Perhaps the biggest pastoral challenge for Eastern Catholic priests is that their parishes are facing closure due to a massive loss of their own faithful to larger, more prosperous Roman Catholic parishes.
There are millions of Eastern Catholics around the world. In this country, they once numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Waves of immigration led many to settle and establish parishes, schools, religious houses and seminaries. Intermarriage and employment eventually dispersed them across the country. Without any of their own canonical structures, almost all were “lost in the shuffle.”
Devout persons joined local Roman Catholic parishes. In many cases, they registered in those parishes over those of their own ritual tradition, especially to obtain a tuition discount for local Catholic schools. Now, after only a few decades, countless children and grandchildren do not know that they are canonically Eastern Catholic.
When do they find out? Often, it is when they themselves begin sacramental preparation, or when they enter seminary and find out before ordination that they cannot licitly be ordained.
Ever since I began ministering among the Latin Catholic faithful, I have encountered more Eastern Catholics than in my own parish. I regularly hear statements such as “My dad is Eastern Catholic,” or “I was baptized Eastern Catholic,” or “I have been living here for years, and I didn’t know that you even existed until now.” In a few cases, I meet people who declare proudly that they are Eastern Catholics, but who never attend and support their own parish – something that is honestly threatening to destroy our very existence.
Faced with this reality, is there still a place and future for Eastern Catholicism? According to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, it is the right and responsibility of Eastern Catholics to ensure the continued existence of their ritual Churches and to support their own parishes.
What the church teaches
Calling them “the heritage of the universal Church,” the Second Vatican Council devoted an entire decree to the Eastern Catholic Churches (“Orientalium Ecclesiarum”). The council taught the following:
“The Catholic Church holds in high esteem the institutions, liturgical rites, ecclesiastical traditions and the established standards of the Christian life of the Eastern Churches, for in them, distinguished as they are for their venerable antiquity, there remains conspicuous the tradition that has been handed down from the Apostles through the Fathers, and that forms part of the divinely revealed and undivided heritage of the universal Church.
“The Holy Catholic Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ, is made up of the faithful who are organically united in the Holy Spirit by the same faith, the same sacraments, and the same government, and who, combining together into various groups which are held together by a hierarchy, form separate Churches or Rites. Between these there exists an admirable bond of union, such that the variety within the Church in no way harms its unity; rather it manifests it....
“These individual Churches, whether of the East or the West, although they differ somewhat among themselves in rite ... that is, in liturgy, ecclesiastical discipline, and spiritual heritage, are, nevertheless, each as much as the others, entrusted to the pastoral government of the Roman Pontiff, the divinely appointed successor of St. Peter in primacy over the universal Church. They are consequently of equal dignity, so that none of them is superior to the others as regards rite, and they enjoy the same rights and are under the same obligations, also in respect of preaching the Gospel to the whole world under the guidance of the Roman Pontiff.”
The same teaching exists in Church law:
“The rites of the Eastern Churches, as the patrimony of the entire Church of Christ, in which there is clearly evident the tradition which has come from the Apostles through the Fathers and which affirm the divine unity in diversity of the Catholic faith, are to be religiously preserved and fostered” (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 39).
St. John Paul II famously said, “The Church must breathe with her two lungs” – Eastern and Western – so that both might experience and be nourished by one another. He devoted an entire apostolic letter to the subject, “Orientale Lumen,” in which he taught the following:
“Since, in fact, we believe that the venerable and ancient tradition of the Eastern Churches is an integral part of the heritage of Christ’s Church, the first need for Catholics is to be familiar with that tradition, so as to be nourished by it and to encourage the process of unity in the best way possible for each. Our Eastern Catholic brothers and sisters are very conscious of being the living bearers of this tradition, together with our Orthodox brothers and sisters. The members of the Catholic Church of the Latin tradition must also be fully acquainted with this treasure and thus feel, with the Pope, a passionate longing that the full manifestation of the Church’s catholicity be restored to the Church and to the world, expressed not by a single tradition, and still less by one community in opposition to the other; and that we too may be granted a full taste of the divinely revealed and undivided heritage of the universal Church which is preserved and grows in the life of the Churches of the East as in those of the West.”
Historical Situation
Show GalleryEastern Catholics were often raised believing that their tradition was inferior to the Latin Church. Others were taught that “Catholic is Catholic,” so it really does not matter where a person attends church. It is true that all the faithful “can participate in the eucharistic sacrifice and receive holy communion in any Catholic rite… (Code of Canon Law, canon 923),” and “a person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite … satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass (Code of Canon Law, canon 1248 section 1).”
However, convenience often prevails over obligation. “Why should I drive all the way to the Eastern parish, when the Roman parish is much closer to my house?”
And, unfortunately, many Eastern Catholics have not been taught about their identity, rights and obligations by their priests or faith formation teachers. There are also numerous anecdotes of Eastern faithful being given the sacraments of first Holy Communion and confirmation, even though as Eastern Catholics they already received these sacraments when they were baptized.
Clearly, this is not desirable or tenable.
How Can We Play Our Part?
In the first place, other than providing a good introduction to the Eastern Catholic Churches, Latin parishes could regularly provide reminders that Eastern Catholics do not become members of that ritual Church, even if they regularly or exclusively attend there – and even if they should register there. Instead of permitting them to register in those parishes, those faithful should be encouraged to return to their own ritual parishes, since that is where they belong canonically. While the loss of five or 10 families to a large or medium-sized Roman Catholic parish might seem negligible, the same loss can mean the difference between existence and closure for an Eastern Catholic parish in this country.
In the second place, Eastern Catholics who do not regularly support their own parishes should make a good examination of conscience. Besides understanding the teachings of the Church regarding their own traditions, they should remember that supporting their own parish is a precept of the Church for every Catholic. Eastern Catholic families – or Eastern Catholic fathers in the case of “inter-ritual” marriages – have a moral obligation to raise their children in their own tradition. Neglect in performing this duty deprives the children of their own ritual tradition, and it deprives the parish of its spiritual children – and, consequently, of its own future.
Church law in both the Latin and Eastern churches reminds us that Eastern Catholics have a right to worship God according to their own rite and to follow their own form of spiritual life. Nevertheless, the Second Vatican Council also teaches that this is a serious moral obligation: “each and every Catholic, as also the baptized of every non-Catholic church or denomination who enters into the fullness of the Catholic communion, must retain his own rite wherever he is, must cherish it, and observe it to the best of his ability.” Eastern Catholics “should know and be convinced that they can and should always preserve their legitimate liturgical rite and their established way of life…. (This) must be observed by the members of the Eastern rites themselves. 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.”
Eastern Catholics “should retain and practice their own rite everywhere in the world and should observe it as much as humanly possible (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 35),” should “foster an understanding and appreciation of their own rite, and are held to observe it everywhere…” (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 40, §3), and “should study zealously their liturgical, spiritual, theological and disciplinary patrimony” (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 405).
A Final Reflection
Two years ago, the homilist for the Holy Hour of the Diocese of Charlotte’s Eucharistic Congress was Benedictine Father Cassian Folsom of Norcia, Italy, whose community had recently suffered through multiple earthquakes. I had the chance to speak with him briefly on the topic of the variety of liturgical traditions in the Church. One of these is the Rite of Braga, Portugal, which was made optional after the Second Vatican Council when the diocese allowed its priests to adopt the Roman Rite. The Bragan Rite is a tradition of venerable antiquity, stretching back hundreds of years before the Council of Trent. I lamented that such a venerable tradition was being lost to the Portuguese Church (from which my mother’s side of the family hails), simply because very few people are taking the necessary steps to preserve it. Father Cassian’s reply was simple: “Yes, indeed, this is how ancient traditions become lost to the Church.”
The Byzantine tradition is not immune to the same effect. Within a few decades, we may very well see its extinction in the United States. Particularly for those who belong to this endangered tradition, with its liturgies and prayers composed by saints almost 2,000 years ago, let’s not confine it to a museum. Let’s ensure that it remains a living part of the Church of Christ, and, therefore, part of the heritage of every Catholic.
— Father Joseph M. Matlak, Special to the Catholic News Herald. Father Joseph M. Matlak is the administrator of St. Basil the Great Eastern Catholic Parish in Charlotte.
What are the Eastern Churches?
There are more than 20 Eastern Churches in full communion with the Latin (Roman) Church. These are called “Eastern Catholic Churches.”
Each of these has its own liturgical traditions, spirituality, canonical disciplines, and theological expressions of the faith, all the while being in full communion with the pope and the Latin Church.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is the largest of these Eastern Churches. Worldwide, Ukrainian Greek Catholics number about 5.5 million, forming the largest particular (“sui juris,” or “self-governing”) Catholic Church, after the majority Latin Church, with about 2 percent of the entire Catholic faithful. The Church is led by His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych.
St. Basil the Great Parish in Charlotte is part of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy (Diocese) of St. Josaphat in Parma, Ohio. The eparchy, established by St. John Paul II in 1983, encompasses parishes from Ohio and Pennsylvania to Florida. The growing parish worships at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, located at 1400 Suther Road in Charlotte.
One does not have to be “Ukrainian” or “Greek” to belong to or attend Divine Liturgy (Mass) at St. Basil’s, any more than one needs to be “Italian” to belong to or attend a Latin (Roman) parish. People from many different backgrounds comprise the parish community, and all are welcome!
Can Roman Catholics fulfill their Sunday obligation at St. Basil the Great?
Yes, Roman Catholics may fulfill their obligation by participating in the Divine Liturgy (Mass) in any Roman Catholic or Eastern Catholic church. People are welcome to attend any of St. Basil Parish’s services, which are conducted in English and are mostly sung.
May I receive Holy Communion at an Eastern Catholic Church?
All Catholics are welcome to receive Holy Communion and the other sacraments in any Catholic church, Eastern or Western. All who receive Holy Communion should prepare themselves beforehand by prayer and fasting, and, if conscious of serious sin, by making a sincere confession before receiving Holy Communion.
Learn more
Find out more about St. Basil the Great Parish online at stbasil.weebly.com. The parish is also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. For inquiries, call the parish office at 908-785-2764 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
— St. Basil the Great Parish
You are welcome!
St. Basil the Great Parish welcomes everyone who was baptized Eastern Catholic to return to their faith tradition, as well as any Latin (Roman) Catholics who are interested in learning more about the Eastern Catholic identity and praying, celebrating and proclaiming the faith in accordance with the Byzantine Rite.
DIVINE LITURGY
11 a.m. every Sunday
The chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas Church
1400 Suther Road, Charlotte, NC 28213
Known as the Mass to Latin (Roman) Catholics, the Eastern rite liturgies were composed by saints in the first millennium. The prayers and hymns are very ancient, and yet are still very relevant for contemporary people. The liturgy is celebrated in English, is mostly sung or chanted, and usually lasts between an hour to an hour and 15 minutes.
DIVINE LITURGY OF THE PRESANCTIFIED GIFTS
7 p.m. Wednesdays during Lent
The chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas Church
1400 Suther Road, Charlotte, NC 28213
The Eucharistic Divine Liturgy is not celebrated on Lenten weekdays. For the faithful to sustain their Lenten effort, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is served. The liturgy is Solemn Lenten Vespers in addition to Holy Communion, which is given from the Eucharist sanctified on the previous Sunday (hence the name “presanctified”). The service is an ancient one, traditionally considered to be the work of the sixth-century pope St. Gregory of Rome.
Weekday services and other special liturgies are announced online and on social media. For more information, see the parish’s website at stbasil.weebly.com.