I read this on another thread, about the eastern rite Churches, and sought information online to no avail, leaving discussion to rest onthe matter. But finding nothing, I present here and now my querry//

I heard that the eastern right Churches where "Returnd to the fold" recently. Does htis mean thst they have reunited withthe Catholic Church? I was under the impresion that they where still seperarte. Or am I wrong? Sorry for the ignorance on this matter.

-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), December 17, 2003

Answers

Don't confuse the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches with the Eastern Orthodox Churches. The Eastern Orthodox are still separated. The Eastern Rite Churches are in full communion with the rest of the Catholic Church, under the Pope.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), December 17, 2003.

Zarove,

There are some Eastern Rite Christians that are a part of the Catholic Church and some that aren't. There are 6 Eastern Rites that are loyal to the Pope.

-- Scott (papasquat10@hotmail.com), December 17, 2003.

Scott,

There are in fact 21 Eastern Catholic Churches that are in union with Rome. Not merely 6.

Hope that's helpful.

-- Fr. Michael Skrocki, JCL (abounamike@aol.com), December 18, 2003.

Thank you Father. I didn't know there were so many.

-- Scott (papasquat10@hotmail.com), December 18, 2003.

Personally, I belong to one, the Syro-Malabar rite, which is quite rich and orthodox, combining liturgy with O.T and N.T events, both the singing of the Psalms and beautiful teachings of the old Church Fathers. But, since I have been brought up in the Latin rite since childhood, I can understand and appreciate and understand the Latin rite much better. Yet, in comparision to the richness of Syro- Malabar rite, the present day Latin liturgy has just the bare elements (or skeleton) necessary for the Holy Eucharist.

-- leslie john (lesliemon@hotmail.com), December 18, 2003.

sORRY FOR THE MISTAKE THEN. Thanks for th answers though.

-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), December 18, 2003.

Jmj

Friends,
I found something helpful at the "Byzantine Catholic Page of Faith." The author enumerates twenty-two Eastern Catholic "ritual churches" (no longer properly called "Eastern Rites").

-------- QUOTE (with slight modifications for clarity) ------------
There are four original Eastern traditions: Antiochian, Alexandrian, Armenian, and Byzantine.
The four of these can be further subdivided into the following Eastern Catholic churches:

Antiochian tradition:
----- West Syrian group: Syriac, Maronite, and Malankarese churches
----- East Syrian group: Chaldean and Syro-Malabarese churches

Alexandrian tradition:
----- Coptic and Ethiopian churches

Armenian tradition:
----- Armenian church

Byzantine tradition:
----- Albanian, Belarusan, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Italo-Greek (or Italo-Albanian), Melkite, Romanian, Russian, Ruthenian, Slovak, and Ukrainian churches

We have been accustomed to speaking of the Latin (Roman or Western) "Rite" or the Eastern "Rites" to designate these different churches. However, the Church's contemporary legislation as contained in the Western "Code of Canon Law" and the "Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches" makes it clear that we ought to speak not of "rites," but of "churches." Canon 112 of the Code of Canon Law uses the phrase, "autonomous ritual churches," to designate the various churches.
----------------- END QUOTE --------------------

Quite a few years ago, I too came across a low number (close to Scott's number, six) of Eastern churches in union with Rome. I believe that the reason for this was some authors' preference for ...
(1) counting the 14 Byzantine churches as just one, since they share essentially the same ancient liturgy, but in different languages, and
(2) speaking of the Armenian church as falling under the Byzantine tradition, and
(3) counting the 2 Alexandrian churches as just one.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 20, 2003.