www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall PLURAL CATHOLIC IDENTITIES

Shlomo Lkhoolkhoon,
Here is another great article from Fr. Salim. Read and enjoy.

Poosh BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

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Fr. Anthony J. Salim

Get over it! There is no such thing as a single "Catholic Identity." That is, if by this one means a monolithic form of Catholic expression that is recognized as uniform all over the world. There is not one single Catholic Identity today. There never was merely one Catholic expression�despite centuries during the second Millennium when some in Rome tried to promote this fiction. There never was merely one way of being Catholic from the beginning years of Christianity's missionary expansion.

This article will attempt to show that when one takes seriously the role in the Church of the Eastern Churches�Catholic and Orthodox�one must inevitably come to the conclusion that not only ought one to speak of Catholic Identities (in the plural) but that it is proper to do so. Further, the sooner that Catholics realize this basic fact the better we will be equipped to deal with the reality of a wonderfully diverse Church, and the sooner we can bring this knowledge to bear on our already developed ecumenical understandings. And, finally, the better we can pray the more earnestly for God to reveal more clearly the unity that already exists in the Church, East and West.

Historical Background

The Worldwide Catholic Church is a Communion of 22 self-governing (autonomous) Churches, deriving from 6 Traditions, Eastern and Latin (Western). How did this come to be?

The Catholic Church was born in the East In the Great Commissioning (Mt 28:16-29) the Apostles and Disciples were to go out to the whole world and baptize in the Name of the Trinity. Their travels took them all around the Mediterranean, notably to Antioch (Peter and Paul), Alexandria (St. Mark) and Rome (Peter and Paul). They also went further east: to the Middle East�Mesopotamia (the Assyrian "Church of the East," in Edessa and Nisibis); Armenia (from Cappadocia); and to the Far East�St. Thomas to the Kerala Coast of India�and even to China.

The East became even more prominent with the establishment by Constantine of "New Rome" (Roma Nova), i.e., Constantinople, in 330 A.D. Originally one of two Romes governing the vast Imperial Empire, by the 6* century Constantinople became the sole political seat of the Empire with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in Ravenna in 576 A.D,

In 313 A.D. Christianity had been liberated from ridicule and persecution by the so-called "Edict of Milan." In 380 the Emperor Theodosius made it the state religion of the Empire. From this time on Catholicism in Constantinople (formerly named Byzantion) and its areas of missionary activity (eventually even into Russia) was known as "Byzantine."

Other Traditions (mentioned above), originating in prominent cities and areas of the Empire, and different from the Byzantine Tradition, also flourished.

Eventually, from these five Eastern Traditions (West Syrian Antiochene, Alexandrine, Constantinopolitan-Byzantine, Armenian, and East Syrian Chaldean) 21 self-governing Catholic Churches were formed. These have their own liturgical systems, hierarchies, languages, customs, lectionaries, theologies and spiritualities, with overlapping in common groupings.

The canon law of the Eastern Churches refers to these individual Churches as "Churches sui iuris" (from the Latin words meaning "in its own right"). The Latin Church is today the largest Church sui iuris. Thus, counting the Latin Church, the total number of autonomous Catholic Churches that make up the Catholic Communion of Churches, East and West, is 22.

All these Eastern Catholic Churches are in communion with one another and each Eastern Catholic Church is in communion with the See of Rome.

Although sad, and too long a story to tell here, the history of the Christian Churches in the East, (like the Western Churches after the Reformation) is marked by divisions due to heresy and/or schism. Notably in the 4th/5th centuries, and then again notably in the 11th century, the Catholic Church was torn asunder. Soon after the mutual excommunications between Rome and Constantinople in 1054 A.D., relations between the two ecclesiastical Sees, already formerly strained, broke down rapidly. The inability to agree on issues led to the eventual recognition on the part of the Byzantine Christian Church of themselves as the Eastern "Orthodox" Church. Thus, there were many Christians who found themselves eventually out of communion with the See of Rome.

With the work of western missionaries in me 16th, 17th, even 18th centuries, many Eastern Christian groups decided to rebuild the bonds of communion with Rome. The majority of communities who reestablished communion with Rome became known as the "Eastern Catholic Churches." There are two exceptions to this scenario. The Syriac-Maronite Catholic Church of Antioch and the Italo-Albanian Byzantine Greek Catholic Church both claim never to have broken communion with Rome.

Latinization: a Weakening of Eastern Identity

All Eastern Catholic Churches, once separated or never separated, paid a great price for their relationship to Rome during those centuries. In the late Middle Ages and period of the Renaissance, Christianity saw a sorely misconceived notion on the part of some in the Latin Church that "Catholic" meant Roman Catholic. The process was in our times coined "latinization." For the East, this meant the wrongful imposition on them of all kinds of things Roman Catholic. While many suffered from this, perhaps no Catholic Church suffered more that the Syro-Malabars of India at the hands of Portuguese missionaries.

This had not always been the case. In the formative years of the liturgical Traditions of the Church�especially between the two Romes, but also between them and the other Traditions�there was more borrowing from each other. Early Armenian Tradition is a good example of this. Or witness the magnificent Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna or in the ceiling of the baptistery of the Duomo in Florence. Yet after the initial period, the liturgical traditions became more set, more identifiable as particular liturgical traditions. Everybody knows the adage, "When in Constantinople, do as the Byzantines do."

"It's Getting Better All the Time"

Even before the Second Vatican Council this detrimental trajectory had begun to be reversed. One can follow a burgeoning trail of Vatican documents that begins to establish a new trajectory of support for the East. Scholars and historians report that even during the last eras of imposed latinization�largely by members of the Curia and by the various missionary religious orders�papal voices were heard defending the rights of the Eastern Catholic Churches to maintain their distinctness, and not merely liturgically. Twentieth-century popes have actually been solicitous for the Eastern Churches, especially Blessed John XXIII as well as the current Pontiff, John Paul II. Blessed John had served many years in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), and he developed a sympathy and fondness for Eastern Christianity. He challenged the Eastern Catholic Churches to "become what you are." This advice is enshrined in one of the 16 documents of Vatican II, whose subject is the Eastern Catholic Churches. Called Orientalium Ecclesiarum, it stated:

All members of the Eastern Rites should know and be convinced that they can and should always preserve their legitimate liturgical rites and their established way of life, and that these may not be altered except to obtain for themselves an organic improvement. The members of the Eastern Rites themselves, then, must observe all these. Besides, they should attain to an ever-greater knowledge and a more exact use of them, and, if in their regard they have fallen short owing to contingencies of times and persons, they should take steps to return to their ancestral traditions (OE 6a).

Thus, with the Council any thought of latinization officially ended, on paper at least. Further, the document stressed the essential equality of all the Churches, East and West Since that is so, we must understand that if the Churches are of equal status, so are the many expressions, or identities, of Catholicism that characterize their ways of Christian living.

The ties that bind versus the way we express them

If what has been said above is true, is there any such thing as an essential Catholic identity? Again, the answer is Yes and No.

There are in fact three elements common to all Catholics. These are:

A basic set of doctrinal beliefs, revealed by God, based in Sacred Scripture and interpreted by the Church's Magisterium,
Chief among these is recognition of the Church's sacramental theology and life, and expressed in seven Holy Mysteries (Western term: "Sacraments").
A hierarchical ordering of Church administration, in which the Bishop of the Apostolic See (Western term: "Holy See") of Rome exercises the ancient Petrine Ministry in communion with all other bishops in the Church. According to this Ministry he presides in charity for the good of the whole Church and its unity, and guarantees final doctrinal authority.
Insofar as these are elements common to all Catholics, one may say that there is in fact a common, basic Catholic Identity.

On the other hand, insofar as the Tradition of the Church from her first days was pluralistic, embracing, even baptizing, those various cultures, and preserving those cultural differences even to this day; also, granting that Catholicism is always expressed in an inculturated experience, it may validly be said that there is no one Catholic Identity. As people experience the many ways in which the Church lives out the Christian mission, they see that many Catholic Identities enrich a Church that continues to embrace the diversity of peoples of the world.

Some Differences and Similarities

Probably the best-known fact about the diversity within the Eastern Churches regards their liturgical traditions. This includes the form of the Eucharistic Service as well as those of the seven Mysteries and the Divine Office. There are many different traditional Eastern liturgical languages�such as Greek, Old Slavonic, Syriac, Ge'ez, Coptic, and Armenian�many of which are still used, even though most are no longer living vernaculars. Nevertheless, use of the vernacular has been and still is the rule.

While all live by the Word of God in the Scriptures, the lectionaries of the Churches differ, reflecting the genius, theology and liturgical understandings of the interpretation of the Word. Some Sundays accord in the Churches. For example on the Sunday after Pascha (Easter) the Gospel about (Believing!) Thomas is read. Christmas and Easter (therefore, Pentecost) are celebrated on the same days in the Catholic Churches, except where permission is given in some places to celebrate Orthodox Pascha with a contiguous Orthodox population. Also, not all holy days are the same in all the Churches.

Eastern Church theology differs from Western theology. Even among Eastern Traditions themselves there are differing theological differences. What is important to note here is that the elements of basic Catholic theology cannot contradict each other. Rather, what we are dealing with are particular emphases of theology that each Tradition embraced in its initial evangelizing and subsequent development. Everyone knows, for example, of the debates of the early Councils over questions of Christology. The liturgies, theologies and spiritualities that followed upon these emphases have perdured up to the present moment.

