to the traditions of our respective rites before the destructive practices of unatism.Also it is our responceability to create dialog between us and our orthodox brothers.
QUOTE
"...should know and be convinced that they can and should preserve their lawful liturical rites and their established way of life,and that these should not be altered except by the way ofan approprate and organic development.Easterners themselves should honor all these things with the greatest fidelity.Besides they should acquire an even greater knowledge and a more exact use of them.If they have improperly fallen away from them because of circumstances of time or personage,let them take pains to return to their ancestral ways."
(Second Vat Coun. Decree on Eastern Catholic Churches)
With these quotes it should put to rest what our objectives are and we should strive for a return to the traditions of our respective rites.We should also look more towards our Orthodox brothers for an understanding of our faith than the Vatican.
QUOTE
"Rome must not require more from the East with respect to the doctrine of the primacy that had been formulated and was lived in the first millenium"
(Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger)
And to drive the last nail in the coffin I will turn to the Congregation for the Eastern Churches
QUOTE
"..any unnecessary differention between the liturgical books of Eastern Catholic Churches and those of the Orthodox should be avoided.Rather,common editions,in the meassure in which it is possible,are encouraged."
And this is why we need to have Eastern Christain Formation for all who enter the church.

Dear Chad,

Please do not allow yourself to be troubled. We are called upon to trust our Lord, he asks us to do that! The Church is his bride, and he is jealous of her. He will not permit us to suffer anything that is not for our good.

You quote some wonderful documents and teachings to our Church. I think we are obliged to listen to these instructions and do our best to be faithful to the Church's teaching.

Never worry about what people "might think" or about "labels" they might use to be hurtful. It is more important to do the right thing, and follow the teaching of the Gospel, and our spiritual fathers and hierarchs.

Can you give the source of the quote by Cardinal Ratzinger?

Thank you, Father Elias, for another useful quote to print and save. Sometimes things seem to overwhelm us on our pilgrim journey and we need to encourage each other. that you have surely done again today.

BOB

I searched the archives for the "ultra" and "orthodox". Only a four of the many hits pertained to "ultra-orthodox": 1) Orthodox who maintain mono- versus miaphysite to describe Oriental Orthodox; 2) certain converts to Orthodoxy who are ultra-traditionalists within their own church; 3) & 4) chad r's own posts in which he claims to be being lableled as such. As far as I can tell from this search, the labeling issue is a red-herring.

That is why I said that we need to have Eastern Christain Formation even for Adults.
And the quote from Cardinal Ratzinger came from
Principles of Catholic Theology
(San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1987) p199

Nice post Chad R. I agree with what you are saying and appreciate the information how have excerpted. These are important points we Eastern Catholics should consider.

In Christ's Light,

Wm. Der-Ghazarian

The excerpts are great. But discerning their meaning is not a trivial task.

The quote from the apparently late Balamand agreement is an interesting example. This quote has been condensed on this forum to somthing like a flat-out "...uniatism has been condemned...". Notwithstanding Fr. Taft's great essay, which makes the obvious point that there have been so many distinct modes of re-union, that "uniatism" by itself has no meaning, the declaration has been used to cast aspersions on just about any aspect of Greek Catholic practice that one doesn't like ("it's uniate practice and uniatism has been condemned"). Of course the agreement is more specific: it is the missionary activity - trying to convert Orthodox, or trying to forge conversions of local churches, which is sometimes called uniatism - that is acknowledged as a mistake.

The last quote from the "Instructions..." is similarly interesting. Without a clear understanding of the nuances, without a delineation of the meaning of "unnecessary", "the measure in which it is possible", and for that matter "Orthodox" (i.e., which jurisdiction), the sentence has no definite meaning. Which I suppose is just as well. Then people can use it to put metaphorical nails into coffins of whatever it is that they they want to kill and bury.

A last commment on Tradition. An interesting quote from Bishop Tikhon, OCA:
In other words, there is such a thing as "organic development" (as the instruction duly note), and every church, being a living organism, experiences it. Differentiating antiquarianism from appropriate restoration requires research. It is non-trivial. It may lead to some illuminating discussion, some agreement, and some disagreement. Such posts, IMO, would be nice posts.

Dear DJS,
This is a great post. These are the things that we are faced with every day.Sometimes I feel I wish that I had not studied for all these years so that I could enjoy the Church such as a child. We are faced with the daunting task of returning to our roots and with the help of the Trinity I feel that we will prevail.