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And we have not touched upon the the Ukrainian Catholics of the Latin Rite centered in Lviv under its Archbishop, Marian Cardinal Jaworski, numbering between 900,000 to 1 million, who just go about their own ways "silently" and seemingly impervious to the internal extramulars among their Orthdox brethren.

Amado

CIX!

I thought that the leader of the 'Ukrainian Catholics of the Latin Rite' was Protoarchimandrite Basil Koubetch, OSBM.

Edward

Dear Edward:

No, the Protoarchimandrite could be the "leader" of the "latinized" Ukrainian Greek Catholics, especially those in Canada! :p

The Ukrainian Latins are a different breed!

Amado

(Slightly off-topic, but...)

Dear Ghosty,

If you're family's Oriental Orthodox, and if you're Catholic, then, according to canon law, you might be an eastern Catholic yourself!

Canon law says: If your father is eastern Catholic (or your mother, if your father isn't catholic at all), and you're catholic, then you're by definition in the same sui juris Church as your father (or mother, in that case). I was raised as a Latin Catholic, but I was overjoyed to discover, a few years ago, that, due to the simple fact that my father is a Syro-Malabar Catholic, I am a Syro-Malabar Catholic -- regardless of the fact that I was baptized, had my first communion, had my first reconciliation, and was confirmed in the Latin rite.

And I am almost certain canon law also says: If an Eastern Christian converts to Catholicism, then they automatically become a member of the sui juris Church that corresponds to the Church from which the person converted. As an example, if your dad is Coptic Orthodox, and if he converts to Catholicism, even if he goes through RCIA and does the whole thing at a Latin-rite Easter Vigil, he is now a Coptic Catholic, unless he explicitly chooses to be a Latin Catholic.

What I don't know: If your parents are Oriental Orthodox, but raised you as a Latin Catholic while remaining Oriental Orthodox themselves, does canon law say you are an eastern Catholic or a Latin Catholic? Or, if your father is an Oriental Orthodox and your mother is a Latin Catholic, and you were raised as a Catholic, are you a Latin Catholic or an eastern Catholic?

If you don't mind telling us more of your family background, I'd love to hear...


Very excited on your behalf,
Alex

Alas, I am a convert to the Catholic Church from atheism, and mother who raised me was not a "practicing" anything. My father's side is Irish Catholic, but he too was not really practicing and died when I was young.

My mother's family is Armenian, and most of her cousins are Oriental Orthodox. Oddly, however, some of her uncles were Baptised in Armenian Catholic churches, and among my family there is almost no gap between the two Communions. Do you know if this is common among Armenians? In fact, we don't even know if our ancestors back in the homeland were Orthodox or Catholic, as the Genocide erased all records, and when the survivors migrated to the U.S. they seem to have gone to both Armenian Catholic and Armenian Orthodox churches interchangibly. The majority of my relatives are Armenian Orthodox, but that's practically by default given the fact that the Armenian Orthodox parishes are more numerous.

I've gotten the impression that the "uniate problem" is far less pronounced among the Oriental Orthodox/Catholics than it can be among the Byzantines. I also know many Ethiopians, and the relationship they've described between Ethiopian Catholics and Orthodox is also rather similar to my family experience, where the difference between "Armenian Orthodox" and "Armenian Catholic" seems to go as deep as the name on the parish building one regularily attends :p

My understanding of my Canonical status is that I'm definately Latin Catholic, as I was baptised in that Church and not raised by practicing Eastern anythings, but that an application for Ritual Transfer would be almost a rubber-stamp matter, given my family background. Unfortunately I haven't pursued that idea much yet since there isn't much of an Armenian community in my current area. Right now I'm just beginning to look more deeply into the Armenian religious traditions, having been seperated from them in my immediate family.

I always keep the Armenian identity, ethnically speaking, very close to my heart though. I have an Armenian-style Cross (anyone who's seen one knows what I mean) tattooed on my back, and I keep the only surviving heirloom of my family from our homeland, a small Armenian bible carried by my great-great grandmother as she escaped with her surviving children to America. I'm definately interested in pursuing the study of Christianity from an Armenian perspective, and your words have encouraged me even more. I've just gotta do more research

Sorry to continue the Off-topic discussion! Perhaps we should continue in PMs :p

Peace and God's Love!