What a powerful thought! My grandfather was a Byzantine priest, his wife was a cousin of the Blessed Bishop Gojdich, and one of my cousins is now an Orthodox priest . . . so this article truly hits home for me!

I must offer a belated word of thanks not only for this blog but for this specific article. You have expressed the desire of my heart. I doubt that I have seen the reason for our existence stated any better than you have in this article.

Thank you,

CDL

Susan,

We welcome your interest. The rule of thumb is that you would wish to commune for at least a year before enrolling. In any event, make your wishes known to the priest and he can advise.

CDL

Except that it is not purely sorrow. I grieve over the schism. But I also am glad they are there, being who they are, worshipping the way they worship. What if Byzantine Catholics were the only Eastern Christians? How would you feel if you drove by and found out that that Orthodox church had become a Methodist church or a Presbyterian church, or a Baptist church? Wouldn’t that make you feel worse? It is joy at the goodness, and joy at the closeness, which makes the remaining separation so very painful.

I even feel this pain about Protestants sometimes, even though they are more distant relatives. Back in my college days I was going somewhere with a professor who was the music minister (he was seminary trained but chose to teach) of his United Church of Christ church. (This was a long time ago before UCC got involved with all sorts of modern heresies) I watched all the churches of various denominations go by, feeling sadder and sadder, and then it suddenly occurred to me, and I said outloud “But, the Church Triumphant is One.” He understood me without any explanation. Back then I knew only Roman Rite Catholics and Protestants.( well…I knew one Orthodox and went to the Greek Orthodox church in my college town with her once, but it was purely ethnic,all in Greek, and didn’t make a real impression on me as a possibility. Also no one went to communion…people brought their babies up for communion, but the adults didn’t receive. ) So I was more aware of the Christianity of Protestants and grieved over the schism at the time of the Reformation and fantasized over schemes to resolve those issues.

This past year one of my sons, who was not practicing ..or believing..the Catholic faith I had tried to teach him, became an Orthodox catechumen. I went to church with him and fell in love with the Divine Liturgy. But I am a convert to Catholicism, at just about his age now, and I did that after very intensely seeking the truth and God’s will for me. I couldn’t not be a Catholic.

When we were looking, on Christmas eve, for Sts. Peter and Paul Orthodox church, we saw first, Sts. Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Church…just around the corner. I tucked that away in my mind, and after loving Orthodox worship and having the contrast between that and what went on at my Roman rite parish just make me miserable, I looked up the church in the phone book, found out that its sister parish had services at more convenient times for me, and started going there. What a difference it has made to my life to experience devout and reverent worship again!

I would like to know what is involved in switching rites, whether one is encouraged or discouraged from doing so, what exactly it means, if there are any strong reasons to do it or not to do it, if people think someone should attend a Byzantine church for a certain length of time before switching, etc. I haven’t been through a full church year yet. Any advice?

Susan Peterson