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Tony,

The following quote is from http://www.cnewa.org/ecc-catholiceastern.htm

Notice the last sentence and count the Churches listed. Including the Georgian Church, the total adds up to 22 Churches. Thus, it seems that the Georgian Church is one of the 22 sui iuris Catholic Churches.

ChristTeen287

Dear ChristTeen287,

Plus Rome it would be 23 then all together.

It is interesting that three Churches without hierarchy can be sui iuris. It is also curious that while Hungary and Slovakia are mentioned Mukachevo-Uzhhorod is not. Oh well!

Thanks for the link!

Tony

Good catch. Mukachevo is mentioned under the subheading "Ruthenian" but not here. My guess is that this is because it is currently seems to have irregular status (technically located within Ukraine but not part of the Ukr synod). I'll pass the question on to the author.

Greetings again.

The list I posted totals 22 sui iuris Churches, but a Georgian Church is not among them. There is no listing for a Georgian Greek Catholic Church and it would not be considered a sui iuris Church - no hierarchy and no eparchies or exarchates. The only Catholic jurisdiction in the Republic of Georgia is an apostolic administration of the Latin rite and, if my memory serves me well, its bishop is apostolic visitor for the Chaldean Catholics in Georgia.

As the Administrator mentioned, Mukachevo is listed under the Ruthenian Church in the Annuario`s list. The full list of jurisdictions for the Ruthenian Church (from the list) includes the Pittsburgh Metropolitan See, the 3 suffragan eparchies of Parma, Passaic, and Van Nuys, the Eparchy of Mukachevo, and the Apostolic Exarchate in the Czech Republic.

While the Russian Church has no bishops, it does have, at least on paper, two exarchates: Russia and Harbin.

The Belarusian Church has no eparchy or exarchate, but it does have an apostolic visitor who, I believe, resides in London. One of the previous visitors (1983-1986+)was Bishop Vladimir Tarasevitch, O.S.B., who resided in the U.S. He was consecrated bishop in St. Nicholas Cathedral in Chicago by Bishop Innocent H. Lotocky, O.S.B.M., assisted by then Bishop Daniel W. Kucera, O.S.B. (Salina), and Bishop Emil John Mihalik of Parma.

Peace,

Charles

Kyr Ivan Semedi of Uzhorod was a voting member of the Ukrainian Catholic Synod. Whether or not they identified themselves as Ukrainian is an ethnic question, not ecclesial.

They need a definitive list on the internet! Maybe with an impramatur or something.

ChristTeen287

A lot of this information is available on-line, at this link:
http://www.katolsk.no/

From the official web-site of the UGCC (2003):

http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bkabashi.html

From what is read here, and what I knew before, Mgr Habashi comes from Albanian-Montenegrin background, where the Latin Rite predominates. He is definately a Bishop from the Latin Rite and the Apostolic Administration of South Albania takes care of the tiny community of Northern Albanians who live there. (Albanian Christians from the South are Orthodox; and those from the North, Kosova and Montenegro are Latin Catholic).

Someone wrote here that there was a byzantine-rite parish in Elbasan, but that this parish is currently inactive and that in fact, the Albanian Greek Catholic Church doesn't exist anymore.

Good evening Remie,

The information on the hyperlink -

http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bkabashi.html

- is incorrect.

The Apostolic Administration of Southern Albania is for Byzantine Catholics. Bishop Kabashi is not a Latin rite bishop. When Bishop Kabashi was consecrated, he wore Byzantine vestments (I have seen a photo of him at his consecration) and the source which I noted in my post, the Annuario Pontificio, is the Holy See`s yearbook. It is specific that this administration is for Byzantine Catholics. It is true that most of the Catholics who live in this region are Latin rite. The administration has 14 parishes, 3 diocesan and 11 religious order priests, and 2,655 Catholics.

Peace,

Charles

Charles:

Thank you for the clarification, I guess that other members of the forum will be happy to see this.

But I have another question. If the Administration is Byzantine, are those 2,655 members and the 14 parishes that are listed there, from the byzantine rite? Or is it that the Admninistration also takes care of the Latin Rite faithful, and those parishes and priests are latin?

I'd like to know more about the background of the Bishop, is he originally an Albanian Byzantine Catholic? if he is byzantine, why does it say he was from the Orde des Fr�res mineurs?

here some links:

http://www.telpress.it/ata/1997%5Cjan_97%5Chdarch20.htm#06

Here it says that the one who is an Arberesh, is Mgr. Massafra, while Mgr. Kabashi is a Catholic from Kosova. This is why Im a little bit confused, cause the diocese of Skodra is sure a Latin one, and I thought that the Arberesh were the Italo-Albanians from the byzantine rite, and not from the Latin Rite; and those of Kosovar origin were all Latin.

djs, the sui iuris status of Mukachevo-Uzhorod did not keep Kyr Ivan (Semedi) from frequently being present in an official capacity at synodal gatherings of the UGCC. "Not subordinated to the head of the UGCC" doesn't mean there is no mutual ecclesial relations between the UGCC and Uzhorod/Mukachevo, nor that the bishop of Uzhorod can't be closely involved in synodal activities of the UGCC.

If that eparchy wants to continue to be subject directly to Rome for higher ecclesial authority, including the selection and consecration of their bishops, that is certainly their call. Perhaps they should also request the UGCC omit the clergy of Uzhorod from the UGCC directory as well.

There are some students at the L'viv Theological Academy (now the Ukrainian Catholic University) from the Eparchy of Uzhorod. Kyr Ivan Margitych ordained several priests for the UGCC during his tenure. So there is no ecclesial "wall" between L'viv and Uzhorod, not to ignore local or regional ethnic tensions.

We Greek Catholics really don't have a right to accuse the Orthodox of jurisdictionalism. We have our own brand. There is a lesson to be learned about the possibilities and strengths of a united patriarchate with the example of the Melkites, which includes a faithful adherence to particularity and authentic Eastern Christian witness.

Similarly, IMO, mutual ecclesial relations with other particular churches, including the Rome, doesn't imply subordination, however much some aim to infer it, nor does such contact necessitate construction of an ecclesiatical "wall".

Whatever. You seem very "particular" when it comes to Rome, but seem rather indifferent, or even derisive, about the individual particularilty of the sui iuris churches centered in Mukachevo ("that eparchy", as you say) or in Presov (surmised from the consecration/enthronement thread). If you were to consider the differences in the ecclesiatical situations in Presov or Mukachevo versus L'viv or Kyiv, then you might appreciate, without irony, the prudence of "their call".

You have strongly held opinions about the manner in which the churches in Presov and Mukachevo should conduct their affairs, in order to express their particularity. The irony of this perspective seems lost on you.

First, I don't accuse the Orthodox of jurisdictionalism. In the US, this is largely an unresolved but probably transient phenomenon that has stemmed from the immigrant experience - evangelical Orthodox jumping from AP to JP is an exceptional case. (In fact I see it as a "safety valve" that helped to prevent more serious, communion-breaking rifts during the immigrant experience.) The situation in Eastern Europe, however, is vastly different. Does a Bulgarian Church in Bulgaria and a Serbian church in Serbia represent jurisdictionalism? Is the situation of Greek Catholic churches in Eastern Europe similar?

Dear Diak,

". . .the example of the Melkites . .."

Yes, I particularly like their Feast of the Body of Christ or Corpus Christi!

It wasn't an imposed Latinization - they did it all by themselves.

(Alex, stop that now . . .)

Have a great day!

Alex