(NOTE: NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH EASTERN ORTHODOXY!) Is everybody in this group a member of the Western (Latin) Rite of Catholicism, or do we have some Easterners here as well? Myself, I've been considering joining the Eastern Rite for some time now, but I heard tell of an agreement between the Eastern and Western bishops that you are only permitted to change rites once, so, I have to be really sure before I make the leap.
I am From Ireland in the western Rite.
I am in the Western Rite, what is the difference between the two?
Well, there isn't much: To my knowledge, the East follows most of the Orthodox traditions, but they are in-line with the pope. Eastern Rite priests are also allowed to be ordained if they're already married.
I assume that I am a Western Rite American.
Yes, there is the Roman or Western rite which is the most common, and then the less common Eastern right which incorporates Byzantine Catholicism, Chaldean Catholicism, Ruthenian Catholicism, etc.
I had some friends from Hungary who belong to the Eastern Rite. The Hungarians had a separate church composed of the descendants of Hungarian Protestants who converted in the 18th century. 280,000 people in Hungary out of the 10 million people are Greek Catholics.
Really? I'd never heard that before. I myself may be attending an Eastern Catholic Mass this coming Sunday. I'll probably take tons of pictures if I end up going, so expect them here!
Out of interest Dan why would you want to join the Eastern rite,? and on a side note I thought they were refferd to as the Latin rite for Roman catholicism.
Yeah, Latin, Western, it goes both ways. As for my interest, it's mainly for aesthetic purposes: The Eastern rite kept most of the cultural traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy (icons, chants, music, etc) while staying in full communion with the Papacy in Rome.
I wasn't aware that they had many more chants or Icons than most catholics, I didnt belive there to be a real diffrence. But a man's faith and reasons are of his own choosing.
Double post
I live in Arizona and will be baptized here.What rite is that?
If it's a Roman Catholic church, it'd be western.
Yah it's Roman Catholic.So is Africa,Eastern Europe,and Asia eastern?
Not neccesarily, if they are in full communion with Rome, in other words a catholic church, and use the latin rite then they would be classed as the western rite and church. It's more than just geography.
Do Protestants and Orthodox Christians have a similiar thing?
No no no, certainly not! They couldn't be more different! The Orthodox church is far more traditional than Protestantism! Their music involves no instruments, only voices, their mass (or Divine Liturgy) is three hours long, and they are largely conducted in either Greek, Arabic, or Church Slavonic (a Slavic language, sort of like a mix between Russian, Ukrainian, and several other languages) with minimal English (if it's an American church, of course.) Orthodox churches also have Eucharist like Catholics, whereas most protestant churches (with the exception of the more traditional branches of Lutheranism and Anglicanism) do not.
I know there different,but I meant do they have rites?
Oops, guess I misunderstood you. Rites, no, technically not, but they have groups that do things differently though. For instance, in Orthodoxy you have various different churches all operating under the same banner. The Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Antiochene Orthodox, etc, are all different in minute ways, but all believe in the same basic things. Protestantism I'm not so sure about, as I've never been been interested in doing too much research in it. From what I know, the Church of England (AKA - Anglicanism) has two main branches. The more traditional one is called the High Church, and the less traditional one is called the Low Church. The High Church is very similar to traditional Catholicism, minus the Latin, while the low church is more like a cross between the modern day Catholic mass and other protestant influences. I believe Lutheranism is also divided into synods that do things slightly different from each other. However these are still not the same as rites, like we have. The Eastern and Western rites do things very differently and are only really united because they follow the pope. I believe the Eastern Rite even follows the Orthodox mass structure as well rather than ours.
