Saturday, May 26, 2012

Eastern Rite Catholics Complain of Roman Interference and Indifference

 Gathered for their ad limina, Eastern Catholic bishops from the U.S. were addressed last week by Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Leonardo Cardinal Sandri. His injunction—made not about abortion, the HHS mandate, war, wealth redistribution, or gay marriage—could have a critical influence on the Christian response to all of the above.

Among the Cardinal’s remarks was a tersely reiterated expectation of celibacy for priests serving the Eastern Catholic Churches in diaspora—in this case the U.S. The message may not have been carried directly from the hand of Benedict but the effect has been unpleasant to say the least.

Enter Thomas Loya, a Ruthenian Catholic priest of the Parma Ohio Eparchy, writing his eparch in response.

    In addition to being chillingly reminiscent of the demeaning attitude of the Latin Rite bishops toward the Eastern Catholic Churches during the beginning of the last century in America, the Cardinal's remarks about celibacy seem to confirm what so many Eastern Catholics in America have suspected for too long: Rome and the Latin Rite see the Eastern Catholic Churches in America as essentially inconsequential, perhaps even in the way of ecumenism between Rome and the Orthodox Churches.
The chilling reminiscence refers, in part, to an exercise in aberrant ecclesiology—more a power play—engineered by Archbishop John Ireland that resulted in an entire body of U.S. Eastern Catholics breaking communion with Rome.
Read the rest here.
HT: The Deacons Bench

5 comments:

Jason said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jason said...

Good for the Eastern Catholics and, to bring them up, also the SSPX (Fellay and his followers not Williamson and his). These groups remind Rome that it can and needs to be corrected sometimes. Much like Augustine and Patriarch Maximos IV did before them

Byzantine, TX said...

This is just silly. To pretend, as an Eastern Catholic priest or layman, that you have not been under these rules the whole time is farcical. When the Rusyns left for the Metropolia (OCA) they knew it, when they left for the Carpatho-Russian Diocese they knew it, they know it now.

Getting around the celibacy mandates that are "settled law" by ordaining men in the Old Country, making married deacons into priests, or vesting Orthodox clergy is not proof that you have the right to do something. It's proof that you've been inventive in circumventing the rules.

Read either of the books by Protopresbyter Lawrence Barriger on the topic. Heck, read Rome's documents themselves.

Jason said...

It does not mean Rome is right and Rome can be corrected.

Anonymous said...

My relatives left Rome to form ACROD - it was the right thing to do: morally, theologically, historically. Now is the time for a new generation to act.