Dear Friends,

To our friends who are Latin Catholics and who have either come over to the Eastern Catholic Churches or are thinking of doing so - just a question.

If the Tridentine liturgy was still the official liturgy of the Latin Catholic Church, would you still be looking Eastward?

Alex

Yes.

Dear Father Deacon,

I meant "Latins" not "Lances!"

Are you a former Latin?

Don't tell me . . . the same as the above response?

Alex

yes.

Yes, I would. It's home. It was home the first time I ever went to a Byzantine liturgy, about 10 years ago.

I do think that the west would be better off going to some sort of modified vernacular Tridentine liturgy, but their current liturgical problems aren't the reasons I am where I am, anymore than an old girlfriend's faults are the reasons I'm married to my wife. I fell in love.

Yes.

Dear Administrator,

Begging your pardon, Sir, but don't you think I deserve some sort of commendation for having started a thread with some of the most succinct and to-the-point posts ever recorded on the Byzantine Forum?

Yes?

Alex

Alex,

Yes, Baptized, First Confessed, First Communed, Confirmed, and Married in the Latin Church. Although I had Greek Catholic relatives (and ancestors) with whom I was close so I was always around both traditions. The Byzantine Church is my home, I just wasn't born into it.

Fr. Deacon Lance

Dear Father Deacon Lance,

Well, the first form of the Sign of the Cross I ever learned was the Latin one . . .

And you sound like a cradle BC . . .

Alex

Yes, but only because I was raised post-Vatican II, and the Tridentine Mass is just as foreign to me as the Byzantine Divine Liturgy.

I was recently asked, if the local Roman diocese decided to obey Rome and offer the Indult, would I return to attend it, and reverse my path to Byzantium?

No, I would not. I'm home in Byzantium, and I've found peace and joy in mass for the first time in my adult life.

I never experienced that at the Indult Latin masses I have attended, and after much relection, I don't think I would now.

I'm currently reading "Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes" by John Meyendorff.

I must admit, its an aweful lot like learning a whole new foreign language.

And I have no problem with the married clergy of the eastern rite, though close friends, including a retired Byzantine priest, are very much opposed to it. I would never campaign for it amongst the Roman Rite, but now that I've met married eastern clergy, I see it as a natural part of the eastern Catholic tradition.

(Finally, I ask for patience and forgiveness if we "Latins" seem angry and harsh.

Its impossible to know what we've been through in some of these heterodox Roman dioceses.

The only thing comparable for a Catholic born to the eastern rite is the trials your people suffered here when Roman clergy persecuted your priests and faithful.

Remember that before you post harsh or judgemental replies to "Latins".)

Dear DocBrian,

Touche! Touche!

I'll leave you alone from now on . . .

Alex

I'd be interested in both. My interest is in the ancient traditions and the genuine spirituality of both traditions which I like to mix and match in my own personal life.

East and West have unique treasures to offer of their own accord. I figure, why choose one or the other? I choose both.

You have an excellent perspective on these matters, and even if I'm a bit "cranky" I value your input.

We all need "humbled" occasionally. Feel free to correct me any time I get out of line

Dear DocBrian,

You too, Big Guy, you too!

Are you a "Brian?" I understand that there is a "St Brian" in the calendar - King of Eire, I believe, although there are those who can't believe he made it to sainthood!

Nonetheless . . .

Alex

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

Having experienced many different forms of the Latin liturgy (from Children's Masses to sung Latin/English Pauline Masses to "high" and "low" Tridentine Masses) I can say without a doubt that I prefer to go to Divine Liturgy (to say nothing of the other aspects of Eastern Christian spiritually, theology, etc.)

--Mark Therrien