May I suggest that if you have questions about the Antiochian Western Rite Vicarate, one might address those questions to His Grace Bishop BASIL (Essey) of the Diocese of Wichita and the Mid-America. His e-mail is openly listed on the Antiochian website under his diocese. He writes back within 1-2 weeks usually. The e-mail addresses of other members of the commission are listed on the Antiochian website as well. They have always responded to questions by people I have sent there in the past. His Grace Bishop Basil has many Western Rite parishes in his Diocese and was initially given the duty of Archepiscopal Vicar (i.e. bishop vicar) serving those parishes. Officially Western Rite parishes are under the ordinary supervision of their diocesan bishop. His Grace serves over the Western Rite Vicarate Commission as Archepiscopal Vicar. [Addendum:I will also be at a Parish Life conference next week for the Diocese of Witchita and Mid-America, where many of our Western Rite parishes will be present I will address some of your issues with them for their reponses it you like, PM the questions to me and I will gladly pass them on for you---they can then respond to them via e-mail if you wish.
His Grace Bishop Basil is also one of the leading Liturgists in the Archdiocese, his book,
The Liturgikon: the Book of Divine Services for the Priest and Deacon, was published in 1989 by Antakya Press and serves as the guidelines for liturgical practice of the Eastern Rite in the Archdiocese. He is the only monastic hierarch in the Antiochian Archdiocese being a member of the Orthodox Brotherhood of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist at Tolleshunt Knights, England.
The official article on the Web by the Antiochian Archdiocese may be found here:
http://www.antiochian.org/western-riteHere are the four Liturgies that I am aware of being utilized by the Western Rites of various jurisdictions:
Divine Liturgy of Saint Tikhon – This liturgy is currently used by approximately two-thirds of congregations in the AWRV. The Rite of St. Tikhon was developed utilizing the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer and the Anglican Missal. The Book of Common Prayer was altered by removing the filioque from the text of the Nicene Creed, include prayers for the dead, the invocation of the saints, strengthening the epiclesis within the Eucharistic prayer, and the addition of a few other prayers from the Byzantine Rite. It is utilized primarily by parishes formally of an Anglican/Episcopal background. A variation of this liturgy called "The English Liturgy." was augmented with material from the Sarum Missal and approved by ROCOR for Western Rite use.
Divine Liturgy of Saint Gregory – Utilized by the remainder of the AWRV, this rite is a version of the Roman Tridentine Mass which has been altered to remove the filioque and inserting a Byzantine epiclesis. It is used primarily by parishes formerly of a Lutheran, Roman Catholic, or Old Catholic background, including those incorporated from the Society of Saint Basil in 1961. One Orthodox Benedictine monastery, Christminster, uses a slightly different form of this liturgy.
Sarum Rite – St. Petroc Monastery, a ROCOR monastery located on Tasmania, as well as its dependencies celebrate the Sarum Liturgy. Western Rite parishes under the supervision of the Holy Synod of Milan also utilize what it calls the Old Sarum Rite, which differs greatly from the version celebrated in ROCOR [This translation and rubrics are the result of the work of a former priest of the Milan Synod, Hieromonk Aidan (Keller)].
Liturgy of St. Germanus – Utilized only by l'Eglise Orthodoxe de France (ECOF), the liturgy of St. Germanus is a reconstructed version of what is presumed to be Gallican rite, but which has been supplemented with elements from the Byzantine, Celtic and Mozarabic rites. This was the Western Rite Liturgy encouraged in France by St John of Shanghai and San Francisco (ROCOR) when he was the Bishop serving ROCOR in France.
adapted from article on WikedpediaWhile there may be individual opinions as to the use of the Western Rite, those Orthodox jurisdictions in communion with World Orthodoxy or put more succinctly those in communion with the historic patriarchates, recognize western rite Orthodox under the Antiochian and ROCOR jurisdictions as being fully canonical and Orthodox and able to commune within their jurisdictions.
Thomas