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Dear brothers and sisters, please remember me in your prayers as I try to discern God's will in my life. After 9 years of active ministry as an Old Catholic priest I am thinking very seriously about asking to be received as a layman in the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Pray that God will enlighten my mind and heart and also that He will be with my Bishop when I speak with him about this.

May the grace of the Holy Spirit come upon you to discern His will for your life. Prayers.

Don,

You will remain in my prayers.

Anthony

With prayers...

May the Lord direct your steps.

Elias

Dear Don the Seeker,

As a Ukrainian Catholic myself, I will pray that our Church is blessed with such a spiritual and Christ-loving new Member as yourself!

Alex

Prayers....

Dear brothers and sisters, please remember me in your prayers as I try to discern God's will in my life. After 9 years of active ministry as an Old Catholic priest I am thinking very seriously about asking to be received as a layman in the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

You�re being led onto the right track.

Serge

<A HREF="http://oldworldrus.com">Old World Rus�</A>

My dearest brothers in Christ, thank you so very much for your prayers, love and support. I hope I may continue to have all of the above and be assured that you will be remembered in prayers as well. May God bless and protect each of you and your loved ones.

Don

I would add to what Alex said. You would also make a great priest, continuing to serve Christ as you vowed to do at your ordination. Once a priest, always a priest.

I will pray for you.

In IC XC
Samer

Dear Don and Samer,

Samer, what you said was "right on." Don, I have just three words to say to you, "Axios, Axios, Axios!"

A happy Pascha to you both,

Alex

Dear Brothers in Christ,
Thank you for your love, prayers, support and encouragement. As for my worthiness to remain as an active priest...that is in God's very capable Hands. But at this point I believe that I need to learn to crawl as an Eastern Catholic, before I learn to walk, let alone run. I have talked about this with a good friend who is a subdeacon preparing for the diaconate in the Ukrainian Church. At first like you all he could think about was me being received as a priest. But when I explained my reasons for not pursuing that at this time he agreed with me. I believe I need to learn about the Eastern ways of life, belief, prayer and liturgy. Only then can I truly discern if God is calling me to serve him as a priest in the Ukrainian Church. I also have some doubts about my ability to learn Ukrainian...
:-) My old brain cells aren't as flexible as they used to be. I will always be a priest and the first duty of any priest is to offer sacrifice....maybe the sacrifice God wishes me to offer is no longer the Supreme Sacrifice of the altar, but rather the sacrifice of my public priestly ministry? Time will tell. I still need to speak with my bishop about this and the local Ukrainian Catholic pastor and maybe the bishop...I'm not really sure about the procedure at this point. Please continue to keep me in your thoughts and prayers the remained of this Holy Week. Your brother in our suffering Savior.

Fr. Don

Brother Don, always remember that the service to God and to God's people is offered through the day to day, ongoing accomplishment of what God's people need.

Sacramental ministry is different. You are right in your assessment that our Eastern Church is very communitarian and very ethno-socio-economic-centric. As an Eastern Orthodox friend told me: One enters the Eastern Church through baptism, through marriage or through the side-door. Unlike the passage from Lutheranism to Methodism, the transition to the Eastern Church is more akin to going from Roman Catholic to Buddhism. It's a biggie. And NOT because of doctrinal issues, nor administrative issues, but rather because of the need to be recognized as a viable member of the 'ordaining' community. Hence, the "Axios" said by a community of folks who know the candidate, not just as another liturgical response printed in the books. Though the 'administrative' structure of the Church may have its processes, the fact remains that a priest's viability in the parish/diocese/Church is contingent upon his acceptance by the people because he is both known and accepted by the people. His own personal understanding of his vocation is, amongst us, secondary to his acceptance by the community.

We've got to be very aware of this reality. In the 'old countries' (not Pennsylvania), a guy was nominated to be a priest because the community believed that he would be a good priest. His own vocation was essentially secondary to the call of the community.

Let's pray for many new vocations.

Blessings!

Dear Don,

I join the others to pray for your discernment and for you on the journey you are continuing.

Your description of the sacrifice of not undertaking public ministry reminded me of deChardin's Hymn of the Universe. What a beautiful act of service and worship u leave with your Old Catholic Church and you bring to not only the Ukrainian Catholic Church but to all of the Churches in communion with their servant who lives in Rome. You are a blessing to us all including the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Churches. What enriches one of us is an enrichment to all of the Body of Christ.

Pray for me! Your blessing?

Joy!

Dear Rev. Don,

I am praying for you, as I too discern quite a few important moves in life. Please pray for me.

Dear Don,

Actually, Dr. John's assessment of the situation in our Church is really quite excellent.

Had I had Dr. John as my spiritual advisor way back when, I would not have had the problems I did!

Dr. John's communitarian understanding of the Byzantine Church and parish life is truly a reflection of the theology of the Holy Trinity.

We stand alone among all the Churches as worshipping the Trinity, all Three Persons, or a "social conception" of the Divinity.

It was this aspect of our Church that strongly pulled me toward it as a sociologist. I was amazed that what the "gurus" of the social sciences were talking about was already in the cursus of the Eastern Fathers hundreds of years ago!

You are loved, prayed for and blessed, Don. You are surrounded by a loving community, including the one on this Forum.

Alex