www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization My first ACROD

I spent the morning and early afternoon at Sts. Peter and Paul parish in Windber Pa. today.

Let me start off by saying I've never felt more welcome in any church than I was today! We were greeted when we walked in, (Welcome to our church, have you ever been to an Orthodox church? Once I said we were visiting BC's we were treated like royalty). I phoned Father David a few days before to ask the time of Liturgy. Told him my name and that we would be there Sunday. We walk in to church, he's still vesting, obviously sees a stranger, comes up to me, asks my name, I say yep, it's me.

Liturgy starts. Almost a carbon copy of us, except they sing a little slower. Otherwise you'd think it's us. During the sermon he mentions that we are visiting,mentions my name, and it turns out that there is an elderly gentleman with the same last name. BANG!!! Original same spelling of the last name, from Jakubany,was Greek Catholic,etc,etc.

As we go up for Mirovanje, we are invited to stay for the parish picnic. (These folks really know how to make pirohi and pagach!) Father had just joined the crowd, made a point to join us almost right away,and spent a good half hour with us.

We were really made to feel at home and, and we left feeling like we were parishioners.

I strongly recommend a visit to this parish if you are ever in the Johnstown area. You'll be glad you did!

Etnick,

I rejoice over your report. I've noticed this same thing happening at growing Churches. I pray that this is catching among ECs. Either it will or we die.

CDL

Not to Hijack the thread, my wife and I were and still are greeted and made to feel like celebrities every time we attend Assumption Ukrainian Catholic Church in St. Louis!!!

Etnick,

I'm so glad you had a great experience. I hope you will take this back to your home church and treat the next set of visitors even better!!!

I have been treated more than kind at all three orthodox churches I have been to liturgy here in Wichita, Ks. Especially the Greek one.

That is very nice to hear. SPDundas (fellow poster) is also from Wichita and he has said the same thing about the Greek church there.

In Christ,
Alice

That's wonderful to hear. We were frequent visitors for a while but actually as of this week official members of an ACROD parish. We were made to feel very welcome as well.

I also can't tell you how wonderful it is to be hearing Slavonic again on Sundays!

Andrew

"Etnick,

I'm so glad you had a great experience. I hope you will take this back to your home church and treat the next set of visitors even better!!!"


Trouble is we get no visitors in a church of about 40 people, and everybody runs out when liturgy is over. No coffe in the basement after, nothing to promote togetherness. The priest doesn't publish anything in the bulletin other than the service schedule. Not even how much collection we took in. A parish picnic, forget it! Why bother! Just show up and SHOW ME THE MONEY and go home.

The parish should probably close and merge with another about 15 minutes away. ACROD really looks good in comparison. If this is how most of our parishes are ending up Lord help us!!!

I am so happy for you! I am originall from Windber and know many people at the church you attended. I grew up in the Greek Catholic in church in Windber, which used to be one block away from St. Peter and Paul's before it burned and they built the new one that you attended. I live about 90 minutes away from Windber and was about 30 minutes away Sunday and was very tempted to go to mass and the festival, but could not due to some health problems. I dearly wanted to go, to introduce my eight year old son to a good old fashioned slavic (dare I use the word "Hunkie?") festival. The kind I went to all the time growing up. It was just not to be, but reading your post makes me wish I had gone, no matter the physical price later. My "duse Moje" dearly needs to be introduced to those kinds of things. It will do his soul good in more ways than one. My soul too!

Tim

I have never been to an ACORD parish, but every time I have gone to an OCA church for vespers, I have been treated like royalty, especially at St. Nicholas in Bethlehem PA, the cathedral in Philadelphia, and Holy Trinity in San Francisco.

Out of curiosity, is the Little Enterance taken at the same time in ACORD as in the Byzantine Catholic Church, during the "Only Begotten Son and Word of God..?"

Interesting to hear the ACORD Liturgy is basically the same as the Byzantine Catholic one. I would have thought it to have been more Russified like the OCA style.

Anyways, I am glad Etnick was welcomed so well. Let's hope (pray) that the idea of being Christian to all who come through the front doors will make its way over to Eastern Catholicism.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

-uc

Ours was on Sunday to coincide with apple spas, it was a lot of fun.

I have never been to a BCC, so I can't say that part, but the little entrance either happens at the hymn of the incarnation (i.e. O Only-begotten Son and Word of God, Who being immortal...) or after the beatitudes if they are sung IIRC.

I can't attest to the former, but the latter is definitely not the case. One of the reasons they went to the EP was specifically to save their traditions. Much is the same to what I have experienced in Russian heritage churches (or other Orthodox churches), but a good deal is different as well. A liturgy with Prostopinije is also much different.

I have heard however there are a handful of parishes that came over from the OCA in the 70's over the calendar, and that their traditions are more in the Great Russian tradition.

Andrew

That was one of the main reasons, as I understand it for the creation of ACROD. Fr. Orestes and company realized that to return to the Orthodox Church would put them in the jurisdiction of what is currently referred to as the OCA. The Carpathian/Rusyn/Carpatho-Russian/Ruthenian (whatever term you are most comfortable with) Churches that had returned to Orthodoxy under Fr. Alexis (Toth) became very Russified and lost their Rusyn identity.

I suppose that is true.

The Carpatho-Rusyn parishes bacame dependent upon Russian missionary priests, and seminaries run by Russian monks. It is hard to imagine that not having some influence. But the Rusyns (and Galicians) also influenced the Russian Metropolia in some ways because they were so numerous.

I think another factor is that the Soviet government had clamped down on the Russian church. This must have been a serious cause for concern for father Orestes Chornock and his friends.

In any case, I noticed in my area (around Chicago) that a couple of OCA parishes were established about 1937-1938. They appear to be Ruthenian congregations but the church histories show their first priests being Russian. This makes me think that the movement of groups to Orthodoxy was greater than the number of priests willing to make the switch.

I would like to know some history of the Ukrainian Catholics in the 1930's. Apparently they established a separate jurisdiction under the Ecumenical Patriarch at about the same time.

Michael

This is a pretty good article Hesychios. Remarks on the history of Ukrainian Orthodoxy in Ukraine and North America [ukrweekly.com]

Andrew

Yeah, I've felt nothing but welcome and friendship when I've attended ACROD churches. wish I could say the same for all the BCC's I've been to.

"Yeah, I've felt nothing but welcome and friendship when I've attended ACROD churches. wish I could say the same for all the BCC's I've been to."


Basically the point of my last post about my home parish. I've also been to a few OCA parishes that were also very welcoming. I'm not saying all of our churches are unfriendly,but the Orthodox seem to go out of their way to be nice to visitors, and make you feel welcome.