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Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses the use of Roman Catholic infrastructures by the Byzantine Catholic Church in North Macedonia. It aims at testing the thesis of an on-going Latinisation as a strategy of modernisation.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on how Eastern Catholic Churches (ECC) use the infrastructure of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). ECC are often neglected when considering the Catholic Church which is often only associated with the RCC. Because the ECC belong to the network of the RCC, i.e. they accept the dogmatic theology and the hierarchy, especially the pope as their head. Due to their historical emergence from Orthodox Churches, they also have their own characteristics as they celebrate the liturgy according to the Eastern rite, venerate icons and their priests are allowed to marry before their first ordination. Standing between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, ECC use infrastructures of both major churches to draw and cross boundaries. This applies especially to ECC in countries where all three churches co-exist, for example in North Macedonia. Using the infrastructure of the RCC consciously can be determined as Latinisation which for some ECC means a strategy of modernisation in terms of westernisation. This paper aims at testing this thesis exemplified by the Byzantine Catholic Church in North Macedonia. Since its origins in 1859, this Church has overlapping infrastructures with the RCC in terms of organization. Besides hierarchical structures, this case study analyses the infrastructure of theological education, and of the religious practice including the design of the churches and saint veneration. Hence, this study aims to answer the question: Which infrastructure of the RCC does the Byzantine Catholic Church in North Macedonia use? Methodologically and in terms of content, this study is based on qualitative empirical research which complements the desideratum of the research literature on the Byzantine Catholic Church specifically in Macedonia.