Wednesday Liturgy: Follow-up: Celebrating in an Eastern Rite
ROME, OCT. 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
In our observations on Eastern priests celebrating in the Roman rite (Sept. 22) we mentioned that the Eastern bishop could give permission for one of his priests to celebrate in this rite. A reader pointed out: "It is not the Syrian bishop who can allow his priests to celebrate Mass in the Latin rite. It is the Latin bishop who can grant such permission."
Our attentive correspondent is technically correct that this permission would fall under the jurisdiction of the local Roman-rite bishop.
However, in practice it would appear that the habitual permission to celebrate according to the Latin rite is often implied when an Eastern-rite priest has been sent by his bishop to study or engage in pastoral service in a Latin environment. That is, the Eastern priest would ask the local Latin bishop for the usual faculties accorded to priests residing in the diocese and would presume that permission to celebrate according to the Latin rite would be included without seeing the need to make a formal request to celebrate according to this rite. This would be the case of some Eastern priests studying in Roman colleges where most of the residents are Latin rite.
The situation would differ in the case of Eastern priests who are incardinated in an Eastern diocese that overlaps or is coextensive with a Roman diocese. In some Western countries such as the United States, Australia and Canada, the Eastern eparchies often cover large swathes of the country as their faithful are frequently scattered in small communities. In this case a more formal permission would be needed from the local Latin bishop if the priest needed to celebrate frequently in the Roman rite.
Although very rare, there are some cases when an Eastern bishop does give formal permission to celebrate according to the Latin rite. For example, the Syro-Malabar Church, which is mostly based in southern India, has several missionary dioceses in northern India. In this case there is no corresponding Latin bishop as jurisdictions do not overlap. There are, however, popular shrines which are frequented by both Eastern and Latin faithful. In this case the Eastern bishop can grant his priests permission to celebrate according to the Latin rite for the pastoral benefit of the faithful.
In our observations on Eastern priests celebrating in the Roman rite (Sept. 22) we mentioned that the Eastern bishop could give permission for one of his priests to celebrate in this rite. A reader pointed out: "It is not the Syrian bishop who can allow his priests to celebrate Mass in the Latin rite. It is the Latin bishop who can grant such permission."
Our attentive correspondent is technically correct that this permission would fall under the jurisdiction of the local Roman-rite bishop.
However, in practice it would appear that the habitual permission to celebrate according to the Latin rite is often implied when an Eastern-rite priest has been sent by his bishop to study or engage in pastoral service in a Latin environment. That is, the Eastern priest would ask the local Latin bishop for the usual faculties accorded to priests residing in the diocese and would presume that permission to celebrate according to the Latin rite would be included without seeing the need to make a formal request to celebrate according to this rite. This would be the case of some Eastern priests studying in Roman colleges where most of the residents are Latin rite.
The situation would differ in the case of Eastern priests who are incardinated in an Eastern diocese that overlaps or is coextensive with a Roman diocese. In some Western countries such as the United States, Australia and Canada, the Eastern eparchies often cover large swathes of the country as their faithful are frequently scattered in small communities. In this case a more formal permission would be needed from the local Latin bishop if the priest needed to celebrate frequently in the Roman rite.
Although very rare, there are some cases when an Eastern bishop does give formal permission to celebrate according to the Latin rite. For example, the Syro-Malabar Church, which is mostly based in southern India, has several missionary dioceses in northern India. In this case there is no corresponding Latin bishop as jurisdictions do not overlap. There are, however, popular shrines which are frequented by both Eastern and Latin faithful. In this case the Eastern bishop can grant his priests permission to celebrate according to the Latin rite for the pastoral benefit of the faithful.
posted by Chipi Buenafe at
11:19 AM
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