Eastern Catholic Faithful without Their Own Hierarch are members of an Eastern Church sui iuris living where no eparchy or exarchate of that Church has been erected, whose pastoral care and proper jurisdiction are supplied according to CCEO canon 916 without changing their canonical ascription.[1]
Ascription survives the absence of local structures
An Eastern Catholic remains a member of his or her Church sui iuris while traveling, migrating, or settling outside its historic territory. The absence of a parish, eparchy, exarchate, or priest of that Church does not make the person Latin, canonically homeless, or free from the proper Eastern discipline.[2]
CCEO canon 916 connects domicile or quasi-domicile with a proper hierarch and pastor of the Church to which the person is ascribed. It then supplies rules for cases where that Church has no local pastor or even no exarchate. The law provides jurisdiction without inventing a transfer of membership.
When there is no proper parish
The eparchial bishop can designate a pastor of another Church sui iuris, with the required consent, to undertake care as the person's proper pastor. The designation creates pastoral competence; it does not authorize the pastor to impose a foreign rite indiscriminately or record the faithful as members of his own Church.[3]
When there is no exarchate
The local hierarch of another Church sui iuris, including the Latin Church, is regarded as the proper hierarch under canon 916 §5, subject to the stated designations by the Apostolic See or, for patriarchal faithful, by the patriarch with Apostolic See assent. Overlapping jurisdictions must be resolved by law, not by assuming that the Latin bishop always absorbs every Eastern Catholic present.
Duties of the entrusted bishop and pastor
CCEO canon 193 places a grave obligation on the eparchial bishop caring for faithful of another Church to provide that they retain, cultivate, and observe their own rite and maintain relations with their higher authority. Latin canon 383 likewise requires the diocesan bishop to provide for faithful of a different rite through priests, parishes, episcopal vicars, or other suitable means.
Provision can include visiting clergy, biritual faculties, a personal parish, mission, chaplaincy, ordinariate, exarchate, or cooperation with a neighboring eparchy. The best structure depends on number, stability, distance, language, clergy, and competent ecclesiastical action.
Sacraments, law, and accurate records
A minister serving these faithful must know the applicable Eastern norms, especially for initiation and marriage, where Latin and Eastern law differ. A child lawfully ascribed to an Eastern Church is not made Latin because Baptism occurs in a Latin parish. Records must preserve the Church sui iuris and notify the proper authorities where required.[4]
An ordinary who has present jurisdiction differs from the head of the person's Church sui iuris and from a bishop of the corresponding Particular Church elsewhere. Pastoral jurisdiction, canonical ascription, ritual patrimony, and territorial residence answer related but different questions.
References
- 1.Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canons 1–468 — Official promulgated text defining Churches sui iuris, retention of rite, canonical ascription, and pastoral care of faithful of another Church
- 2.Orientalium Ecclesiarum — Vatican II on the equal dignity and preservation of Eastern Churches and rites, reception into unity, and sacramental sharing
- 3.Erga migrantes caritas Christi — Holy See instruction on Eastern Catholic migrants, permanent ascription, proper rite, and pastoral provision outside their own hierarchy
- 4.Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canons 469–1546 — Official promulgated text, especially canons 670–672, 702, and 916 on worship, sacramental sharing, concelebration, and proper hierarchs