Eastern Rites QUESTION from Daniel on October 19, 2002 Dear: Br.
You said in order for a roman catholic to transerfer rites to eastern catholicism, you need to petition rome. This how ever is not the case. All you need to do is write a letter listing the spirtual reasons why you wish to transfer rites and send the letter to your local byzantine catholic and roman catholic bishop and they will get back to you with in 2-5months with approval or denial of your request.
ROman Catholics are encouraged to go to eastern rite parishs and if they feel more spirituality at home in the eastern rites then it would be proper to request the change of rites.
Vist : www.byzcath.org, www.east2west.org, www.byzantines.net
from: daniel
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on October 19, 2002 Dear Daniel:
I am sorry, but Canon Law disagrees with you. And Canon Law is the final word here. I have quoted this in my previous post.
The petitioning of East and West Bishops is what the EASTERN Catholics can do to transfer to the Latin Rite and the Holy See's permission is presumed; but not the other way around, according to Canon Law. In the West the Holy See must be petitioned.
Unless you can produce a document that says that the Holy See has delegated this responsibility to the bishops, then the plain and unambiguous words of Canon Law must stand as written.
It is often the case that people disagree with things like this because of what they have seen in their personal experience. But personal experience can be deceiving. For example, it is very possible that the Latin Rite Bishop filed the paperwork with Rome and got permission FOR the person and the person does not even know it.
But one thing is for sure. Canon Law states clearly what is to be done in these cases. Thus unless there is DOCUMENTATION of delegated responsibility there is no way I can advise anyone any differently than what is stated in Canon Law.
Back to Index Page