The Holy Eastern Catholic Churches not in full communion with Rome Shalom uv’rakha b’Yeshua HaMashiakh! (Peace and Blessing in Jesus the Messiah!) The Catholic Church: The Catholic Church is a communion of churches from the Eastern Tradition and Western Tradition. Every catholic has a responsibility for understanding the fullness of the Catholic Church. This truth must be known to all people in order to bring the Church to the fullness of life and charity. • Pope John Paul II: The church must learn to breathe again with its two lungs, its eastern and western one. • Pope Benedict XVI’s prayer intention for November 2011 - “That the Eastern Catholic Churches and their venerable traditions may be known and esteemed as a spiritual treasure for the whole Church.” • Canon 671 of the 1991 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches of the Catholic Church stated that “If necessity requires it or genuine spiritual advantage suggests it ……it is permitted for Roman Catholic Christian faithful, for whom it is physically or morally impossible to approach a Roman Catholic minister, to receive the sacraments of penance, the Eucharist and anointing of the sick from non-Roman Catholic ministers, in whose Churches these sacraments are valid. Likewise Roman Catholic ministers licitly administer the Sacraments of Penance, the Eucharist and Anointing of the Sick to Christian faithful of Eastern Churches, who do not have full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, if they ask for them on their own and are properly disposed” (see also canons 843 and 844 of the Latin Rite Catholic Code of Canon Law). In other words, even if some Catholic churches are not in full communion with each other, due to that mutual recognition of the validity of the apostolic succession of the other Churches or Jurisdictions, as well as its priesthood and sacraments, a recognition by the way never contested, Catholics from one jurisdiction can receive the sacraments from the other jurisdiction. • UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO, Second Vatican Decree on Ecuminism (1964) Ch.3,1.p455-65 The Special Position of the Eastern Churches : #15. These churches possess true sacraments, above all by Apostolic Succession, the priesthood and the Eucharist, whereby they are linked with us in closest intimacy… • DOMINUS IESUS, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), August 6, 2000 , Section IV. Unicity and Unity of the Church, Article 17 The Churches which, while not in perfect communion with the (Roman) Catholic Church, remain united to her by means of the closest bonds, that is, by Apostolic Succession and a valid Eucharist, are true particular Churches. Therefore, the Church of Christ is present and operative also in these Churches, even though they lack full communion with the (Roman) Catholic Church…Therefore, these Churches and communities as such have by no means been deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. • The Roman Church’s Decree on Eastern Catholic Churches, Orientalium Ecclesiarum , promulgated by Pope Paul VI , Nov. 21 1964. The Decree highlighted some important concessions, such as - the recognition of each group of Eastern Catholics as Churches with a particular rite or tradition. Eastern hierarchies should be established where needed (OE 4), and the Churches of the East like those of the West have the right and duty to govern themselves according to their own discipline…and tradition (OE5). Articles 7-11 address the rights of Patriarchs, “that their rights and privileges be restored in accordance with the ancient traditions of each church and the decrees of the ecumenical councils”(OE9). Summary: The foregoing sources clearly substantiates that the Eastern Catholic Churches not in full communion with Rome have valid priesthood and sacraments. In fact some of them in the past had been in full communion with Rome, but POLITICS destroyed that union (like for example : the Patriarch was stripped of his right and power to elect his own bishops, he can only do so if with approval from Rome; but being a Patriarch , since time immemorial, it was his absolute right and power to elect his own bishop, etc). Just because they broke up with Rome , then they ceased to be part of the Church? WRONG! The Head of the Church is not the Pope, not any Patriarch, but our Lord Jesus Christ. These churches , either they are in full communion with Rome or not, by virtue of their uncontested Apostolic Successions, have unquestionable valid priesthood and sacraments. To say otherwise is wrong , incorrect and purposely misleading. Without doubt, such misinformation is not pleasing in the sight of God who called us all to serve Him and His people, and such act is a cunning design of satan, the father of lies, that seeks to confuse and deceive the people of God. The Eastern Catholics are as Apostolic and as Catholics as the Roman Catholics. These Churches are in truth part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church whose head is our Lord , God and Saviour Jesus Christ. For God’s sake, let’s not be competing with each other. If we are truly only after for service and sanctification of God’s People, there’s actually no reason whatsoever to think of each other as rivals , and much more to spread lies and to hinder the other from serving God. We pray and ask those who are hostile to these Eastern Churches not in full communion with Rome , in the name of our Lord Jesus, that you stop the false accusations against us, or else ,now that you already know the truth about us, we hold your