Good Article on Eastern Catholicism

My friend and brother in His Vineyard, Fr Miguel of Augusta emailed a very nice article entitled The Rite Not to Be Roman by Carl Olsen from a recent issue of This Rock magazine. It does a very nice job of explaining some of the differences between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Roman (Latin) Church.

It’s unfortunate that so many people have either no knowledge about the Eastern Catholic Churches or misconceptions about who we are and our contributions to the Church Catholic. Even usually well informed Roman (Western) Catholics typically don’t understand the relationship between the Eastern Churches and Rome. I recall trying to correct a friend who was absolutely convinced that my Patriarch was appointed by the Pope because “all bishops are appointed by Rome.”

Highlights of the article include the following:

“Ultimately, true Catholicism is not found in uniform worship or liturgy-the Catholic Church has not, since its earliest days in Jerusalem, been uniform in those areas. Rather, it has been united in its common faith, doctrine,and sacraments, concretely demonstrated by communion with the pope, the bishop of Rome. While there is a proper diversity in the realm of liturgical practice, devotions, and even disciplines, there is an essential unity in doctrine and dogma.”

Also noteworthy:

“…the Eastern Churches show forth the authentic unity and diversity that is truly Catholic. Eastern Catholics are concrete evidence that the Catholic Church is not a monolithic and homogenous Western institution but an ancient, catholic, and worldwide communion of the faithful united by dogma, doctrine, and the See of Peter.”

Don’t take my word for it, it’s worth reading. Check out the following link: http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2006/0601fea4.asp

For those interested, in the future I might include a few references, reviews or summaries of resources (Books, article, weblinks, etc.) I've found informative or useful over the years.