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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Re: Greek Orthodox Church	Philip	Thursday, November 15, 2012
Question: I read your recent article on a question about whether the Greek Orthodox Church is the same as the Catholic Church. I fully agree with your answer about the status of the Eastern Orthodox churches. Might I make a correction regarding the description of the Catholic Churches. The Latin (or Roman or western) Catholic Church has a number of rites. The Roman Rite is the most widely used. The Eastern and Oriental Catholic churches are listed as their rites. For example, there is listed the Byzantine Church and then a number of sub-groups. Each of these sub-groups are not sub-divisions of a church. Each one of them is a sui iuris Church that uses the Byzantine Rite. There is one Latin Church that has a number of different rites. There are 20+ Eastern and Oriental Catholic churches but between them they use 5 rites. It is not unusual to see church and rite used as synonyms even though they are different.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r) Dear Philip: I presume you are talking about the answer given by Mr. Mathew on the subject. The listings of the various rites and subgroups in the Church are accurate as posted. Mr. Mathew did not categorize these these sub-groups as "sub-divisions" of the Church. I do not know where you got that idea. They are indeed sui iuris Churches, but Mr. Mathew did not use that term, probably because it is a technical term that was not required to make the point he was making. The chart gives the six liturgical traditions and the sub-groups in each. I fail to see the problem. I probably would have used the term, but it is not necessary to make a simple list naming the six liturgical traditions and various subgroups within those traditions. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary

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Question Date

Re: Greek Orthodox Church

Philip

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Question:

I read your recent article on a question about whether the Greek Orthodox Church is the same as the Catholic Church. I fully agree with your answer about the status of the Eastern Orthodox churches.

Might I make a correction regarding the description of the Catholic Churches. The Latin (or Roman or western) Catholic Church has a number of rites. The Roman Rite is the most widely used. The Eastern and Oriental Catholic churches are listed as their rites. For example, there is listed the Byzantine Church and then a number of sub-groups. Each of these sub-groups are not sub-divisions of a church. Each one of them is a sui iuris Church that uses the Byzantine Rite. There is one Latin Church that has a number of different rites. There are 20+ Eastern and Oriental Catholic churches but between them they use 5 rites. It is not unusual to see church and rite used as synonyms even though they are different.

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r)

Dear Philip:

I presume you are talking about the answer given by Mr. Mathew on the subject.

The listings of the various rites and subgroups in the Church are accurate as posted. Mr. Mathew did not categorize these these sub-groups as "sub-divisions" of the Church. I do not know where you got that idea. They are indeed sui iuris Churches, but Mr. Mathew did not use that term, probably because it is a technical term that was not required to make the point he was making.

The chart gives the six liturgical traditions and the sub-groups in each. I fail to see the problem. I probably would have used the term, but it is not necessary to make a simple list naming the six liturgical traditions and various subgroups within those traditions.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary