Talk:Eastern Catholic churches/Modern Reforms

Modern Reforms

Starting in 1964, a series of reforms have been issued concerning Eastern Catholic Churches that have corrected a number of past errors. The cause of those reforms were behaviors that had been building for quite some time, especially below the papal level.

The lack of complete lasting effect of Pope Leo XIII's 1894 encyclical Orientalium Dignitas even with latin clergy being rather firmly threatened to cease and desist from raiding believers from other rites (as the sui iuris churches were called at the time) led to a gradual awakening to the need to overhaul the relationship between the churches of the East and the West. During this period, attempts at partial and total suppression led to schism in America. and difficulties everywhere. Separated Eastern Churches were not slow to issue "I told you so's". There was confusion as to the universality of the Churches of the East among Western clergy despite firm and repeated papal confirmation of these Churches universal character over the centuries. Vatican II brought the reform impulse to visible fruition.

Orientalium Ecclesiarum

Orientalium Ecclesiarum is the document most directly dealing with the Eastern Catholic Churches, they being its sole subject.

Lumen Gentium

Lumen Gentium deals with the Eastern Catholic Churches in section #23.

Unitatis Redintegratio

Unitatis Redintegratio deals with the Eastern Catholic Churches in sections #14-17.

Code of Canons of Eastern Churches]]

The Code of Canons of Eastern Churches was promulgated in 19xx and its english translation was released in 19yy. It is a framework document to lay out the canons that are a consequence of the common patrimony of the Churches of the East. Each individual sui iuris Church will have its own canons, its own particular law layered on top of this code.

Instruction for Applying the Liturgical Prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches

The Instructions are intended to bring together in one place the developments that took place in the previous texts:

The liturgical laws valid for all the Eastern Churches are important because they provide the general orientation. However, being distributed among various texts, they risk remaining ignored, poorly coordinated and poorly interpreted. It seemed opportune, therefore, to gather them in a systematic whole, completing them with further clarification: thus, the intent of the Instruction, presented to the Eastern Churches which are in full communion with the Apostolic See, is to help them fully realize their own identity. The authoritative general directive of this Instruction, formulated to be implemented in Eastern celebrations and liturgical life, articulates itself in propositions of a juridical-pastoral nature, constantly taking initiative from a theological perspective.

These modern developments were necessitated by a series of less than stellar initiatives in the past.

These interventions felt the effects of the mentality and convictions of the times, according to which a certain subordination of the non-Latin liturgies was perceived toward the Latin-rite liturgy which was considered "ritus praestantior." This attitude may have led to interventions in the Eastern liturgical texts which today, in light of theological studies and progress, have need of revision, in the sense of a return to ancestral traditions. The work of the commissions, nevertheless, availing themselves of the best experts of the times, succeeded in safeguarding a major part of the Eastern heritage, often defending it against aggressive initiatives and publishing precious editions of liturgical texts for numerous Eastern Churches. Today, particularly after the solemn declarations of the Apostolic Letter Orientalium Dignitas by Leo XIII, after the creation of the still active special Commission for the liturgy within the Congregation for the Eastern Churches in 1931, and above all after the Second Vatican Council and the Apostolic Letter Orientale Lumen by John Paul II, respect for the Eastern liturgies is an indisputable attitude and the Apostolic See can offer a more complete service to the Churches.

Some thoughts:

• You may want to use a more neutral word than "errors" -- some editors may object to the term.
• Don't use bullet points
• Discuss the de-Latinization movement
• I'd also recommend discussing how certain Eastern ideas have influenced the broader church (for examples, see CCC).

Sorry that I am too lazy to provide more assistance. Majoreditor 00:38, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

No, that's ok. It's not like you're getting paid for this. Regarding your comments, I'm not quite sure I can dial down more than the term errors without whitewashing the past. The bullets are there as a temporary feature until someone can convert that section properly to prose and expand on it. De-latinization is complex and IMO deserves its own section paired with latinization as you really can't understand de-latinization without understanding the prior latinization first. The eastern influence on the broader church deserves its own article if not series of articles. TMLutas 05:49, 26 October 2007 (UTC)