www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization Welcoming Proponents of the 1962 Missal

The faith itself, of course!

But that faith is conditioned by Ruthenian1988's choosing:

So he counters his perceived "ultramontane errors" with his own ultra-Vostok errors, thereby distorting the faith.

I'm not going to defend *that* part.

Frankly, we've found that dissenting Latins don't stick around long enough to worry about.

We need no policy encouraging or discouraging them, nor a special welcome.

We welcome the same as any other visitor, and they leave after a couple of weeks as they discover we have no interest in the latin Mass, no hostility to Rome, and no interest in adopting their favorite devotions in place of our own.

As some of the "1962 missal people" who have been attending an FSSP parish for the past five years and who are seriously feeling called East (specifically to a Melkite Church), my wife and I have some questions that I hope and pray some of you may take time to answer.

First, to sketch our background in broad strokes, my wife and I are not typical FSSP parishioners (and we do not consider ourselves "trads," but rather Catholics seeking to practice the orthodox faith of Christ’s Church). After a long period of study and prayer, we converted to Catholicism in this FSSP parish from an evangelical Christian background. To directly respond to one of the most mentioned concerns here, we have no deeply ingrained attachments to any particular Latin devotions and, if God does call us East, we would have absolutely no problem dropping all of that in favor of a full-immersion devotional life according to Eastern traditions. Also, if it needs to be said, we are none of the disturbing categories mentioned by the original poster that existing in the broader "trad" community.

Our experiences attending a Melkite Church has answered a great deal of our questions about the liturgy itself and the beautiful devotions of the East. Our questions here have to do with how certain of our sincerely held beliefs might exist (or not exist) in the mind of the Eastern Catholic Churches, and specifically the Melkites, and our concern here is more for our young children than for ourselves—we want to prepare them as best we can to live faithful Christian lives in a world that increasingly hates the sincerely lived Christian life.

I know that, try as I might, I am going to phrase some of these questions poorly. I also know the phrasing will be steeped in my own opinions and beliefs. Please pardon my fallen nature and my imperfect expressions.

1. Do the people of the Melkite Church tend to believe that secular feminism is a poisonous evil, a neutral, or a good ideology?
2. Are traditional male/female roles encouraged and respected, or is a more modern viewpoint taken regarding men, women, fatherhood, and motherhood?

Our thanks to anyone who chooses to reply, and may God bless and keep you all.

Those are pretty loaded questions.

1. I would tend toward not good.

2. Define modern?

Thank you for the response. I realize these questions are "loaded," as you say, and I wish I did not have to ask them at all. We are hoping to understand the way the Melkites view modern American culture as our family considers making our home here. We hope to eventually talk to the priest or one of the deacons, but they have been so busy and others are usually speaking to them after Divine Liturgy. Also, we hoped to cast our net a bit wider so as not to only secure the opinion of one person.

1. By "not good," you mean that the secular feminist philosophy is generally viewed as being not good?

2. We asked this question in a general way because we were hoping for a narrative answer rather than a simple yes or no. We seek to understand the way these matters are considered in the Eastern Catholic community, particularly in the USA since that's where we live.

As far as defining "modern," the general sense in which we meant the word is consistent with the dictionary definition: "of or relating to present and recent time; not ancient or remote." In this case, we are not happy with how the general American culture's viewpoints about men and women have changed over the past 70-100 years. I do not know if Eastern Catholics see themselves as resisting these changes or not.

I want to be clear here that we do not subscribe to any view of woman as inferior to man. As Saint Paul wrote, in Christ there is neither male nor female. We believe that men have the headship in a household and that young men should be raised in such a way as to be prepared to step in to that role (if they are called to the married life) and that women should likewise be raised in a way that prepares them for the unique and beautiful role God created for them. The traditional family unit is under heavy attack in American culture right now.

I would say Eastern Catholic skew conservative on most issues but they do allow women to read the Epistle and cantor.

Thank you, Father Deacon Lance.