Well, the Monastery of Chevetogne, Saint Anthony's Church (between the Pontifical Oriental Institute and the Russicum), the Pontifical Greek College, the Church of Saint Athanasius in urbe, and a whole lot more are under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy See - and I can assure you from personal experience that they do not do the sort of things that the revisionists are seeking to coerce the Ruthenian Metropolia into doing. Nor are such aberrations characteristic of the Eparchy of Lungro, the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi, or the Apostolic Exarchate in Athens.

Father Serge

Father Bless!

I have to ask then, why is the Metropolia going through this horrible trial?

I find it hard to believe that there is no higher plan, what is the plan? What is the motivation?

It is said that generals usually plan for the last war, rarely the next one. Is that what has happened here...some 1970's agendum coming to life?

Or perhaps the idea is to crop short the liturgy enough to make it easier for any priest to handle two or more parishes on a Sunday?

My first inclination was always to trust the bishops, and I posted that opinion many times in prior discussions. But I am on the outside looking in and not a liturgical scholar by any means, the level of alarm coming from the insiders has not abated so I have to wonder how it ever came to be like this.

Is everyone on this board perhaps overreacting?

To All:

Although I have attended a Byzantine parish for six years now, I am relatively new to the forum. I am already alarmed reading what some of the proposed new changes might be.

I get the sense reading different threads in the RDL forum that most are against the proposed changes.

So my question is: what can we do about it? How do we make our voice heard? Is it too late to do anything?



Z Bohom

The question has been raised of why the Pittsburgh Metropolia is going through this trauma. I suggest a careful reading of my book, but meanwhile here are a few thoughts:

a) much of the problem originates in the specific history of what is now the Pittsburgh Metropolia;

b) as the questioner suggested, some of the problem originates in the not-uncommon tendency to prepare to fight the previous war, so to speak. This has led to the adoption of certain presumptions which motivated the reform of the Roman Rite after Vatican II, coupled with a refusal to examine dispassionately the results of that reform. In spite of strenuous assertions to the contrary, these presumptions are not held by the Orthodox, or by most Greek-Catholics.

c) Pittsburgh is indeed suffering a clergy shortage - and that is not unique to the Pittsburgh Metropolia. Whether a wholesale recasting of the Divine Liturgy would somehow alleviate that clergy shortage is highly debatable.

d) there are still those who cling to the notion that the Pittsburgh Metropolia needs a Liturgy which would be unique to that jurisdiction - having little or nothing in common with the Orthodox or with other Greek-Catholics. That Rome has mandated the opposite goal does not impress the supporters of that argument (probably because the underpinnings of the argument are emotional).

I hope that will do for a starter. Again, please read my book with attention.

Father Serge