Good morning: 

Helping someone convert from Greek Orthodox to Roman Catholicism. 

He has was baptized and confirmed in the Greek Orthodox Church. It is his understanding that, per the Council of Trent, that all he would need to do is make a formal profession of faith and renounce the schismatic sect in front of a priest and two witnesses, and register in the local baptismal records. 

An SSPX priest told him that he would deny him the sacraments for a year and provide him basic catechetical training. 

He thinks that this SSPX priest may not be understanding what the requirements are and is applying the same standards to him as would be applied to any other convert. He reached out to the SSPX superior but has not received a response yet. 

I asked one resistance priests after Mass on Sunday, but I don't think I explained the case clearly and that he thought I was referring to another case and so I will need to ask again. 

I thought I would start here though to get a general idea of what the steps would be for someone to convert while in the midst of the crisis we are in. 

He is open to approaching one of the priests or bishops of the resistance to assist with his conversion. He is influenced by Abp. Lefebvre, however, I don't think he understands the difference between SSPX and resistance. 

Thank you in advance for any advice/help with this. God bless! 

I don't really know, since I do not know him on a personal level. He is merely someone who reached out. I get the impression that he is fairly well versed in the faith. I don't get the impression that he is merely seeking to bypass the SSPX priest's instructions to make the process easier on himself, but that he feels that he has a legitimate reason to question the initial response he was given. (That said, if he really wanted to convert he may need to go to whatever length it takes to convert and submit to whatever process is required). I think he just feels that this particular priest may be making things unnecessarily burdensome. (I don't know, nor necessarily agree--this priest maybe giving him exactly the correct advice/instruction). As for going to Eastern Rite Catholic, I don't think there are any in the US or Canada that have not gone along with Vatican II, so I think that option is out. I believe he did speak with an Eastern Rite priest from the local diocese and was told that he did not need to convert. Grace is moving him in the right direction. So I think I am just looking to either re-affirm what the SSPX priest has told him or point him in the right direction toward the next step. At the end of the day he will obviously need to talk with a priest or bishop himself about his particular case, but I am hoping I can get some idea of what the general parameters/questions are in cases like this generally speaking. 

An SSPX priest told him that he would deny him the sacraments for a year and provide him basic catechetical training.

KUDOS TO THE HOLY PRIEST!!!!

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If you turn the table around and it was a Roman Catholic attempting to convert to Orthodoxy, you will find the same procedure instituted before you are admitted to communion there. So it is only fitting and necessary that the good priest is requiring this.

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I know this from personal experience, before my husband converted to Eastern Catholicism we had tried Orthodoxy. I, as a cradle Catholic, was treated harshly as if I was not even a Christian. I was told the Orthodox mean to break a Catholic before admitting them into communion. I was told I had to deny the Chair of Peter and be re-baptized and I refused to do either. So after a year of catechesis and denial of all sacraments I walked away from Orthodoxy and shook the dust off myself. God was merciful.

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Tell your friend or whoever that they should consider themselves fortunate to have found an holy priest! And to  submit to their instruction.

I think your friend is a little confused.  Trent doesn't say anything of the sort.

Those who convert to the Church from heresy or schism do not have to be re-baptized, but that is not the same as saying they can just walk in and make a profession of faith day one.  Typically the priest will, at the bare minimum, want to meet with such converts to assess his understanding and knowledge of the faith.  And this is only prudent.  A life-time in a non-Catholic religion will tend to give someone the wrong impression about a few different things, despite whatever diligence they they have in looking into the faith for themselves.

A year might be a little steep.  Perhaps the priest means next Easter, since Easter is when converts are received.  If your friend is particularly anxious then encourage him to speak to a priest and make his best case.  I don't know the degree of latitude there is in receiving converts outside of the appointed times.

This makes sense to me. Thank you. 

I think that a year is excessive in such a case.  One could ascertain fairly quickly whether the conversion is based on solid principles.  If the person knows the basics of the faith that would be expected of a convert to learn, then there should be no delay.

SSPX priest's attitude is based on little faith in EENS.  If the person is properly disposed, then there's no reason to deprive him of the graces of the Sacraments.

I knew a Protestant who wanted to convert, but the Roman Rite wanted him to wait a year.  He was well informed and had been catechized well already by his Catholic wife.  I referred him to an Eastern Rite priest, who within a matter of weeks received him into the Church.  He's a very solid Catholic.  There was no reason to delay his entry into the Church for a year.

Centro,

At Pentecost, the Church began in an upper-room in the east, with only twelve members of the hiearchy, and when they left that room the Church exploded westward, gaining millions of converts and flourishing for two thousand years.

Vatican II was truly the anti-pentecost.  Thousands of bishops gathered at the most revered place in Western Christendom, and when they left the faith throughout the world dissipated and contracted within a generation.  It is only fitting that Catholics who attempt to find solace in Tradition are drawn, almost providentially, as the drama completes itself, back to the most ancient customs and rites of the Eastern Church.  

Forgive me if I am mistaken, but didn’t  the Ukrainian Catholic Church and other Eastern Rites generally slide post-Vat II, falling in line with the Spirit of the Council and making changes to their liturgies (like abandoning Old Slavonic etc)?

(With the exception of the Eastern Rites that are apart of the resistance and that cooperate w/ +Williamson?)

Byzantine tradition has always been the vernacular. The Ukrainian Church mostly used Ukrainian. That is why their Liturgy was not poisoned by Vatican 2. Again, thoroughly Catholic Liturgy used by the UGCC. The group attached to the SSPX wanted more Latinisms, which even includes special devotion to Sister Fautina and the Divine Chaplet. They seem closer to V2 then the official UGCC judging by their website. The UGCC is criticized by the Orthodox for not being ecuмenical and taking back their churches in a Saint Nicolas du Chardonnet fashion. They criticize Francis openly on their website for playing the fiddle with the Russian Orthodox. If I want Latin traditions, I go to the local SSPX/CMRI/ Resistance Church. When I go to a church of the Byzantine tradition, I don’t expect to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. 

There have always been heretic prelates weezeled away in the Church. Given that we are in the worst crisis the Church has ever seen, the Eastern rite churches of the Byzantine or Alexandrian traditions are not immune to this. But the Latin Church has become thoroughly rotten so much so that members of the clergy have had to consecrate bishops without permission of Roman authorities for 30 years just to preserve the Latin liturgy and validity of Holy Orders. It's not an odd thing to go to a UGCC Liturgy and have a sermon about the Arian heresy or the Council of Nicea whereas your common diocesan Masses (if there are even valid Masses and Holy orders) will pump liberal ideas and who knows what else. The sermons at a Ukrainian Liturgy are more doctrinally sound or even more Traditionally Catholic than often what your local SSPX priest will preach, and this alone speaks volumes.