A reader writes:
I grew up Roman Catholic in a small town in the Midwest where only the Novus Ordo was available for weekly Mass. I know live in an area where the Tridentine Rite was recently allowed. After going to a Tridentine Mass for the first time I became interested in other expressions of the Catholic Mass and started looking for Eastern Rite parishes in the area. Luckily it has a number of Eastern Rite Churches. I have visited a Melkite Greek Catholic parish and a Byzantine Catholic parish.
I asked a few knowledgeable Catholic friends if receiving Communion was permissible at these Masses. All agreed that if the church is in communion with Rome then that is permissible. Is that the case?
Absolutely! The Code of Canon Law provides:
Can. 844 §1. Catholic ministers administer the
sacraments licitly to Catholic members of the Christian faithful alone, who
likewise receive them licitly from Catholic ministers alone, without prejudice
to the prescripts of §§2, 3, and 4 of this canon, and can. 861,
§2.
The word order in this canon is a little awkward for the point in question, but "Catholic members of the Christian faithful . . . receive [the sacraments] licitly from Catholic ministers." Given that, you can receive the Eucharist from any Catholic minister unless there is a specific prohibition otherwise, and in the case of the Eucharist there is not. You are perfectly free to approach an eastern Catholic priest or deacon (or other eastern Catholic minister of Holy Communion).
There was some disagreement if attending these other Masses fulfilled my Sunday Mass obligation. Most thought they did, but some disagreed.
The ones who disagreed were incorrect. The Code of Canon Law expressly provides for you to be able to fulfill your Sunday obligation at a divine liturgy in an eastern Catholic church:
Can. 1248 §1. A person who assists at a Mass celebrated
anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of
the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.
The reader then asks:
Finally, I would like to know what would be necessary to join an Eastern Rite parish if I wished to do so. Since I am already in full communion with Rome, so it wouldn’t be considered a “conversion,” would it?
It would not be a conversion, no. It would be one of two things, described below.
First, if you just want to join a parish then all you would have to do (I suppose) is fill out their registration card. This would not mean that you belonged to the Eastern Church of which this parish is a part. If you registered at a Byzantine parish you would not thereby become a Byzantine Catholic. You would still be a Latin (Roman) Catholic who happened to be registered at an Byzanting parish, and you would still be subject to the Latin Church’s Code of Canon Law (which I have been quoting above since it is the one that is relevant to you; the Eastern Catholic Churches have their own code of canon law, known as the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches).
Second, it would be possible for you to change rites and become an actual member of an Eastern Catholic Church by law. Thus if you changed rites to join the Melkite Church, you would at that point no longer be a Roman Catholic but a Melkite Catholic and would be subject to the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, as well as the particular law of the Melkite Church.
The way to do this has evolved somewhat since the Code of Canon Law was released in 1983. According to what is on the books, you would need to obtain the permission of the Holy See (Can. 112 §1, no. 1), but my understanding is that the Holy See has modified this in practice in subsequent years. If you decide to take this step, consult with your (Latin) diocese for further assistance.
Be aware that this is a big step and should not be taken lightly. It also may not be as easy to change back to the Latin Church if you decide you want to do that later on. The Church (as a whole) permits the faithful of every individual Church within it to receive the sacraments and participate in the ecclesial life of every other individual Church (which is part of what it means to be in ecclesiastical communion with each other), but it posses additional barriers to the faithful changing from membership in one of these Churches to another.
The purpose of this (in part) is to help preserve the identities of the individual Churches by not allowing transfers to happen willy-nilly.
If you do decide that you wish to legally transfer to another rite, I would suggest that you spend a considerable period of time (at least one whole year, so that you can see the whole liturgical year and the laws that apply to it) attending a parish of the Church in questoin so that you can make sure you will be comfortable there long-term.
By the way, if anyone has an opportunity to go to Sunday Mass in an Eastern Rite Parish, you should give it a try. The liturgy is so beautiful and reverent. There isn’t any doubt as to the Real Presence at these Masses.
Indeed. I have been to Eatern Catholic liturgies many times, and I always find it a very moving experience.