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Hi, Melissa —
You asked the right people. I, myself,
fall into a very similar category.
In 1939 my father was baptized a
Ukrainian Orthodox (as it turns out,
a church that used to be Byzantine
Catholic). In the mid-60s, he converted
to Catholicism when he married my
mother,
a Roman Catholic. I received my sacraments
in the Roman Rite and, as far as I
knew, was Roman but when I graduated
from college, an Anglican friend
who knew canon law said I might actually
be Byzantine.
Because my father
was originally a Byzantine Catholic and the
1917 Code of Canon Law (in effect until 1982) said that
you belong to the rite your father
belongs to. I consulted the local
Roman and Ukrainian dioceses, who
determined that in fact I was Byzantine.
Here is the rule.
If you were born before 1983 — this
is your case of course — you
follow the rite of your father. Thus
you and your father are Roman Rite Catholics.
In 1983, the new Code of Canon Law
was promulgated. This gave mixed-rite
parents the choice of rites for their
children, the default being the rite
of the father. So unless:
- he was born
after the 1983 Code of Canon Law
was promulgated, and
- his parents made
a specific decision for him to be
Roman Rite.
he is a Byzantine Rite Catholic.
Eric
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