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[ 06-14-2002: Message edited by: ALity ]

Lauro -

I have spent a good 20 minutes posting a reply to your last comment and lost it all on a computer glitch. I have to remember to start writing in Word and pasting it in here when I am finished.

Needless to say, I disagree with your conclusions and will explain why at a later time.

In Christ!
ALity

We've used mixed English/Ukrainian/Old Slavonic liturgies for the last 12 years I have been in our parish and the immigrants (old and new), new American converts, and our clergy are all satisfied. I can see no reason to impose one language unilaterally when we have reached a stasis that is agreeable to all.

Also, you can teach anyone to say "Hospodi Pomilujy", "Tebi, Hospodi", and "Podajy, Hospodi". There's well over half of the responses to the Liturgy right there.

Greetings All,

It seems we have gotton off topic here. We started by discussing seminary formation and got on the subject of language. I would like to speak about the seminary formation part if I may.

Hearing no objections, I will continue.

The problem I see as far as the seminaries are concerned is that most of them do not seem to be acredited. I can only speak of the seminary in Pittsburgh as I am not sure about the ones in Canada.

When I was pursuing the seminary thing, I spoke with my Bishop, John Michael Botean, about going to Pitsburgh, and he was the one who tld me about the acreditation thing. In order to be viable, we need to be acredited.

The other point in his sending me to Boston is that there is a church community here of the Eparchy that I can help out in. If I was in Pittsburgh, there is no Romanian church close by.

I seem to get the best of bosth worlds here in Boston.

1. I live with Latin seminarians, and that builds awareness on the eastern thing.
2. I study both the latin and the eastern stuff. Eastern at Holy Cross Greek Seminary.
3. Parish community close by
4. I come from Boston.

Okay, the last one is rather self serving.

So the situation is not perfect, and the other Eastern seminarian and I do spend sometime learning from each other, but of rthe time being it is all we have.

I will speak about the language thing after liturgy this morning.

Peace,

Peter M. Preble

Brother Peter, thanks for steering the truck back on the road...the language thing certainly deserves at least one separate thread, perhaps several.

Your accredidation scenario is well taken, as several of the Latin seminaries (including the one these fellows from Stamford are going to) are fully accredited. And that could be part of the equation, as I think St. Basil's is only accredited as a junior college or possibly for a BA at its highest degree. And finances may also be involved, we don't have the entire picture. It just seems like St. Vladimir's is close enough for them to be able to take advantage of.

Glory to Jesus Christ!
Glory Forever!

The Program which seminarians at Holy Spirit Seminary in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, attend is fully accredited and is the only program in the Western Hemisphere offering the full spectrum of Eastern Christian Studies from the Certificate level to the Doctorate. The seminarians attend courses at Saint Paul University in Ottawa which is a Pontifical University. The University houses one of the best theological libraries in North America. The Metropolitan Andrew Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies is part of the Faculty of Theology at Saint Paul University. Seminarians who follow the normal course of studies will receive both a Civil and Ecclesiastical Baccalaureate Degree in 3 years. Some continue on to do their Masters, Licentiate and Doctorate as well as a Masters in Pastoral Theology (not part of the Eastern program.)

Here are the respective web sites:

The Metropolitan Andrew Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies [137.122.12.4]

Holy Spirit Seminary [holyspiritseminary.org]

Fr. Deacon James
Alumnus of Holy Spirit Seminary

[ 06-16-2002: Message edited by: Fr. Deacon James ]

Amen, Father Deacon, it's a great place, with lots of rich faculty resources...I don't know why that option can't be better taken advantage of for full formation of Eastern Catholic seminarians, instead of a "half na pew" approach.

[ 06-26-2002: Message edited by: eumz ]

Slava Isusu Chrystu!

i have a question pertaining to vocation and changing of sui iurus catholic church.

since my discovery of the eastern catholic traditions and churches i feel that i'm drawn into the spirituality, the only problem is that there are no visible eastern catholic in the Philipines, majority of Filipinos are of the Latin Church. so i ask for any solotion in my delemma at the ewtn forum, his advise was to attend an orthodox parish to satisfy this hunger of mine. and thank God because one out of the 4 parishes in the whole Philippines is just a 30 minutes away from my home.
to add it up, i feel that God is calling me, after the long refusal, to give my life as clergy of the catholic faith.

my question is: if my entry to a latin seminary and be ordained as a deacon then to the priesthood, and the eastern tradition still appeals to me with greatness, can i apply for a canonical transfer?

thank you, may the Love of Christ be with all of you...

Eumir Bautista

Dear Eumir (hope that is right), a Catholic priest or deacon can request faculties from another church sui juris to assist them. You could either attend the Latin seminary, get ordained, and request faculties through the Ukrainian Catholic or Melkite eparchies in Australia which would likely be the closest, or transfer to another church sui juris and attend their seminary.

thanks for your help...

i havent got conected with other catholic presence outside of my country.

but from the ewtn forum, it seems that before i could attain formal canonical transfer, i should attend a eastern catholic parish and be a regular and active member of that community. like what i said there are no such community/parish here except the greek orthodox one.

am i allowed to be admited in an eastern catholic seminary in another country, like melkite in australia, without going through the probationary period of 1 year or so before attaining canonical transfer?

God bless...

Eumz,

The probationary period depends on the Bishop. Sometimes the Bishop is not so strict on that rule, and other times they are. I wouuld reccomend getting in touch with the Bishop, Melkite or Ukranian in another country and see what they say it is worth writting to them.

God Bless,

Peter

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

thanks for your encouragement and satisfying my questions.

concerning to that, can you direct me to any eastern catholic eparchy website of this side of the world?

the nearest Church i know would be in india, where the syro-malabars are. and like it was said that there are jurisdictions in Australia of Ukrainian and melkite.

God bless!

p.s. are there any eastern priest that you guys could recomend to me and his email address. thanks...

Praise God... forever...

Eumir, since I am Ukrainian Catholic and only have a Ukrainian Catholic clergy directory at my disposal this is what I have:
Bishop Petro (Peter) Stasiuk
35 Canning Street, North Melbourne VIC 3051, Australia
Telephone (03) 9320-2560, fax (03) 9320-2544
e-mail: ukreparc@ozemail.com.au
This is from the 2001 Ukrainian Catholic clergy directory so I think it is all current.

Bishop Stasiuk is the chair of our Patriarchal Catechetical commission. It is through his dynamic leadership that our Catechetical Directory for the Ukrainian Catholic Church was promulgated in 2000, a gem and most significant step in the revival of authenitc Eastern spirituality in our church. Real Byzantine spiritual terms like Theosis, which appear frequently in this directory, would have been unheard of even 40 or 50 years ago in an official catechetical document.

Unfortunately I don't have any contacts for the Melkite hierarchy nor the Malankars or Malabars in India.
Subdeacon Randolph, a sinner

Dear Eumir,

Since I'm assuming your exposure to the East has been through the Byzantine tradition, you would probably do well to stick with them, as I'm not sure what kind of Indian community, if any, exists in the Philippines. But if you want information on the Eastern Catholics in India so you can see what's up, I will try and find you some contact addresses from back home that you could check up with.