By Fr. Thom Hennen
Question Box
Q: Can you explain the different “branches” within the Catholic Church, for example the Eastern churches and rites? What about the differences between the Novus Ordo and “Traditional Latin Mass” and the various groups that celebrate that?
A: This is a doozie! I will break down your question into two parts. This week I will do my best to explain the various churches and rites within the Catholic Church. Next week, I will tackle the different forms of the liturgy with the Latin Church/Roman Rite.
Before I begin, let me state: this topic is hugely complicated and what I present here will still be “painting with broad strokes.”
Think of a large circle that is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Within that circle are actually 24 Churches: the Latin Church (that’s most of us here in the Diocese of Davenport) and 23 Eastern Churches. These Churches each have corresponding “rites” or forms of the liturgy.
As Christianity spread organically from Jerusalem, it went to other places besides Rome, including Antioch, Constantinople, Alexandria, and beyond. These places developed their own liturgical traditions that are valid and of “equal right and dignity” (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 1203), but are not the Roman Rite. All of these rites are ancient. If anything, the Roman Rite is the “new kid on the block” in terms a solidified liturgical practice.
This means that there are Catholics who are not Roman Catholics, in terms of using the Roman Rite of the liturgy, though they are certainly in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, the pope.
The Eastern rites consist of five major families: Byzantine (the largest), Eastern Syrian, Western Syrian, Alexandrian, and Armenian. Under these families are additional rites or variations (“usages”) of those major rites.
Prior to the Great Schism of 1054 in which many of the Eastern Churches split from Rome, there was greater unity. When disputes occurred, councils were called, the first being the Council of Nicaea in 325.
When we refer to the Eastern Orthodox Churches, we mean those who are no longer in communion with Rome (as opposed to the Eastern Catholic Churches). For every Eastern Catholic church and rite, there is an Orthodox counterpart, except for the Maronite Church/Rite (Lebanon), which never split from Rome.
When someone from one of the Eastern Orthodox Churches desires to become Catholic, that person is brought into the Catholic counterpart of his or her original Church. For example, a Bulgarian Orthodox who becomes Catholic (by a profession of faith, like any other validly baptized Christian coming into the Catholic Church) becomes a Bulgarian-Rite Catholic, not a Roman Catholic. This is out of respect for those equally ancient Churches, rites and traditions, so as not to completely homogenize the Catholic Church, though the Latin Church is by far the largest and most widespread.
May an Eastern Catholic go to a Latin Church/Roman Rite Mass and receive Communion? Yes. What about the other way around? Can a Roman Catholic go to an Eastern Rite Catholic Mass and receive communion? Yes.
In the Eastern Churches, their members are fully initiated at baptism, meaning they are baptized, receive Confirmation (“Chrismation”) and their first Communion all at infancy.
There is so much more, but I hope this gives you a start. I will follow up next week with a column on some of the differences and variations within the Roman Rite. If you would like to learn more about Eastern Catholics in our area, check out this great explanatory video on “What is the Byzantine Catholic Church?” (www.byzantineiowa.org). Also check out these two Catholic Messenger articles (https://tinyurl.com/rpnhkcrr and https://tinyurl.com/mrywkcrh).
(Father Thom Hennen serves as the pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport and vicar general for the Diocese of Davenport. Send questions to messenger@davenportdiocese.org)
