CATHOLICS: Question---Please Help. :(

[WhatIsTruth]

Hola all..

I've been searching for this for about 2 weeks now..

I was wondering whether or not the recent barring of gays in the priesthood was a papal bull and whether or not it effected the Eastern Rite Catholics...

I had heard that the Eastern Catholics had a seperate Magisterium?? *looks around very conrazzled* I didn't think this was true...but I can't find any answer either way.

Please help...so I can stop searching every internet search engine on earth

 

[chrislife]

I don't know the answer to the first part of your question, regarding what form the statement took.

Eastern Catholics have a different code of canon law, but all Catholics in union with the Church share the same magisterium. The magisterium is the teaching authority of the Church, and is the source of dogmatic teachings, those we know to be infallibly true and applicable to all. Canon law, however, is the list of "rules" that a churc and her members must follow. Frequently when people say "code of canon law" they mean the latin code, but actually the code for the Latin Rite does not apply to other Rites.

Does that help?

---Christina

 

[Paul S]

I haven't seen the document, so I don't know whether it applies to all rites or just to the Latin Church. The barring of gays from the priesthood is a disciplinary decision of the Pope, so it doesn't automatically apply to the whole Church, nor are we required to believe that it's a good idea (although I think this one is).

 

[Angelus00]

This isn't a new thing, however. I think it's just a "tightening" of those things that have been there but not enforced or not enforced appropriately.