[ Archive for the 'The Fathers' Category ]
Posted by JohnG (June 21, 2006 at 12:45 pm)
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?
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Posted by JohnS (June 3, 2006 at 6:18 am)
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?
Posted by Eric (June 1, 2006 at 12:20 pm)
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,
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