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I am a Roman Catholic who has been attending the Melkite Divine Liturgy and other services for four years. I have thought about changing Rites formally, but I do not know what is involved. I will talk to my Melkite Pastor, but in the meantime, I thought I would open a discussion here.

What is required for a lay person to change Rites from Roman to Melkite? I imagine there would be a spiritual/internal/personal component as well as a knowledge-based component.

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Unless you are planning to marry and have children, don't bother.

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Stuart's answers (like this one) are often dismissive of canonical issues. This one I understand even less than usual.

The Church is a hierarchical institution where that hierarchy constitutes a spiritual relationship as well. They are clearly reasons for changing rite beyond whether you are planning to get married and have children. (Not to mention that if you want to enter monastic life, or are called to become a cleric.)

On a more concrete level, there are obligations that go with membership in a Church body... on the Friday following Pentecost for example, Latin Rite Christians must abstain from meat (or in the United States do some alternate penance). Byzantine rite Christians are in a fast free week. (This fasting issue would become even more awkward in a Julian calendar Eastern Catholic community.)

There is also the obligation of materially supporting your particular Church.

Seeking a formal transfer of rites (leaving aside cases in which transfer happens during marriage) involves petitioning the bishop into whose jurisdiction you wish to transfer. He then consults with/obtains the consent of the bishop from whose jurisdiction you are transferring. Once permission is granted, the transfer is signed and witnessed and entered into the baptismal regsters.

There are not formal knowledge or spiritual requirements, it's just up to the bishops whether they consent. (Generally, the expectation is that you've practiced as much as possible the rite to which you wish to transfer for a period of several years.)

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What does one call a bus full of canon lawyers on the bottom of a lake?

"A good start."

They create mountains out of molehills, and stumbling blocks for the faithful where none should exist.

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Feel free to address the substance of my comment and the emphasis on spiritual relationship rather than just posting another idiosyncratic take on canon law's importance.

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Originally Posted by StuartK
Unless you are planning to marry and have children, don't bother.

Or plan to serve and be called to Holy Orders in that tradition...let's not forget that one.

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I think the points JBenedict made in his first post above are valid ones. I changed, however, simply because it was important to me personally to have my official status reflect what was in my heart, and what I was already living and practicing.

In my case, neither the Roman nor the Byzantine hierarch who had to sign off on the change knew me personally, nor did they question me beyond the letter I submitted, along with one from my parish priest recommending the change (and don't forget the $50 processing fee!). There was no opposition, and both hierarchs signed the papers.

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I think it is very important to change your church enrollment. This nonsense of only if you plan on having children or taking the mystery of orders in a weak cop out. Why would you even think of habitually going to a different church if you did not want to join it. Remember we are catholic but the Church of Rome and the Melikite Church are two unique bodies. Small "C" catholics are a communion of unique churches whose visible sign of unity it the supreme pontiff. To be a part of a church one needs to submit oneself to the apostolic authority that is the leader of that particular church. It is not easy to change church enrollment. I am currently on month four of trying to get a response from the Latin bishop who is more worried, I personal feel, about when he will get his red hat then he is about his local church.

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Why would you even think of habitually going to a different church if you did not want to join it. Remember we are catholic but the Church of Rome and the Melikite Church are two unique bodies.

I'll simply note that the Fathers would have thought this whole issue absurd. And, of course, they would be right.

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Originally Posted by StuartK
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Why would you even think of habitually going to a different church if you did not want to join it. Remember we are catholic but the Church of Rome and the Melikite Church are two unique bodies.

I'll simply note that the Fathers would have thought this whole issue absurd. And, of course, they would be right.
Because they didn't have overlapping jurisdictions?

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Originally Posted by lmier
It is not easy to change church enrollment. I am currently on month four of trying to get a response from the Latin bishop
frown Sorry to hear that. How long have you been going to an EC parish?

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Quite right. If you were a Greek in Rome, you could go to a Greek church or a Latin church, as made no matter. If you were a Roman in Constantinople, you could go to a Latin church or a Greek church as made no matter. A Greek from Constantinople could go to a church in Alexandria or one in Syria, seamlessly, right down to the Muslim conquest. Ambrose's advice to St. Monica is all that we need: When in Rome, do as Romans do--the corollary, of course, being, when in Greece, do as the Greeks do, in Russia as the Russians do, etc.

Most people don't realize the canonical nit-picking extends not just to the Latin-to-Eastern issue, but even between Eastern Catholic Churches. I had a friend who took care of his granddaughter after her mother died. She had not been given any religious upbringing to that point, so he began taking her to the Ruthenian parish he attended, enrolled her in ECF, and when she was ready, asked for her to be baptized. The Ruthenian bishop, who prided himself on being a "canon lawyer", told my friend his granddaughter could not be baptized in his Ruthenian parish, but would have to travel the Ukrainian parish--in a different state--where my friend had been received into the Catholic Church many years before.

That his granddaughter had NEVER attended that parish did not matter. That she knew nobody there did not matter. That the girl's father had not even been Catholic did not matter. The bishop was implacable. Fed up, my friend took his granddaughter to the Ukrainian parish and got her baptized (I imagine the Ukrainian priest was both surprised and puzzled), and--as one might imagine--ceased attending Liturgy in the Ruthenian Church shortly thereafter.

The whole concept of "canon law" invalidates the authentic Eastern Christian Tradition of oikonomia, and is too frequently used as a rod with which to punish people, rather than as a guide for lifting them into holiness. The Spirit gives life, but the Law kills.

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Ruthenians are always welcome in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church!

(We'd love to have them all . . . ;))

And if you ever get tired of the Melkites, Sir, you are more than welcome yourself!

Alex

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While I prefer to sing in Slavic rather than Byzantine chant, there are certain attractions in the Melkite Church that override that minor defect, including a wonderful absence of any "nationalities" questions, and the presence of a strong sense of self-identity and mission. If you see being Greek Catholic as being "Orthodox in communion with Rome", you will find that sense almost universal in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.

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Originally Posted by StuartK
Quite right. If you were a Greek in Rome, you could go to a Greek church or a Latin church, as made no matter. If you were a Roman in Constantinople, you could go to a Latin church or a Greek church as made no matter. A Greek from Constantinople could go to a church in Alexandria or one in Syria, seamlessly, right down to the Muslim conquest. Ambrose's advice to St. Monica is all that we need: When in Rome, do as Romans do--the corollary, of course, being, when in Greece, do as the Greeks do, in Russia as the Russians do, etc.

Pre-ABI.

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