conscience answerable before God. Intimidation, lies and deceptions, as well as half truths did not work against us, and they will never succeed for God is with us. We commit not to engage in Church Politics , for such is not pleasing before the sight of God; nor to say bad things on our persecutors for we treasure in our hearts the words of our Lord Jesus to His Holy Apostles, in Holy Writ, “If they are not against you, they are for you”. Instead , we just have to focus our energy and spirit in taking care for Christ’s poor, sick, and the abandoned ; and to continue to speak the truth and only the truth about the mystery of God’s love as revealed thru our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Holy Scripture instructs us “to do good to those who are of the household of the faith…to do to others as you would have them do unto you, and to love one another as I have loved you”. We always pray to God that all those involved in persecuting us (eg. spreading lies about us, libellous attacks, etc.) be enlightened with the truth. If they only knew how much confusion they are causing within the Body of Christ and how their actions set back the Unity that our Lord Jesus desires as expressed in His prayer the night before He was crucified, they would, like us , also seek for and be open for true unity in the Church. Call for Unity: We (RC and EC priests ) are all priests whose authority is established thru ‘Apostolic Successions’ being passed on to us thru ordinations by our respective bishops who have a very clear and uncontested Apostolic Line, thus we are all fruits of the missionary works of the original Apostles who were all faithful to the ‘great commission’ that our Lord Jesus had entrusted them (Mt. 28:19-20 - “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you….”). Our Church’s (ECC-MSPA-ACE) Patriarchal line has an uncontested Apostolic line provided by St. Thomas the Apostle, St. Bartholomew and St. Jude Thaddeus. The missionary efforts of these three great apostles who were faithful to our Lord’s command and even shed their blood for it is forever deserving of our respect and appreciation. The Twelve Apostles are the foundations of the Church. So it is just right that all Apostolic Churches (i.e. Churches with valid Apostolic line, thus fruits of the missionary works of the Holy Apostles) must mutually recognize and respect each other and consider each other brothers and sisters in faith. In this way, we are ONE again. We don’t have to be subjected to under one Hierarchy or Leader so to achieve UNITY, for we are ,in truth, all united in Christ, our true Head. Let’s learn from our perfect model, the HOLY TRINITY - the three PERSONS are EQUAL, DISTINCT yet ONE. So WE must also BE – we are equal in dignity, we have our own distinct / respective jurisdictions, yet we are all under the One Church and One Headship, the Church of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ. If we can’t learn from the wisdom of the Holy Trinity, then we CAN’T effectively preach and lead the People of God. You can be faithful to our FAITH, but you cannot be faithful to GOD if you continue to deny and disrespect your brothers and sisters in Faith. We share the same doctrines and faith, the same saints, the same founder – Our Lord Jesus Christ; we shared the same early history as once One and Undivided Church (that had been divided because of POLITICS); and share the same authority established through Apostolic Successions. In fact, historically, our two jurisdictions (RC and ACE) were in communion six or more times in the past, but Politics always broke that union. Nevertheless, such union just proved that we are indeed, ONE. Lastly , you have to know this truth that the sacraments administered by all priests from all Apostolic Churches (Roman, Eastern, Anglicans, Orthodox, etc..) have exactly the same effect for we share the same priesthood, whose authority is provided thru Apostolic Successions. The Mass we celebrate have exactly the same effect- the same Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, each Apostolic Church is effectively working for the salvation of Souls. Such is more than enough reason to respect each other, instead of hindering others from serving God’s people. If only we give more importance to our end purpose as priests, and that is – the sanctification of souls (more than any personal monetary considerations), then you should welcome our presence instead of being threatened by our presence. Moreover, the people we are serving clearly see the fact that we are here not to make money , but to truly serve the People of God. It is our Church’s Policy not to demand stipend in all our masses, and we also leave the “collection” to the community to empower them. So practically we are not earning from our ministry. That is why our priests are encouraged to take a job where they could rely for their sustenance because we are not using the ministry as the source of our sustenance. In this way, we are always available to serve the poor communities without any burden to them. People need a priest who mingles with them, who cares for them, who is always there for them, especially in times of need (most especially for the dying souls) , and who is not a burden to them. We do our best to give them that kind of a priest. From: The Clergy of the Eparchy of St. Martin de Porres of the MSPA (sui iuris) of the Ancient Church of the East (Holy Eastern Catholic Church).
Posted on: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 08:26:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015