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Originally Posted by Michael_Thoma
Originally Posted by Ray S.
I brought the issue up a few times and was told the Eastern Church canonically can't evangelize in the United States or something to that effect. Quite a shame since the most if not all Eastern Churches will be closed in about 20 years. I am hoping we will set aside funding for a museum so people can know that we existed once.
This is patently untrue. Eastern Catholics are only not to 'evangelize' practicing Romans. Everyone else is fair game - without proselytizing. Our first method of evangelization is our authentic and full Liturgy - this I have only seen rarely and those rare parishes thrive. The latinized others keep losing members and only have gray hairs and recent immigrants in attendance.


What are the exact prohibitions against evangelizing amongst the Latins? wink

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worried about the practice of poaching. Yet, the irony is, as was brought up from posts moons ago, there were often stipulations provided for Eastern Catholic children enrolling in Roman Catholic schools. Like, I noticed a family (UGCC) where the eldest daughter received her first communion, at a Roman parish. Not my business, just an observation. I also observed prior to this: she had just received a blessing, not communion.

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Originally Posted by Lester S
I'm more of St. Seraphim's approach. If I am asked questions, I'll provide answers.
My 2 cents: when I hear "How does your parish evangelize?" and similar questions, "evangelize" doesn't seem to be the right word to put there. I don't have another word in mind to substitute, but as I say it just doesn't sound quite right.

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What are the exact prohibitions against evangelizing amongst the Latins?

ANSWER: It is just as belligerent as a Latin trying to evangelize eastern Catholics/Orthodox.

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There's no reason to evangelize Latins.

If they come to a liturgy, they either are amazed and return, or they prefer to stay.

The sheer welcoming warmth in every (ruthenian) BC parish I've ever encountered draws people in.

hawk

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Bingo, food sales, and Latin practices. Nothing more. Browse through both websites to contrast the differences. Both churches are less than 10 miles apart.
UGCC
http://www.presentationukrainiancc.com

Antiochian Orthodox Church
http://stpocspa.orthodoxws.com

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Originally Posted by bkovacs
Bingo, food sales, and Latin practices. Nothing more. Browse through both websites to contrast the differences. Both churches are less than 10 miles apart.
UGCC
http://www.presentationukrainiancc.com

Antiochian Orthodox Church
http://stpocspa.orthodoxws.com


Not a fair or meaningful comparison. The first church is of Ukrainian ethnic background, coming from a region that was historically in intimate contact with Latin traditions (as part of the Polish commonwealth).

The other is a parish of mixed Arab immigrant/ evangelical convert background.

To force the Ukrainian parish to look like the Antiochian one would be a shame.

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What did Vatican 2 state about Eastern Catholics and Latin traditions?. Also I agree that they shouldn't look the same. But you will see much more activities for those who want to learn and live out the Byzantine traditions in the local Orthodox Church. The UGCC website is not updated every week as it should be. St. Phillips is always updated every week. Can you tell me if there is a Pre-Sanctified Liturgy this week 3/6 thru 3/12. I can't!. Bulletin hasn't been updated!. Does the UGCC have any Lenten programs apart from the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy. Are there any speakers who come and discuss various aspects of the Byzantine tradition. even discuss the up and coming UGCC Catechism. The only activities a UGCC has in this parish, is Bingo and Food sales. At the local Orthodox Church there are many activities. Just look at their calendar. Retreats, Lenten programs, Vespers, Matins, speakers, choir, etcc. The local UGCC has no choir, not even a cantor. Very rarely is incense even used in the Liturgy. Would they rather be a Latin Catholic parish??. With Stations of the Cross, Rosary, etcc.???. Does the local Latin parishes offer Akathists services and Paraklesis services. No!!. So why do Byzantine parishes offer Latin traditions, Vatican 2 dictated to go back to being fully Byzantine!.

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So yes it is very fair. It shows that this local Orthodox parish offers much more, in terms of the expression of the Byzantine faith, for the Byzantine Christian, Catholic/Orthodox, than the local UGCC has to offer.

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If your point is solely about level of activity, updates, bulletins, number of services, etc. then plenty of Orthodox parishes are struggling too. It's got nothing to do with Latinization or lack thereof.

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Another local Orthodox parish. No Greek (Ruthenian, UGCC) Catholic parishes in the area come close to the level of activities as well as membership count. I guess the Orthodox must be doing something right. They are staying firm to their traditions, unlike most Greek Catholic priests who want to kiss up to Rome and it's practices.

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Sorry but you will always get my criticism until things change. and Eastern Catholics are FULLY Eastern!. Completely 100% De-Latinized. I wonder how many Ruthenian and UGCC Catholic parishes will be forced to close when the 60 and over crowd are dead and gone?. The Bishops won't know how to shepherd a younger crowd, if there are any. They will probably just imitate their Latin brothers and try to be hip, by taking away more of the Byzantine traditions. Sorry but I'm not one bit to happy with anything "Catholic", with a capitol "C", these days.

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Originally Posted by bkovacs
Another local Orthodox parish. No Greek (Ruthenian, UGCC) Catholic parishes in the area come close to the level of activities as well as membership count. I guess the Orthodox must be doing something right. They are staying firm to their traditions, unlike most Greek Catholic priests who want to kiss up to Rome and it's practices.


http://www.stnicholasoca.org

OCA

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Originally Posted by bkovacs
Sorry but you will always get my criticism until things change. and Eastern Catholics are FULLY Eastern!. Completely 100% De-Latinized.


There is no such thing as "fully Eastern." Do you seriously expect a Ruthenian-American parish in southeastern PA ca 2016 to look like a parish in 14th century Constantinople?

Why should the parishioners Byzantinize everything if that isn't part of their received religious culture?

Keeping a thriving parish and retaining young people is a problem for many Eastern Catholic parishes, no doubt. "De-latinizing" isn't going to fix it. You are cherry picking thriving Orthodox parishes as if all the Orthodox parishes are like that.

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This is a very legitimate question. Still trying to figure out how my parish evangelize...

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