Oh, come now....considering one cannot even find out the number of Slovak, Polish, Czech, Serbian, Croatian, Russian, Ukrainian, or any of the other immigrants that come to this country either legally or illegally, how do you expect that we can one find the number of Rusyns?

I think Father asked you a fair question. You say many new Rusyn immigrants are coming here, so wouldn't it be fair to share your knowledge of this fact? You must have an idea of numbers? How many have arrived?

And if so please send some of them to my parish...We need choir help!

Hello All,

I believe the situation is not so dire for the BCA as it may seem from the tone of some posts above. My son is a college student and recently brought a group of his RC friends to a BC Church in Binghamton, NY. They all found it to be an awesome experience.....One student even said she would consider changing churches based on this one experience....

The Spirit works in mysterious ways....and, for some, one such experience can be a turning point. After all, wasn't just such an experience that convinced Vladimir more than a millenium ago?

At the Byzantine Youth Rally in Emmitsburg, Maryland in 2006, a group of about 30 teens from throughout the country sang the responses to a liturgy celebrated by all 4 Byzantine Catholic Ruthenian bishops. It was magnificent!! One of the nuns there, Sr. Celeste of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great, said to me just a couple of weeks ago that the liturgy in Emmitsburg was the most moving liturgy she had ever experienced. She and others are still marveling about it....even almost two years later! Personally, it renewed my hope that our church lives in the hearts and voices of our youth and will persist in the future. Yes, the liturgy was in English. But Sister Celeste told me that there are teens interested in learning the Old Slavonic, and would take advantage of the opportunity, if provided......

So, perhaps the challenge is to (1) participate to the hilt in the liturgies that are available; and, (2) provide opportunities for those who are interested in learning more and participating to the greatest extent possible (and allowable), and (3) trust in the Spirit to work through them.

Peace to you all! A student

No, we have to change our lives to be like the church and follow the Truth. Chopping up the liturgy and conforming the church to American culture has been an abysmal failure. That's yet another reason why it is ludicrous to think that feminized inclusive language will attract people and be any kind of success. Furthermore, examples of parishes who practiced a fuller liturgy have been shown to attract people, especially younger families. People can get secularism anywhere in their lives without even looking, it is practically jammed down their throats. What people are seeking is undiluted fundamental Traditionalism, which of course is not something that they can find from the TV and Hollywood. The BCA and all Greek Catholic churches would be wise to offer this for many reasons.


Monomakh

Indeed! And that is the greatest mystery of all. The committee and hierarchs who decided to approve genderized language are very intelligent people. It is impossible for them not to have seen the results of the Roman Catholic gender language experiments. It did not work!

And now, they have decided to begin the experiment again!!!

It is beyond ludicrous. It is beyond understanding!!!

R

Monomakh writes:



Delighted to hear it. Perhaps in time they will be so kind as to explain to their father the distinction between the infinitive form of the verb, and the third person plural indicative!

Fr. Serge

I know I'm going back 2 years +/-, but I like what Prof. Thompson said in the above post!

In Christ,
Dn. Robert

Amen! Thank you for reposting Fr. Deacon...

Monomakh, there are people in parts of the Orthodox Church who believe the same thing as well. The need to modernize the liturgy, be totally generic American, etc. I don't think it will be met with success.