www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Scripture and Patristic Writings 1 Tim 3:5 - Orthodoxy Breeds Vocations

The FSSP seminary in Lincoln had seven ordinations to the priesthood at the end of June, and about as many subdiaconate and diaconate ordinations. We have a Ukrainian Catholic parish not too far away in Lincoln and know the FSSP rector.

They are definitely doing something right, they have vocations on a waiting list as the last wing of the seminary is not yet built and they can't house all of them. I remember when the FSSP was just two priests in all of North America. Now they are in over 20 dioceses and in Canada just 12 years later, and that's just North America. And as someone previously posted, the diocesan seminary is also doing well for vocations. As I recall at least one FSSP priest also teaches at the diocesan seminary.

Dear Diak,

O.K., I give up.

What do you think they are doing right? I just can't accept that because, as a traditional group, they have a more "black and white" approach to doctrine, this, in and of itself, breeds more vocations.

I think we've only scratched the surface here and we need to get under the skin.

And I've done enough of the latter to last a few weeks . . .

Over to you and DIAKuyu!

Alex

Dear Alex;

I don't think the answer is just being more traditional. I think the answer is in being more authentic.

At least in our countries, this autonomy concept has gone too far. We attempt to recreate everything in our image.

However, the Christian calling is to be made over in Christ's image. We need to sacrifice ourselves and our concept of selves. Tradition is important not because it preserves itself (the ways of the tribe) but because it transforms us into what we are meant to be!

I remember a story about a seminarian who told his Scripture professor, a priest, that the Scriptures just didn't mean anything to him. The professor just nodded and said nothing. A few days later, while giving the sermon, he held up the gospel and said, "Who are you to judge the Scripture. It is the Scripture that judges you, not the other way around." The same can be said for Tradition.

With all this talk of liturgical revision, we recognize that our Tradition is like an icon. Over the years it becomes obscured with tarnish. The difficulty is deciding what is tarnish and what is icon.

The beauty of Orthodoxy, of Tradition, is its impossibility. One can never grasp and hold it. One can never master it. There is always something else that one can do, something else one can learn, something else one can realize.
The liturgy, for example, does not exist unto itself. All of life derives from it.

The "error" that may be occurring within the Roman church, in my opinion, is not with the Novus Ordo. Rather, it is with the thought that attendance at Mass is sufficient. But, we remain master over the rest of the week, and ultimately over our lives. The link between the Mass/liturgy and the rest of life has been fractured. The need to be transformed into the image of Christ is being ignored. We are satisfied with "knowing" as familiarity. However, what Orthodoxy requires is "knowing" as a true, complete, utmost intimate relationship with the Trinity.

Jesus is not our friend. He is our spouse.

John

Dear John,

Thank you for sharing such a heart-rending and in depth post!

Yes, authenticity and how we can be more so IS the issue.

Living our faith throughout the week, seeing the public transit and our office as oratories, and looking upon the people we meet in the streets and in our places of work as encounters with Christ - all this is what draws us to renew our commitment to the Lord Jesus!

Alex

John is right because the diocesan seminary in Lincoln, NE is full as well, and all of those priests will be trained to say the Novus Ordo. Some other more orthodox religious orders that say the Novus Ordo are doing well, also. So "doing something right" to foster vocations is not entirely bound up in the Tridentine/Novus Ordo issue.

It's not just the Mass that's the issue in the Latin Church, in fact it has all too often been the scapegoat for something larger and deeper.

But I need to get off the soapbox, we have our own problems on the Eastern side of the fence as well. :rolleyes: