[BeenaBobba]

Hi y'all,

I know some Orthodox people who insist on calling Eastern Catholics in communion with Rome "Roman" Catholic. I've read on the EWTN Eastern Catholic forums that Eastern Catholics do not like this term because 1.) Roman Catholic was a term made up by anti-Catholic Anglicans, 2.) in common usage, it refers to the Roman or Latin Rite or Church, and they've had to work hard to get their traditions known throughout the Western World, and 3.) it is not the official title of the Catholic Church to begin with - - Roman or Eastern.

I've pointed out that "Roman" Catholic is offensive to many Eastern Catholics, and that it's not even an accurate term. Is there anything else I should say, though?

I'm starting to get a bit annoyed at their ignorance in dissing the Eastern Catholics.

Thanks, and God bless,

Jennifer Benjamin

[cmotherofpirl]

Ask them if they would like to be referred to as schismatics (sp), since they left the true Church?

After the yelling stops, tell them Eastern rite Catholics don't like inaccurate titles either. :)

[Ellenita]

So would anyone refer to themselves as 'Roman Catholics'? I didn't realise it was an offensive term!

[cmotherofpirl]

Heavens no!

Roman simply refers to the Western rite of the Church. It is also called the Latin rite.

There are 22 or 23 different rites in the Catholic Church, we really are universal.

[Ellenita]

So someone calling themselves 'Roman Catholic' would mean they were a follower of the latin rite, although they would normally refer to themselves as Catholic? Is it a term used among Catholics to distingush what rite they follow? I have used the term anglo catholic to describe myself before - now I just say I'm confused! :lol:

I may have misunderstood your post cmotherofpirl!

[cmotherofpirl]

Yes it is a term we use to distinguish otherselves from the other rites.

Anglo-catholic usually refers ( at least in England) to Anglicans who are "high church" who have a service somewhat like our Mass, "Low church usually refers to Anglcains who are more like evangelicals.

Some Anglicans have converted to Catholicism as a whole parish, ministers included. The minister becomes a priest (he is re-ordained by the Bishops), and their Mass has some Anglican elements retained.
THey are called Catholics of the Anglican Rite, just as I am a Catholic or the Roman (or Latin) Rite.

Here is a website:
http://www.users.voi...s/whoarewe.html

[Norseman82]

Maybe it would be best to get the thoughts of Eastern rite Catholics on the board here....anyone???



(Bueller??)

[IXpenguin21]

ok, so what i gather, when the Catholic church split into the different rights, they didn't lose their Catholic roots like protestant denominations seeked to do, so what does that mean for Catholics today? can i, a "roman catholic" go to a "greek orthodox" church for communion and other sacraments and have it be okay?

[IXpenguin21]

and is it possible to convert from Roman Catholic to Eastern Catholic?

[thedude]

I believe Rome says Orthodox sacraments are valid. I also know that you can switch Rites but there is a process involved. I don't really understand why though, anyone else know more?

[hecklingsoul]

I don't think the Church split into different rites. The rites all share the same doctrine. They vary slightly in how they go about things but this is a result of the numerous cultures, that make up the Universal Church, expressing worship in the best way they know.

Greek Orthodox are not Catholic, though very close. The Catholic church recognizes the G.O.'s sacrament of Communion as valid and therefore you could receive It, if there was no way to receive It at a Catholic church. I'm not sure how the Greek Orthodox would feel about it though. The Eastern Rite Catholic church is Catholic, intimately no different then the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church.

[Aloysius]

i kan understand them not wanting to be called "Roman Catholic" simply because that was a term made up by protestants. however, technically a Roman Catholic is a Catholic who is in communnion with Rome. That includes the Eastern Rite. That can be used to differentiat them from say, the Greek Orthodox. They ARE Roman Catholics, because their supreme pontiff is in the city of the martyrdome of Sts. Peter and Paul. We are the Latin Rite, or the Western Rite... as we don't really speak Latin anymore thanx to Vatican II... They are the <insert name here example: maronite> rite. Rite means ritual. their rituals differ from ours. their doctrine is the same. their disciplines can differ. but their doctrine is in full communion with the doctrine of the 264th successor to Peter, the body of bishops known as the Magisterium, and the Church that Jesus Christ founded 2000 years ago.

i wont call them that if that offends them, but technically they are Roman Catholic. i don't think it should be an offensive term. it's kinda like yankee doodle. the southerners did that to make fun of us if im not mistaken, but the song became our big patriotic song. just the same, i don't think we should be ashamed that our Church is centered in the place where Cephas, the rock, St. Peter... was crucified upside-down in an act of humility and where St. Paul was beheaded, and the area of which the bishop there has always been claimed to be the successor to the Apostle, The Rock (Peter)

[Mary's Knight, La]

it's only a split in the sense that Jesus split His apostles to make disciples of all nations, the different rites came about because of some of the subtle differences in the way the apostles taught and local customs, which is why eastern rite churches will often display the beautiful icon paintings which are associated with them. the best analogy i've heard is looking at the same object from the same distance with a few degrees different angle, they teach the same teachings we do though expressed and viewed differently (note this is not an all religions are essentially true arguement only an all truely Catholic rites are true arguement)

[Norseman82]

I know that the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Romanian Catholic Church were formally Eastern Orthodox churches but they reunited with Rome in the 1500s-1600s. For this reason, they are also called "Uniate" churches.

Quote

I also know that you can switch Rites but there is a process involved.  I don't really understand why though, anyone else know more?

Someone I knew in college did that, and he said that you had to show there was some spiritual benefit to it. In his case, he was half Ukranian and half Slovak, so because he was half Ukranian he was able to switch. He later was ordained a Ukranian Rite Catholic priest; he is not married, and I have heard that they don't approve a rite-switch just so you can become a married priest.

[Uncle Gus]

IXpenguin21, on Nov 1 2003, 07:57 PM, said:

and is it possible to convert from Roman Catholic to Eastern Catholic?

By definition, no, it is impossible to "convert" from the Roman Catholicism to Eatern Catholicism. To convert from one thing to another means to leave the original thing behind, but really, they are both the same thing.

Okay, so that's just being pedantic, but remember that the One, Holy, Catholic (read: universal) and Apostolic Church has many members, many faces, many facets. The Roman Catholic Church is one, and, for example, the Chaldean Church is another, yet they are both part of the same Universal (read: Catholic) Church.

[Adeodatus]

"Roman" Catholic was was first used by Anglicans who pretend to be an apostolic church. They came up with their 'branch theory': that they, like the Orthodox and the 'Romans', are part of the wider 'Catholic Church'---branches of the Church founded by Christ. So the high church people among them call themselves 'Anglo-Catholic', and call us 'Roman Catholic'.

The term 'Roman Catholic' thus comes from an anti-Catholic bias. In one sense I am pleased to be called a 'Roman Catholic' because it emphasises that I (through my bishop) am in communion with the Universal Pastor, the successor of Peter, the servant of the servants of God, i.e. the Pope.

But in another sense, the term 'Roman Catholic' annoys me. My mum is a Syrian Catholic, completely in communion with Rome, but her church has a different rite and canon law and customs and history. This may surprise some of you but there are something like 22 or 23 Catholic churches, all of them FULLY in communion with our Holy Father the Pope. The vast majority of them are Eastern rite Catholics, but even in the Latin West you do get Catholics of the Mozarabic rite (in Toledo, Spain) and Ambrosian rite (in Milan, Italy). Their Mass in some ways looks really familiar, and in other ways completely different (but nice different). The majority of us Latin Catholics happen to belong to the Roman rite.

Any of us can receive communion in any of these Catholic churches of a different rite. They aren't something alien----they're family!!!!

By the way, the Catechism consistently talks about the 'Catholic Church', and we don't officially seem to call ourselves 'Roman Catholic Church', unless we mean that part of the Catholic Church of the Roman rite. (But I could be wrong...)

[Aloysius]

i it the "Roman Rite" or the "Latin Rite"

i'm pretty sure it's the Latin Rite, not the Roman Rite.



and i deal with the term "Roman Catholic" the same way i deal with the term "Yankee"... it's kewl but we all know it's origen had a bad intention

[thedude]

THere are actually like sub-Rites I guess you could call them. The Roman Rite is a sub-Rite of the Latin Rite of the Church. Check this site out:
http://credo.stormlo...om/ritesofc.htm

[Aloysius]

ahhhh so we're the Roman Church of the Latin Rite.. and in the Latin Rite there is also the Ambrosian and Mozarabic rite..

that's neatio

[Ellenita]

Quote

that's neatio

That's confusing...to non catholics! :(
Are all the rites slightly different forms of mass, or is it deeper than that? Presumably their understanding of communion is the same?

Quote

Roman Catholic was first used by Anglicans who pretend to be an apostolic church...the high church people among them call themselves 'Anglo Catholic' and call us 'Roman Catholic'. The term Roman Catholic thus comes from an anti Catholic bias

I'm sorry, I didn't know. Now that I do, I won't use the terms in the future. I hope I haven't inadvertently offended anyone at Phatmass! :unsure: