www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Bulldoze that church please!!!

I think that the point that Fr. Vladimir was making is that we should have invited the local community to become Byzantine Catholics. That way, the people moving into the neighborhoods would have filled our churches. If we had done this it is possible that these neighborhoods would not be as dangerous as some of them are right now.

If we had been more inviting and less ethno-centric maybe our inner city parishes would be full of people from the local neighborhood. Even our newer suburban parishes could benefit from inviting everyone in their neighborhoods to become Byzantine Catholic.

�Our People� includes Blacks, Hispanics and anyone who walks through the door. The Gospel mandate is to proclaim Christ and make disciples of all peoples. It�s high time that we took that seriously. If we don�t then our Church will die and deserves to die.

And if they had, and the "local community" refuses, then we Byzantine Catholcis are still at fault. Right?

I've lived down the street from the "cathedral" of the African Methodist Episcopal Church for five years, and I have yet to be invited to their church. Can I expect you to point your finger at them?

Is every "failing" (such as having to move to the suburbs) of Byzantine Catholics somehow related to "ethnicity"? From spending time on this board, you would think so. Unless you're Ukrainian, of course.

Is "ethnicity" the reason most Byzantine Catholics don't know the difference between an akathist, a moleben, vespers, and "Mass"? Is "ethnicity" the reason we get only a handful of people at Presanctified Liturgy while other Byzantine parishes pack them in for Stations of the Cross?

Is "ethnicity" the reason our GCU lodges give the parish "First Holy Communicants" gifts of holy water fonts and rosaries?

Since we have yet to ask we really don�t know if they will refuse. Logic and experience suggests that some will accept our invitation while most won�t. Even if only a small percentage accepted our invitation to become Byzantine Catholic our churches would be packed on Sundays.

Yes. Excepting, of course, I would prefer if they accepted your invitation to become Byzantine Catholic and joined our parish instead of your accepting their invitation to become Episcopal.

No. Building new parishes in the suburbs to serve Byzantine Catholics is not a failing. In fact, one of our primary failings is not building enough new parishes in the places Byzantine Catholics have moved to. This is only logical. We have also failed by not converting the people moving into the neighborhoods around our older parishes.

Of course, some of our newer parishes are getting it right on the ethnic front. I�ve been to St. Gabriel�s in Las Vegas and seen parishioners making and selling hot tamales right next to the pirohi.

No. Lack of seeing these services and imitation of the rituals of the Latin Church is the primary cause.

No. If your parish only gets a handful of people at Presanctified Liturgy then it has not properly catechized the people to the point where they would embrace the renewal of our authentic traditions. Part of the desire of some to continue to imitate Latin styles of prayer is that they are familiar with them. Another part is because some Byzantine Catholics still believe that the Latin forms of prayer are superior to our own.

No. To my knowledge there is no nationwide program sponsored by the GCU to do this since almost all of our parishes have returned to the Byzantine custom of Communicating people at the time of their Baptism and Chrismation. If it exists it probably is something done by well intentioned leaders of the local GCU lodge.

Ethnicity is not bad and I have never suggested that it is. What is bad is when a parish focuses on ethnicity that it makes those people who do not share the ethnicity of the parish feel unwelcome.

To use that well-worn phrase: What WOULD Jesus do?

Lory