Originally posted by Mateusz:
yes i am Roman Catholic, the priest at the byzantine church i am attending has been helping me so far, and said i dont need to tell the latin diocese i am currently in anything as of yet. so far ive been a member of a byzantine parish for several months and sent in my letter asking for a change of rite along with my baptismal and confirmation certificates. now i suppose i am waiting for a response.
Mateusz,
I'm copying here excerpts from a post that I made on another forum here recently, when someone raised a similar issue to the one you've posted/
"A Change of Rite or Canonical Enrollment (the term in the new Code) is intended to be a 'once in a lifetime' event - not necessarily a bad thing.
Changing rites or canonical enrollment is a decision that should not be lightly made. For many, it is not only a change of parish and rite, but also a whole process of inculturation, particularly given the ethnicity of our parishes. We tend to be a 'family', I firmly believe that is much more so than our Latin brothers and sisters. But 'family' is more than liking the pirohi, the fataya, or the lahmajun at the annual food fair weekend. Anyone intending to make a change should feel certain that they feel comfortable not only with the spirituality, but with the community with whom they will share and explore and develop that spirituality. You are often entering into a community whose ties to one another stretch back generations - sometimes back to a single village in the Levant, the Ukraine, or elsewhere. Our parishes are either very welcoming to outsiders who come among us or incredibly closed - there is no in-between. (And we need, so very badly, to be welcoming - 30+ years ago I heard my new Exarch, Archbishop Joseph Tawil, of blessed memory, warn that the seemingly conflicting dangers to our continued existence were assimilation and a ghetto mentality. The truth of that statement has not changed.)"
That said, let me talk about your personal situation. The process of a Change of Canonical Enrollment involves a request to the Ordinary of the candidate's current Church and to that of the Church into which he or she seeks to be received.
There is an unwritten (as far as I know) rule that one should spend a minimum of a year involved with the Church into which one seeks to be received, prior to applying for a Change of Canonical Enrollment. There is nothing magical about a year, it just provides an opportunity for one to be certain about his/her choice and for the pastor of the parish to come to know him/her and feel a level of confidence in the reason(s) for the decision - e.g., that there is more involved than just church-shopping or thinking that the crowning ceremony is 'cool', etc.
If you have only been involved for a matter of months, you likely need to spend a bit more time.
I have a suspicion that your pastor's comment that there is nothing to notify the Latin bishop of, is his way of saying that the time to request a change has not yet come - is not yet right. If so, he should explain that more clearly or be more forthright.
Believe me, it is important to be sure before you make the change. Use the time well, to learn more about the Eastern Churches, particularly the one into which you seek reception.
Many years,
Neil
