This is, after all, an evangelization blog, isn’t it? I can best answer this with a story:
According to the “Russian Primary Chronicle,” probably compiled by the monks of the Crypt monastery in Kiev, late 11th century, Vladimir sent envoys to the Bulgars, the Germans and the Greeks to inquire as to their religious worship. It was the Greek that impressed them the most.
Posted in Liturgy | 5 Comments »
If anyone in the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church thinks that by including so called “Inclusive Language” into our liturgy is going to evangelize anyone please think again.
The whole issue of inclusive language is a non-issue. The only ones that really have an issue with non-inclusive language are those who really have separated themselves from the Church in the first place.
One only has to look at the groups that are clamoring for inclusive language to see that it is a who’s who of dissenting “Catholic” organizations that are in the process of dying off.
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!
Think about it. Would these two men be deemed worthy of seminary? Would they make it through the psychological testing, the classes on pastoral care?
Paul assisted in the murder of St. Stephen, insulted his congregations in writing, preached to the point where those he was preaching to took him to court, was taken outside the walls to be stoned (several times), and he was imprisoned.
Peter denied Christ three times, cut a guy’s ear off with a sword, he was locked up in jail, was on the Rome’s Most Wanted List.
As we approach the Feast of Peter and Paul, let us think about the Holy men who were called to the Priesthood in the past, and ask ourselves if the Church, today, would ordain them?
What kind of leadership will we need to thrive?
Trouble is no stranger to any of us. Jesus said, “In the world you have trouble but have courage I have overcome the world already” (A loose translation of John 16:33) We are given shepherds to lead us through these troubles. They would not be needed if the world were trouble free.
So, what is a shepherd to do when his flock has been diminished by over 2/3 in less than two decades? Our Shepherds may have to be more straightforward with his charges. God gives us the leaders we deserve but they do need our prayers and encouragement even if the encouragement causes pain to us and perhaps to them as well as they seek to chart a course in troubled waters.
Again, what is a shepherd to do?
This is a project I have been meaning to complete for this website. Luckily for me, Jeff at the Metropolitan Cantor Institute has put together a good set of pages with the structure of the Byzantine liturgy of the hours, along with links to the books that the MCI has published. Please go take a look here.
A group of Byzantine Catholic men (and sometimes even a few women) have been gathering for over a year now to read and discuss the Fathers of the Church. The idea was born in 2004 during a Theology of the Body retreat for men at our parish. We’ve wrestled with some of the letters of St. Basil, ascended Sinai with St. Gregory of Nyssa in the Life of Moses, and perused the Theological Orations of St. Gregory the Theologian. We also tackled St. Athanasius’ magnum opus, On the Incarnation. Now, we’re reading Saint Irenaeus of Lyons — a disciple of the brutally martyred St. Polycarp, who was in turn a disciple of St. John the Theologian.
The call to rediscover the Church Fathers is not a new one. John Paul the Great, of blessed memory, noted in his Apostolic Letter Orientale Lumen, which was promulgated on 2 May 1995, “Therefore, it is earnestly recommended that Catholics avail themselves more often of the spiritual riches of the Eastern Fathers which lift up the whole man to the contemplation of the divine mysteries.” His Holiness Benedict XVI is a well-known patristics scholar.
For Byzantine Catholics, a rediscovery and living experience of the Church Fathers is key to configuring our Church more closely to Christ. Up next: The Fathers, Beer and a good meal. Now, who would want to miss that?
O Christ our God, you are above all glory, for you have established our Holy Fathers as radiant stars on earth, and through them you have guided us all to the true faith.—Troparion of the Council Fathers.
This past Sunday at St. George Romanian Catholic Church, we recognized the decades of service offered by George Todos, who began cantoring as a boy and has now, in his eighties, retired from full-time cantoring duties. Pastor Fr. Fred Peterson presented George with an engraved plaque and other tokens of the parish’s gratitude. After Liturgy, we celebrated with a meal in the church basement.
This was an especially appropriate Sunday for such an event,