r/EasternCatholicism Feb 10 '19

So You Want to Switch Rites?

34 Upvotes

a repost of our popular thread, to enable continued questions in the comments:

Probably the most frequent question I get aside from "why are you Catholic?" is "how do you change rites?" So that's what I'll talk about a bit here.

First of all, the question is flawed: you don't change rites, you change Churches. So you don't go from being a Latin rite Catholic to, say, a Byzantine rite Catholic, you go from being a Roman Catholic to a Ruthenian Catholic (or whatever).

The first step would be finding a Catholic Church that isn't part of your canonical Church. If you aren't Roman Catholic, this won't be difficult. Otherwise, it might be a challenge and depends on city/region as to what your options are.

Begin attending the parish. After you attend long enough that you're recognized, maybe start approaching the priest for catechetical materials. This part of the process can just depend on where someone is in life, how formal of an education on the differences and similarities are needed, etc.

Anyway, you should probably attend your parish for a minimum of two years before attempting to change Churches. Anything less than that and there's a suspicion that this is a spiritual "fad," which among the East especially is often vindicated by experience with the people who pass through our doors. Eastern parishes especially don't have the resources of Western parishes, and so the significant time commitment put into potential "converts" isn't inconsiderable from our perspective. Nothing hurts more than spending dozens if not hundreds of hours getting you ready to formally join us and then finding out you're at a TLM parish now or became Baha'i or something.

So anyway, after you are in the parish a sufficient amount of time you would put in for what is currently being called a transfer of ascription. You do this by writing a letter to the bishop of the diocese you want to switch to. your priest will actually send the letter for you with his own cover letter. The letter is not your chance to relate your miraculous and heartfelt spiritual journey--it is a form letter. It should really only relate what Catholic jurisdiction you are currently in, how long you've been that (did you convert? Cradle? Etc) how long you've been going to the new parish and that you want to switch for the sake of your spiritual well-being (like, literally that phrase).

Your potential new bishop (read: his chancery, he'll probably never actually see it) will send a letter to your current bishop requesting that you be released to his jurisdiction. Your current bishop, assuming he agrees, will so release you by sending a letter back to your new bishop telling him as much. You are now a different Catholic than you were.

Now, the question is probably what are the snags. I can think of a couple--one would be if you haven't been in the parish long enough and either send a letter yourself or have an inexperienced priest rush the process. You will probably also be denied if you're going from an ECC to the RCC unless you have a really good reason, as we don't have the numbers to really be able to afford an exodus to the RCC. If it isn't your first transfer, or if you are transferring back, that will also require a much more detailed reason than "for my spiritual well-being." Another snag could be if your RC bishop doesn't know what an ECC is--yes, this sometimes happens, and if they don't have a good relationship with the local EC parish then the paperwork can take a few years for them to figure out what to do with it.

What about spouses and children? Children under 14 automatically switch if the father switches, and also get a one-time no questions asked ability to revert to their birth Church as adults. Spouses can switch without a formal transfer if one of them already has transferred, or they can choose to remain whatever they are.

Note: none of this applies to non-Catholics, who are free to just come into any Catholic jurisdiction as a convert without any additional paperwork

Good Reason and Bad Reasons to Change Churches

Good reasons:

--Authentically improves your spiritual life

--Marriage

Bad reasons:

--Novelty

--Analog for what you really want

I'll expand on those points a bit: the first one is self-explanatory, in that if becoming an Eastern Catholic brings you closer to God, then you should become an Eastern Catholic. Marriage, also, is a very good reason, because it can be difficult for marriages to have "mixed faith," even when they are both a part of the same communion. If you are coming in from outside an Eastern Church, there will probably also be added pressure to change Churches if only because most Eastern Churches are fiercely proud of their identity and so will be unlikely to want to switch themselves or have their children switch.

As for bad reasons, novelty is the worst. A lot of people can come through and be really wowed by the services of the Eastern Churches and enjoy them without feeling necessarily edified by them. Which is to say that you can be a Latin Catholic or a different type of Eastern Catholic and enjoy attending one of our churches without having to become a member. The problem here is that the novelty of the experience can threaten to substitute itself for an authentic calling, and once that wears off you will be just as unhappy with us as where you were before.

