The Spars of Gladiators
Posted by JohnS (June 22, 2006 at 7:56 pm)
There is quite a melee underway in the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church in the United States over liturgical changes. A lively discussion has been underway here for several years.
Fr. Serge Keleher, a Ukrainian Catholic priest, offered a spirited and insightful post over here. Fr. Serge so astutely observes, “If we are to make any sense even to ourselves, let alone to anyone else, the theology of our Liturgy must be our own theology – and if it isn’t, the answer is not to change the Liturgy but to allow the Liturgy to inform our theology.”
When our liturgy truly informs our theology in each and every parish across the Metropolia, our particular Church will move from maintenance mode to true growth. Our liturgy is our theology!
Our theology is informed by a lingering inferiority complex and a fear of being too Orthodox.
All this discussion about the Divine Liturgy of which we are stewards is good. It has been long over due. But adding inclusive language to our liturgy is not a panacea. And it might very well be hemlock. We shall see.
Great questions remain. When will all our churches have proper iconostasion? When will Saturday evening Masses be replaced with Vespers? When will we really restore Minor Orders? When will we have real vision for evangelization and the future? Stay tuned. Gladiators for Christ ready to enlist?
John,
I can’t get your link to work.
CDL
Comment posted June 22nd, 2006 at 8:51 pm
>>The Liturgy does not seem to truly inform theology in the Metropolia (except in 6-12 parishes out of a mere few hundred) across the United States.
What exactly is this supposed to mean? That in the rest of the parishes that somehow didn’t make your “6-12″ count (I’d love to know which 12 those might be) the people are a bunch of lukewarm Christians who can’t be bothered to know the difference between Latin and Byzantine Christianity and only go to their “chapel of convenience” out of habit? Please. You don’t go about evangelization by purposely offending the truly faithful that we’ve got left just because they are used to sitting in pews and their priest doesn’t close the royal doors before receiving Holy Communion.
Progress *is* being made, at least as I would rate it. In Pennsylvania alone there are at least 8 churches that have *added* icon screens (most of them quite substantial) just in the last 10 years, and this in churches that had previously *never* had one or had gone decades without one. That is progress, but I know it’s not as fast as the BEMA criteria would have them reforming. And most of the priests involved have tried to simultaneously move these parishes towards a fuller and better-quality liturgical life. But I’m sure at most only 1 of them would make your list of 12, just because they don’t have a vanguard of people on the Byzantine Forum always harping on how their parish is so much better than everyone else’s.
Comment posted June 28th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
I’m sure that John S is sorry that he has offended you. Then again, maybe not. You certainly don’t hesitate to offend others. I don’t know what John S may know about which parishes are solid and which are not. I’m certainly happy to hear that some are renewing as you have pointed out. I also understand that the metropolia weathered several years of Latinizations and have only recently been challenged toward this renewal.
One thing seems clear however, we are shrinking. That is a shame. Rather that nit pick why not join us in our efforts?
CDL
Comment posted June 28th, 2006 at 6:56 pm
Dear RDC,
Sanctity abounds all over the place. I’m sure of that. I’m also sure that it was ill-advised of John to make the generalization about 6-12 parishes. God forgive us if we squabble amongst ourselves, and God forgive any member of this blog who writes imprudently or intemperately. One thing I’ve learned about internet forums is that it’s usually a good idea _not_ to post whatever thoughts come into one’s head. I apologize if any of my posts here have been demagogic or dismissive of the graces that come everywhere throughout the Church. Let me know if I have done anything to offend.
You got success stories? Great! I love to hear them.
Comment posted June 28th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
RDC,
Glory to Jesus Christ! Slava Isusu Christu!
Glad you’ve ventured out into the deep here. Welcome.
I’m glad to hear progress is being made in the ongoing recovery of our full Carpatho-Rusyn spiritual heritage in Pennsylvania. That’s great news! We need to leverage those successes in all areas of our Church. Please share more.
I never said folks in the 6-12 parishes (a mere metaphor, perhaps a poor one, but a metaphor nonetheless) were “lukewarm Christians.” I’m sorry to offend.
We never “harp” about how much better our parishes are. Alas! All of our parishes still have a ways to go to fully radiate the “Light of the East” and recover our wonderful heritage.
I modified my post for clarity and hope to hear more of your ideas about how the Metropolia can evangelize and grow.
Again, please forgive me a sinner.
ICXC,
John
Comment posted June 29th, 2006 at 6:56 am
Well, consider any offense forgiven; thanks for the apology. I would still be interested to hear where these standout parishes are. (I know the first one is Annunciation; that’s a given.) I assume that the others are actually Ruthenian parishes and not the other well-known standouts like St. Elias in Brampton, ON or Ss. Volodymyr & Olha in Chicago.
One of the most touching liturgies I’ve been to in the past year or so (in the U.S.) was in a small old coal town in PA where the people knew that their church was to be closed in just a few weeks. It was the Sunday after Ascension (6th Paschal Sunday) and they began the morning by putting their tomb (Boz~yj hrib) away for the last time. The (fairly small) church was not packed but there were maybe 25 people in church. The singing wasn’t the best I’ve heard, but it was sincere and pleasing and from the heart. These folks may rightly have been saddened, even distraught, and even angry, at the impending closing of their church, but they didn’t seem bitter and they prayed sincerely and well. This was in a church that never had an iconostasis, but the liturgy was served well and for what it’s worth, it served the people well.
If that’s true, then why did the church have to be closed? I don’t know, perhaps it shouldn’t have been. The priest was in charge of 3, sometimes 4 parishes, and this church was in a depressed and isolated area. *Should* they have been more active in evangelization? Of course. Were there any number of things they *could* have done better to keep their church more vibrant & renewing with new life? Probably. But even though they didn’t know me, they greeted me in a friendly way and engaged me in kind conversation. I didn’t feel excluded in any way.
Now the truly faithful (who will keep practicing their Byzantine Catholicism in community) will have to drive perhaps 25 miles over narrow mountain roads to reach the Byzantine parish into which they were incorporated (from which their parish was served for many years and to which their parents and grandparents traveled before their own church was established). Are they doing so? Probably a few are, and probably even fewer do so regularly. The majority I saw in church were generally elderly people, so I can’t imagine that they will go that far every Sunday, but from what I saw of their faith, we might be surprised.
Comment posted June 29th, 2006 at 10:16 am
RDC,
The account is very moving. I don’t claim to have all of the answers but I sure wish we could get together as a Church or at least in each Eparchy, since the situations in each are somewhat different, and seek God’s face together for answers.
I’ve left to a note on my note to the Shepherds.
CDL
Comment posted June 30th, 2006 at 9:56 am
I don’t know if John was speaking figuratively or not. I don’t know enough Churches outside of Annunciation to make any claim whatsoever about any of the Churches.
It does seem to me that those who are more faithful to our traditions and have energetic and visionary priests are going to do better than those who lack those qualities. I don’t understand how a Church of twenty people can support a priest and a parish. But if they can that might be an argument that they can survive past a few years.
The problem is that many of these Churches are on life support. They receive a good deal of mission aid, so I hear, and can not or will not support themselves. I would think that not only do they have a short life expectancy but they ought to be encouraged to merge with another parish.
CDL
Comment posted July 18th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
Good blog!
Wee point of information: Fr Serge Keleher is a Russian Catholic priest, not Ukrainian.
Comment posted August 10th, 2006 at 2:41 pm