Eastern Christians favor the use of icons in sacred artistic expression. One may think of icons as theology in color. As with statues in the Western Church, it is not the image that is worshiped or venerated, rather it is the sacred persons they depict.

Customs differ quite widely. Perhaps more than much else, this area is the practical expression of one's particular Catholic Identity. Whether it is a particular way to make the Sign of the Cross, or on what days water is blessed, or what foods are prepared or avoided on a certain feast day, particular customs are what distinguishes one type of Catholic Christian from another.

Finally, the Eastern Churches have their own code of canons (i.e., laws), separate from that of the Western Church, to govern the faithful. The Eastern code serves general Eastern law, while at the same time allowing for the individual discipline of each Eastern Church.

By exploring what makes the differing Traditions distinct ultimately enriches the appreciation of the whole Catholic experience, while at the same time prevents a real danger of religious myopia.

Ecumenical aspect

An Eastern Catholic still too often hears the annoying question: "Are you Orthodox?" As one can now see, this is a misunderstanding rooted in simple ignorance of the simultaneously magnificent and shameful history of the Christian Church in the East. Those now re-communed Christians of the 19 Churches that found themselves once separated from Communion with Rome will certainly recognize the many common touch points with those still separated. In that sense it is somewhat easier to see that many Eastern Catholics do not today see themselves very far from their Orthodox sisters and brothers.

Under John Paul II the trail of documents forming this trajectory of ecumenical outreach especially the Eastern (Byzantine, Chalcedonian) Orthodox and the Oriental (non-Chalcedonian) Orthodox. During his ministry the Church saw the publication of some very important statements about the East: Orientate Lumen ("Eastern Light"), in which the theological and spiritual heritage of the East is extolled; the bold Ut Unum Sint ("That All May Be One"), in which John Paul urges Eastern Christians to unity in an especially intense way. It is in this document that the Bishop of Rome, as John Paul consistently refers to himself, calls on all Christians of the world to join together in reexamining the exercise of the Petrine Ministry. Finally, there is the "Instruction for Applying the Liturgical Prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches,"which urges the Eastern Catholic Churches to implement the prescriptions of the Eastern Code if they have not done so since the Council. John Paul knows that unless the Eastern Catholic Churches stand on their own as they ought, according to ancient traditions, unity with their Orthodox counterparts will be all the more impeded. As he himself recently said, "The divisions that still persist and the acrimony that sometimes manifests itself among Christians weaken the strength of Christian proclamation."

Conclusion

Is this concept of plural Catholic Identities too difficult for the average Catholic to process? In some instances, maybe. Should we bother to deal with it? The answer is an unqualified "yes!" The fact remains that if we do not have at least a basic sense of how all this works, we have a defective view of the full panorama of the Catholic experience.

It is an earnest hope that this message will be reflected on all levels of catechesis, but most especially in adult formation, and particularly in the catechetical component of the RCIA journey.

[Fr. Anthony J. Salim is a priest of the Maronite Catholic Church, one of the five churches of the Syriac-speaking Tradition. A member of the NCCL Board of Directors, Fr. Tony currently serves as Eparchial Director of Religious Education for the Maronite Eparchy of Los Angeles, whose office is located at the Maronite Seminary in Washington, D.C.]

Fr. Salim and Maronite Catholics... Dear Yuhannon: Thank you for the fine article by Fr. Anthony Salim. Just to put in a little plug for the wonderful ministry Aboona has regarding Eastern Catholics, I want to recommend his book "Captivated By Your Teachings" (A resource book for adult Maronite Catholics) published by E.T. Nedder Publishing. It is a worthwhile source for anyone interested in Eastern Christianity...And by the way, he is now serving at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Cincinnati, Ohio. God Bless!

Shlomo Anna,
Fr. Salim is my spiritual director. I always try to plug his book. He is a wonderful man, and you are very lucky to have him in Cleveland.

Poosh BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

Dear Yuhannon: How fortunate are you to have Aboona Anthony as your spiritual father...Could you clear up a mystery?-what do all the words mean on your signature? Just wondering...Anna

Yuhannon,

Would you mind if I posted this on the Catholic Convert board? It would be an eye opener. Or have you posted this over there already under a different name?

Dan L

Shlomo (Peace in Aramaic) Lkhoolkhoon (to you all),
Anna, here is what my greetings and posted below my closings mean.

Dan, if you provide me with a link I can post it for you since I have the permission of Abuna Anthony to do so.

Poosh BaShlomo Lkhoolkhoon (Stay in Peace all of you),
Yuhannon (John or Shawn in Aramaic)