Can one be or become a member of the Maronite Rite?
No, not of a rite. It should be clear from the above that one cannot be a member of a prayer ritual (a rite). One can only FOLLOW a Rite (Antiochene, Byzantine, Latin, Chaldean, Alexandrine, Armenian) or USE or PRAY a rite such as Baptism, Washing of the Feet, etc.). Rather, it is more proper and accurate to speak of a Catholic being a member of a CHURCH, which Particular (sui iuris) Church thus follows a particular Rite. For too long people were used to saying that they belong to this or that Rite. But that was an older and less precise use of terms that described the reality of the Universal Church. The reasons for this inaccuracy are many and not always enriching. For example, if one says that he or she is a member of a certain Rite of the Church, the implication is that there is only one Church, the Roman Catholic, and Eastern Christians are just persons who use a particular rite of the Roman Church. In fact, there are many Catholic Churches, different from the Roman Church, who fo
