Category Archives: Orientalium Ecclesiarum

We come to the conclusion of Orientalium Ecclesiarum with this post. Relations between Eastern Catholics and Orthodox are not very conducive to jacking up one’s blog popularity. And in the West, particularly in many stretches of North America, Eastern Rite … Continue reading →

Policy #3, wrapping up this chapter on “Relations,” decentralizes the decisions on these ecumenical matters that touch upon worship: This conciliatory policy with regard to “communicatio in sacris” (participation in things sacred) with the brethren of the separated Eastern Churches is … Continue reading →

Policy #2: non-sacramental sharing: Further, given the same principles, common participation by Catholics with their Eastern separated brethren in sacred functions, things and places is allowed for a just cause.(Agitur de s. d. communicatione in sacris extrasacramentali, Concilium est quod … Continue reading →

The first policy covers Penance, Eucharist, and Anointing: Without prejudice to the principles noted earlier, Eastern Christians who are in fact separated in good faith from the Catholic Church, if they ask of their own accord and have the right … Continue reading →

Just in case you were wondering, Vatican II did not authorize what is calls “common participation,” which I think we can take to mean open Communion: Common participation in worship (communicatio in sacris) which harms the unity of the Church … Continue reading →

How does the Church view incoming folks from Eastern Orthodoxy? If any separated Eastern Christian should, under the guidance of the grace of the Holy Spirit, join himself to the unity of Catholics, no more should be required of him … Continue reading →

Leaving liturgy behind us, we come to a treatment of “Relations with the (Believers) of the Separated Churches.” Unity may be of even more vital interest to Eastern Christians, as their liturgy, languages,  struggles with the culture, and other aspects … Continue reading →

And OE comments on liturgical language, including the vernacular:  It belongs to the patriarch with his synod, or to the supreme authority of each church with the council of the hierarchs, to regulate the use of languages in the sacred … Continue reading →

This section and the next will wrap up OE’s look at liturgy. Eastern clerics and Religious should celebrate in accordance with the prescriptions and traditions of their own established custom the Divine Office, which from ancient times has been held … Continue reading →

Some sensible advice for people on the road, or families of mixed rites: Individual faithful dwelling outside the area or territory of their own rite may follow completely the established custom of the place where they live as regards the … Continue reading →

Hope that some day, Easter will have an agreed-upon date across Christendom, but until then, just try to agree to the same Sunday, region by region. Can someone familiar with Eastern Europe or Russia tell us if this attempt is … Continue reading →

Our next five sections deal with “Divine Worship.” We start off with what seems to be a curiously-worded regulation on feast days: It belongs only to an ecumenical council or to the Apostolic See to determine, transfer or suppress feast … Continue reading →

As long as we’re on the topic of sacraments, here’s what Vatican II had to say about marriages between Orthodox and Catholic Easterners: To obviate invalid marriages when Eastern Catholics marry baptized Eastern non-Catholics and in order to promote fidelity … Continue reading →

And Orientalium Ecclesiarum 17 gives us some guidance on holy orders, including the restoration of the permanent diaconate, as earlier directed in Sacrosanctum Concilium. In order that the ancient established practice of the Sacrament of Orders in the Eastern Churches … Continue reading →

Some regulations on the sacrament of penance: Owing to the fact that the faithful of the different individual churches dwell intermingled with each other in the same area or Eastern territory, the faculties for hearing confessions duly and without restriction … Continue reading →