Dear Friends,

To help ease the isolation a bit, there is a radio station in Scranton, PA that webcasts the Divine Liturgy on Sunday mornings, 9 - 11 AM Eastern time.

http://wick-am.com/Church_Services.htm

John
Pilgrim and Odd Duck

I suggest makeing a really nice Ikon Corner, you can get the ikons from, www.easternchristians.com
www.skete.com or www.hrmonline.org

Then you can watch the Divine Liturgy and Listen to the Chants at Byzatines.net
best thing you can do in your situation.

im 30-45 minutes away from 4 Byzantine Catholic Parishes, so im fortunate. 2 Byzantine Melkite Church's and 2 Byzantine Ruthenian Church's is what im near. Not to mention the Coptic Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Church's that are 10mins away.

Sorry!

From: Daniel Harrison
a Byzantine Cath

www.light-n-life.com as well.

I can truly understand what many of you folks are going through. Although I have access to a Catholic parish nearby it is a very modernist (Iglue modern type)and I must travel about 15 minutes to get to the parish I currently attend. Believe me as well, I am thankful to be able to atend mass at the parish I do, but it is not really all that better then the rest in the community.

Of course living in Kansas one must put up with the multitudes of evangelical denominations, sects, and cults, all of which are determined to convert everyone they can to their ways (Although I have noticed that, while the evangelicals do go fiercly after Catholics, their first priority is usually seeking out people from mainline Protestant churches).

You just have to suck it in and resist the pressure to cave into the rest of your communities demands. Try to think of yourself as a special person, one who is set apart from the rest of your people with the special mission not only to preserve your own faith, but also to be a witness to others concerning it. Perhaps this is why God put you in the postion you are in.

Believe me, it can get lonely, especially when no one really seems to understand your religion and often ignors you when you attempt to explain it to them.

Be thankful you have a Church to attend at all, even if, as you have said and I have also cocnered, that it isnt really what "flotes your boat" spiriutally. Thank, you could have no parish at all to attend - at least there is some place for you to go.

I wish that I could attend a traditional Latin mass Roman parish or else a Byzantine one (As I do when I visit my relatives in New Jersey over the Summer). There are ones near me but I lack the available transportation to get to them.

Such is life.

Robert

Oooh, I thought I had it bad... We are Ruthenian BC and can't make it to a Byzantine parish, so we have made a local RC parish our home. Luckily we have found great support from our RC priest. He happens to be fond of Russia and icons and other things associated with the East. He also communes Orthodox people, which I understand is approved by the Magesterium in the interest of East-West ecumencism. If you have a Roman Catholic parish in town, try talking to the priest and see if he is willing to do anything to help. I know it's still Western but it's a far cry better than Protestant!

A home altar is a good idea. I have brought with me a travelling altar when I go on business trips and there are no Orthodox Churches in the area. I also did the same things years back when I was in the military. While on a ship in the middle of the ocean, there are certainly no churches nearby.