Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Orthodox Church of Puerto Rico Enters Into Union With the Catholic Church

“This news comes from Puerto Rico:
June 10, 2017 the Pan Orthodox of St. Spyridon in Trujillo Alto, PR community were received into the Catholic Church as a Greco Catholic Byzantine community under the “Omophorion” (jurisdiction) of the Latin Archbishop, Metropolitan Roberto González, O.F.M.
 
The welcome ceremony was presided over by the Vicar General of the Archdiocese, father Alberto Figueroa Morales on behalf of the Archbishop. The priests and parishioners made the profession of faith and during the liturgy were commemorated the Supreme Pontiff, Francisco and metropolitan Robert.
 
This makes the community of San Espiridión the first Eastern Catholic in Puerto Rico community. Welcome to the priests and parishioners of San Espiridión to the Catholic Church. They will continue celebrating the Divine Liturgy and sacred mysteries according to the Byzantine tradition. The continuous liturgy in the Church Slavonic language, English and Spanish… following the liturgical calendar Julian (old calendar).
AMDG

55 comments:

Unknown said...

Because they need money or something? Or are they attracted to the new liberal 'catholic'
church? A lot of orthodox churches have a fairly liberal view on some of the life issues especially divorce and re-marriage.

Seattle kim

Thomas A said...

A certainty is that they are not sede-vacantists who have spat the pacifier.

Anil Wang said...

Neither of those reasons would be helped by joining the Catholic Church.

If anything visibly recent predicated the reunion it is likely the recent failed pan-Orthodox Synod which shows how bitterly divided the Orthodox are because they do not have a Pope (which is why Pope Francis's doctrinal devolution to bishops and bishops conferences is so dangerous).

Anonymous said...

Union with a Pope like Francis? The Puerto Rican Orthodox gave up an awful lot for nothing in return.
Union with a Pope like Benedict XVI and all his predecessors, yes. Francis? H--- No!!
Damian Malliapalli

Anonymous said...

I guess the Holy Spirit made a mistake a few years ago, huh?

Anonymous said...

$20 says the next "Orthodox Nationalist" podcast will experience wailing & knashing of teeth over this event.
I like his podcast but that man is arrogant & patronizing to say the least.

susan said...

nooooo.....the idiot, and/or cowardly, and/or (mostly and) sodomitical cardinals made a mistake a few years ago.

putz.

Osusanna said...

Anonymous, the Holy Spirit is not even near a sodomite church.

Ivan said...

Or a church that slid into financial corruption as a result of the Lateran Treaty of 1929. That goes a long way toward explaining the Council and its aftermath.

JBQ said...

Interesting comments on the motivation for the merger. When you approach San Juan by sea, you see the magnificent fort guarding the approach. This is Spanish Catholicity with all of its greatness and foibles. --- It must be reminded that Argentina is part of that tradition but Francis is not. His parents emigrated from Italy and the "bar room bouncer" grew up speaking Italian. He has never seen El Greco's "View of Toledo" either in a museum or in reality. This only reinforces his view as a naïve supporter of Islam.---I would wonder if he has ever been to Spain. His roots in Liberation Theology would preclude that I am sure. I am also sure that "for God and Spain" would make him turn green.

Anonymous said...

My wife and I attended Vigil there and Divine Liturgy three years ago. They community was small but very welcoming. The priest gave us an icon of the Theotokos. The chapel had been donated to them by the Jesuits. The Orthodox had been scanalized to discover that the Eucharist had been left to rot in the tabernacle.

My memory is that the priest was from Montenegro and had been under the amaphore of the Ecumenical Patriarch. Constantinople today is almost as heretical as Bergoglio so it will not put this community in any worse shape. Moreover, the Byzantine Catholics are mostly part of the resistance to the antiPope. This might allow the congregation to grow as there are few Latin Masses in PR and yet there are many Catholics who desire true and right worship.

Anonymous said...

The Holy Spirit had nothing to do with the election of Francis. He was a leading contender for the election of 2005, but lost (Thank God) to Joseph Ratzinger. The rad pack which tried to get their man Fran in in 2005 made the 7 1/2 years of Pope Benedict XVI a hell for him....just like the like minded Democrats are making things hell for Trump. finally forcing Benedict XVI out in a coup, they cold then have their man Fran who lost in 2005, elected in 2013. With a mighty campaign effort both by supporters and Fran himself trying to sway votes before the conclave (which is illegal in Papal elections), he won!! He won using all the down and dirty, behind the back double dealings a la Hillary Clinton and company.

The Holy Spirit is innocent in all this. The Holy Spirit had/has nothing to do with the mess the Church is in now. This is all Fran.

Damian Malliapalli

Anonymous said...

Good news, as far as I can see.

Jim P said...

And let's not forget who is responsible for global warming, the cracking of the Antarctic ice sheet and the re-emergence of the Black Death in sub-Saharan Africa.

Anonymous said...

At least they will have valid holy orders as the Orthodox kept their traditions regarding the sacraments.

Unknown said...

True. And many sedevacantists attend Eastern Orthodox parishes for that very reason---valid priests and valid bishops (patriarchs.)

Seattle kim

Thomas A said...

QED, they're quitters who haven't got the guts or intellect to stay in their own tradition and work for the reforms they want.

Anonymous said...

The Orthodox reunited with the Catholics during the Council of Florence and stayed with us for a decade or better.
History is sometimes more complicated than it seems.
On the surface it seems simple but once you start digging in and reading,the problems become more involved.

C.M.Drew said...

They "made the profession of faith".
It could only be the Ratzinger 1988 "profession of faith".
The Orthodox are heretics. They deny the dogmas of the Indisolubility of Marriage,the Filioque, Immaculate Conception, Primacy of the Pope, Purgatory...
Why not join the modernist church with NO DOGMAS where like the Lutherans and other heretics now find accommodation to their sins.

Tancred said...

You're not that powerful, feybriel.

Tancred said...

The Orthodox largely became a creature of the Sultan after 1453.

Bill said...

Judging from your comments I believe your moniker "Anonymous" is well chosen. Those with anti-type views on everything imaginable are fearful of being known.

JBQ said...

Interesting. Now, I need to do research.

Francis Truth said...

It was Rome that changed the Filioque, the Sign of the Cross,invented Purgatory, brought in Vatican II with liturgical modernism with altar girls, lay ministers, guitar music, Protestant vestments, nuns in skirts. The Roman Church is Protestant now.

Francis Truth said...

One other thing: it is the Orthodox Church, and only the Orthodox Church,that has maintained Tradition, respects Tradition, hence its unchanging Liturgy, fasting rules (very strict--there is NO fasting in the freewheeling Roman Church). So many Catholic masses are banal and Protestant-like, evidence that Tradition has been snuffed out in favor of modernism. Thank God for the Orthodox Church!

Anonymous said...

Yes, the Orthodox are divided because they do not have a pope, and we Catholics are divided because we do have one.

M. Ray said...

The Orthodox Church has maintained tradition? Really? The Orthodox Church allows divorce and remarriage - actually they allow TWO divorces and remarriages per adherent. And they allow artificial contraception for couples. These things aren't "traditional."

M. Ray

M. Ray said...

We Catholics are not divided because we have a Pope. Rather, there is division because our Pope is a modernist.

M.Ray

Catholic Mission said...

JULY 13, 2017

Pope Francis violates the Principle of Non Contradiction: chooses irrational interpretation of Vatican Council II which is not the work of the Holy Spirit
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.it/2017/07/pope-francis-violates-principle-of-non.html

Prof. Robert Fastiggi, Ralph Martin agree that invisible people cannot be visible at the same time : in agreement with Fr. Stefano Visintin's statement
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.it/2017/07/prof-robert-fastiggi-ralph-martin-agree.html

Anonymous said...

Ok thank you

Anonymous said...

@Tancred That's what I have read and from what I gather,not all Orthodox wanted to leave the Church.
Thus,the reason for uniate churches.

Anonymous said...

I attend a traditional Catholic chapel & most of us fast after midnight and our priest celebrates the pre-1950 Rubrics,Holy Week,Holy Mass, etc..
Not all Catholics are novus Ordo.

Anonymous said...

Our traditional chapel practices the pre-1950 calendar,rubrics,Holy Week,Holy Mass,etc...most of us fast after midnight for Holy Communion.
#2 What about when the orthodox reunited with the Church during the Council of Florence?Were they wrong and evil?
From what I have read an Ottoman Sultan is the reason the Schism started all over again.
Number #3 I wish traditional Catholics and Orthodox would reunite.Why are you so insulting & resentful of us?
I look at you all as seperates brothers,not the enemy!

Anonymous said...

Forgot to say I'm not
"anti views on everything" buddy.
I like Nathanael's podcast,just wish he would stop being so damn patronizing.
"You're an idiot" "you're stupid" "let the adults handle this situation" etc etc etc
He says this in his podcast and it comes off as extremely arrogant and patronizing.
Maybe its not his intention but its no different from an arrogant hateful Jew leftist attitude.
Yes he is very smart & educated,much more so me and I admit it buddy.
He needs to chill and understand there are differing views and attitudes.

Anonymous said...

Please do not refer to the Eastern Catholic Churches as "uniate churches" (sic).

"The Church is neither Latin nor Greek nor Slav but Catholic, and as such all are equal in the eyes of this Apostolic See." - Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922)

Tancred said...

A lot of Orthodox also left the Church because of the Liturgical Reforms and the Great Synod, becoming "Old Believers" who splintered off into numerous sects each rejecting the ecclesiastical reform proposed to put their liturgical books in line with the Greek originals.

Jack D said...

All invisible Catholics go to heaven.

JBQ said...

"Badges, we don't need no stinkin' badges." 1948 "Treasure of the Sierra Madre". Tradition is gone and blown up by Liberation Theology. Malachi Martin gave the blueprint in "The Jesuits".

Anonymous said...

"The Orthodox Church has maintained tradition? Really? The Orthodox Church allows divorce and remarriage - actually they allow TWO divorces and remarriages per adherent. And they allow artificial contraception for couples. These things aren't 'traditional.'"

Strictly speaking, divorce/remarriage and artificial contraception are issues of oikonomia (pastoral dispensation) in the Orthodox Church. Oikonomia is a loosening of the canonical and eternal penalties for those who break a canonical or divine law, not a changing of the canonical or divine law and much less a permission to sin.

When applied to moral issues like divorce/remarriage and contraception, oikonomia operates under the belief that people with mitigating circumstances are not always subjectively guilty of the objective sins they commit and may be permitted on a case-by-case basis to continue to participate in the life of the Church despite their objective sins (always a theoretical possibility in the Catholic Church).

Interestingly, Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia explains Orthodox oikonomia very well.

Anonymous said...

"Please do not refer to the Eastern Catholic Churches as 'uniate churches' (sic)."

It was standard to refer to Eastern Catholic Church as "uniate" before Vatican II

Anonymous said...

It might be, but be careful, sometimes these reunion stories have controversial clergy associated with them who have a history of moving from one Orthodox jurisdiction to the next (and may even convert to Catholicism) in order to operate according to their personality cults and idiosyncrasies.

Anonymous said...

Seattle Kim,

I didn't know that many sedevacantists attend Eastern Orthodox parishes. Do they regularly attend these parishes and how much do they participate? How do they reconcile participating in schismatic worship with their adherence to pre-Vatican II bans on common worship, which they believe are still in effect?

Thanks!

Unknown said...

The ones I know attend either Byzantine Catholic and Ukrainian rite Catholic parishes. The Maronite rites seem to have deteriorated into more post Vat 2 type aberrations. The sedes I know that do this are not public about their sedevacantism
While at church and stalwartly refuse to contribute any Peters Pence collections. The orthodox rites of ordination, consecration and the Mass --were relatively untouched by Vat 2 which drastically altered all
The sacraments in such a way as to render them doubtful.

However a lot of sedevacantists will not go
This route because they believe a Mass that is una cum Francis is an acknowledgement of his papacy.

If you want to talk to sedes who worship at Eastern rite catholicnchurches---try Trad Cath Boards.

Seattle kim

Anonymous said...

@Tancred I've read the old believer Orthodox didn't have Bishops for a substantial amount of time and that within old believer Orthodox,there numerous different beliefs, sects,etc...
Its funny how certain Orthodox play on people's ignorance.
Some (not all!) will go on & on about their traditions.
If someone knows about the old believers,the sultan creating the 2nd schism at Florence,or how mainstream Orthodoxy is splintered and divided,they quickly quiet down.
I still see the Orthodox as my seperated brethren!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
M. Ray said...

The Eastern Orthodox go against what Our Lord specifically commanded regarding divorce and remarriage. It's no surprise that Pope Francis wants to go the way of the heterodox E.O.

M. Ray

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Study church history and you will find the Catholic turned from the first church. The Orthodox Church. The church had five seats in Alexander, Antioch, Jerusalem, Constantinople, and Rome. Rome turned away not the others and because they were located in the west they had an impact on the western world. Before they turned away all the west was Orthodox. The reason the Orthodox use Catholic is because it means universal. The universal church is the Orthodox Church from the beginning. That term was used in the Orthodox Church when Rome was apart of it and then the Roman seat used it as their church name. Church history from the church fathers tells the truth. The Catholic will not tell the full history of the church when they speak of it. I found that out personally. I am a seeker of the truth and the Catholics changed from the fullness of the truth in 1054.

Anonymous said...

PRAISE GOD.
FINALLY SOMEONE SPEAKS THE TRUTH!!!
Tears of sadness that they joined with the Catholic Church. What a great disappointment.
And yes, Thank God for the Orthodox Church! Her steadfast faith throughout all the years ever faithful to the fullness of the truth.
Orthodox tradition holds that the Holy Fire happens annually on the day preceding Orthodox Pascha (Orthodox Easter), in which a blue light emanates within Jesus Christ's tomb (usually rising from the marble slab covering the stone bed believed to be that upon which Jesus' body was placed for burial) now in the Holy Sepulchre, which eventually forms a column containing a form of fire, from which candles are lit, which are then used to light the candles of the clergy and pilgrims in attendance. The fire is also said to spontaneously light other lamps and candles around the church.[1][2] Pilgrims and clergy claim that the Holy Fire does not burn them. This does not happen for the Catholic Church. Very sorry to hear they did such a thing to turn away from the fullness of the faith.

Holy Fire
http://www.holyfire.org/eng/

Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

Anonymous said...

M. Ray,

Orthodox oikonomia for divorce and remarriage (and non-abortive contraception) is a pastoral practice that loosens the canonical and eternal penalties for those who commit these actions with mitigating circumstances. Technically, according to Catholic doctrine, such individuals with mitigating circumstances are not fully guilty of their mortal sin and are already essentially able to participate in the sacramental life of the Church. A pastoral practice that recognizes this already-present spiritual state of some of the faithful can hardly be called a doctrinal error (when properly interpreted), since it puts into actuality something that is already possible for individuals in Catholic doctrine.

Tancred said...

That's pretty naive, but once you actually settle down in the day-to-day reality of it all, if you're fortunate enough to live in an ethnic eastern community, is pretty discouraging.

Ortiz Orellena said...

What I find interesting is in addition to the Archimandrite, 2 Protopresbyters, 1 Subdeacon, and 1 Reader that left the Greek 'Orthodox' Metropolis of Mexico, 16 other clergymen of the Metropolis are seeking refuge in the Greek Catholic Church.

Habashi said...

This is the same two clergy who preached against Rome for so many years??? Weeping statues and crosses these two guysare a joke.

Malek said...

They were Catholics in the 90s while in Australia and they are simply coming back to the Catholic fold. They performed services just as Catholics do, even gave those wafers as communion. Two miracles 1st a weeping statue (catholic mode) then weeping icon (orthodox mode). Why would you leave a parish where miracles had occurred? The antiochian diocese not holy enough for such defenders of the faith?? Went to Puerto Rico and joined the Russians. Someone knows what has happened there to prompt yet another change. Deceivers then and deceivers now.