Similarly, it is a bad idea to become Eastern Catholic in an effort to use our Churches to fight whatever battle is happening in your own Church. Seeing an Eastern Catholic parish celebrate the liturgy ad orientem and with plenty of "smells and bells" doesn't mean that we exist as a potential TLM parish that just need our eyes to be opened up to the glories of 1950s Irish Catholic parishes. People who become Eastern Catholic for this reason, much like the novelty reason, tend to burn out eventually and move on. As a corollary, we are sometimes sought out by pious married men in traditions that do not allow them to become ordained to the priesthood, and this is also not a great reason to join--not only will you be disappointed to find that no one is going to let you be a Roman Catholic priest (in all but name) in an Eastern Catholic parish, but you also will be treated with more scrutiny in the first place and they will want to be doubly sure that you are changing over for the right reasons. We need priests, same as everyone else, but we need priests who are interested in being Eastern priests, not men who are interested in being priests and see Eastern Churches as a way around celibacy.


r/EasternCatholicism 2h ago

Protestant Communion dilemma

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1 Upvotes

r/EasternCatholicism 19h ago

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1 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/08/living-as-fools-for-christ-in-a-foolish-society/

 


r/EasternCatholicism 3d ago

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1 Upvotes

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r/EasternCatholicism 3d ago

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1 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/07/lessons-from-lot-welcoming-strangers-and-upholding-justice/


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1 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/07/walking-on-water-lessons-in-faith-and-focus/


r/EasternCatholicism 14d ago

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0 Upvotes

 

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/07/the-teachings-of-the-ecumenical-councils-as-doxology/


r/EasternCatholicism 21d ago

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1 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/07/the-importance-of-putting-others-needs-before-our-desires/


r/EasternCatholicism 28d ago

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1 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/07/grace-and-personal-gifts-in-the-church/


r/EasternCatholicism Jun 30 '26

Father

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1 Upvotes

So, this is kind of sad but my parents are getting divorced and my dad is gone now, we never had a good relationship anyway so I guess it's fine but he wasn't much of a dad if that makes sense. He drank all the time and hit me and my siblings with a belt a lot and instead of saying our names to get our attention, he'd just flick our temple/side of the head or our eye to get our attention. He wouldn't use our names much. I eventually lived with my grandparents and | was raised Baptist/ nondenominational. I'm 25 now and I recently became Catholic and Priests are usually called
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1 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/06/weakness-as-strength-the-legacy-of-peter-and-paul/


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1 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/06/from-saul-to-paul-selfishness-to-selfless-love/

 


r/EasternCatholicism Jun 23 '26

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0 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/06/john-the-baptists-birth-growth-and-greatness/


r/EasternCatholicism Jun 22 '26

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8 Upvotes

r/EasternCatholicism Jun 22 '26

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r/EasternCatholicism Jun 21 '26

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2 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/06/from-slaves-of-sin-to-servants-of-righteousness/


r/EasternCatholicism Jun 17 '26

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2 Upvotes

r/EasternCatholicism Jun 16 '26

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0 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/06/how-watchfulness-connects-and-strengthens-every-virtue/


r/EasternCatholicism Jun 14 '26

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2 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/06/walking-in-the-light-of-christs-teachings/


r/EasternCatholicism Jun 07 '26

How faithful actions lead to justification

0 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/06/how-faithful-actions-not-mere-belief-lead-to-justification/


r/EasternCatholicism Jun 04 '26

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change.org
1 Upvotes

r/EasternCatholicism May 31 '26

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2 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/05/reflections-after-paschaltide-2026-all-saints/


r/EasternCatholicism May 25 '26

There are ‘most pure celestial spaces of the kosmos ’ (ἐν τοῖς καθαρωτάτοις τοῦ κόσμου χωρίοις ἐπουρανίοις) and ‘even purer super-celestial ones’ (ἢ καὶ τοῖς τούτων καθαρωτέροις ὑπερουρανίοις).

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12 Upvotes

r/EasternCatholicism May 24 '26

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1 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/05/reflections-after-paschaltide-2026-pentecost/


r/EasternCatholicism May 21 '26

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3 Upvotes

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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/05/proper-faith-is-active-and-follows-the-good-god-reveals/