Just as I am entitled to point out when I think that opinion is snide and uncharitable
Truth hurts. What is really an "Eastern Catholic" but a minority, and oddity in the Roman Catholic communion? They were useful at one time; they were latinized and they may become a bargaining chip -- once again. They are stuck between Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. They are neither. Their theology is Orthodox. But their heart is not. In the RCC they are a low singe digit percentage figure. That is pitiful. Nothing uncharitable or snide about it; just sad.
"In the RCC they are a low singe[sic] digit percentage figure."
Just 1% of the RC clergy in the U.S. to be exact.
It looks to me that Aidan Nichols OP is a Roman Catholic priest.
Those converts to the Uniate churches who despise the term should probably take Father up on his use of the word most vociferously.
Yes, but if ALL the Eastern Churches (including the non-Chalcedonians) suddenly were joined to Rome, they'd still be less than 10% of the total, due to the advanced state of decay of the membership numbers of the Slavic and Romanian Churches since the Communist catastrophe.
You are right it is pitiful. It is the result of 200 years of western inaction (or positively regressive action) led by the British in the face of the extermination of our eastern brothers by the Turks and Communists - since the time after Napoleon. How many times in the 1800's could Imperial Russia have liberated Constantinople, Pontus, Smyrna, and Rumelia if not under attack from Freemasonic Britian and Prussia and Revolutionary France? How many times did the same powers prevent Greece from her realizing her national aspirations to free New Rome and Anatolia? How many times did they ignore opportunities to smash the Communists Empire while it was still young?
So while 10-15 million Eastern Catholics may look tiny compared to 1+ billion of us Latins, keep in mind that those 10-15 million Eastern Catholics are around 15% of all Eastern Church members, due to the Eastern Churches being the front line against Islam, the Mongols, the Turks, and the Communists.