June 26 - July 2, 2017
Matthew 11:27-30 – “All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (RSV – Gospel for Thursday)

The Yoke of Christ is Indeed Light – Unless one throws behind the yoke of iniquity, that is, the spark of all vices, one cannot take up the yoke of Christ. But if the yoke of Christ is so agreeable and light, how is it that divine religion seems so harsh and bitter to some people? It is bitter to some because the heart that has been tainted by earthly desires cannot love heavenly things. It has not yet come to Christ, so that it can take up His yoke and learn that it is gentle and humble of heart. Hence we see, my dearest friends, from the teaching of our Lord, that unless a man is gentle and humble of heart, he cannot bear the yoke of Christ. (St. Epiphanius the Latin)

The Apostles Fast began after Vespers on All Saints Sunday and continues until June 29, the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.

The icon is the Nativity of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John (June 24th).

vatican.va - The Holy Father has appointed as Apostolic Administrator sede vacante of the eparchy of Parma of the Ruthenians, United States of America, H.E. Msgr. Milan Lach, S.J., currently auxiliary bishop of Prešov of the Byzantines, Slovakia.

Msgr. Milan Lach, S.J.

Msgr. Milan Lach, S.J. was born on 18 November 1973 in Kežmarok, in the Archieparchy of Prešov of the Byzantines, Slovakia.

From 1992 to 1995 he attended the Greek Catholic Theological Faculty of Prešov and in 1995 he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Trnava.

After his theological studies in the theological faculty of the University of Trnava (1997-2001) he was ordained a priest in 2001 in Košice.

From 2001 to 2003 he worked in the scientific area of the Centre of Spirituality East-West of Michal Lacko in Košice and later (2009-2011) he was Superior of the same centre.

In 2009 he graduated in Oriental Ecclesiastical Sciences from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. At the same time he served as spiritual father at the Pontifical Collegium Russicum and also as spiritual assistant of the Federation of Scouts of Europe in Rome.

The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Bishop Joseph Absi was elected on Wednesday the new patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, a source told The Daily Star.

The election of Absi comes a month after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Gregorius III Lahham.

Lahham had hinted at his intention to resign several times over the past few years, and eventually made the decision following the unraveling of Orthodox Christianity’s synod in June 2016.

Lahham wrote a letter on June 20, 2016, to the Synod of the Eastern Churches to announce his resignation.

CWN - The Synod of the Melkite Catholic Church convened on June 19 in Ain Traz, Lebanon, to choose a new Patriarch.

The resignation of Patriarch Gregory III Laham, who is 82 years old, was accepted by Pope Francis in June. After a day of prayer and reflection, the Melkite bishops will begin voting on June 20 to elect a successor. The new Patriarch will be announced after the vote receives papal recognition.

Liturgy to Include Blessing of Sick

The Pontifical Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, located at 448, East 116th St. has announced plans for a Coptic Liturgy to be celebrated as part of the events during the 133rd Annual Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The Liturgy will be celebrated on Sunday, July 9th at 5 PM. The priests who serve at the Shrine are members of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate, commonly known as the Pallottines. Their founder, St. Vincent Pallotti was a confessor to the Eastern Rite Colleges in Rome. He developed a great love for what he termed “The treasures of the East.” He instituted the Epiphany Octave during which time a different Eastern Rite was celebrated in the Pallottine churches. In tribute of the desires of their founder, and to draw attention to the plight of the Eastern Churches, the Shrine began to include an Eastern Liturgy in its patronal celebrations. Father Fayez of the Coptic Catholic Church of the Resurrection will be the celebrant, assisted by members of his congregation. It will conclude with a blessing of the sick.

CWN - Members of the Russian Catholic Church—one of the smaller Byzantine-rite churches in communion with Rome—fear that they may be forgotten by Vatican officials anxious to improve relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, reports Francis X. Rocca of the Wall Street Journal: Leaders of the Russian Byzantine Catholic Church, with fewer than 30,000 members world-wide, are meeting in Italy this week in their first such synod in a century.

The Russian Catholics have asked Pope Francis for reassurances, and appealed to the Vatican for help in strengthening their community—which has only about 30,000 members. To date they have not received a reply, and an official of the Vatican’s Congregation for Eastern Churches declined to comment for the Wall Street Journal story.

The Orthodox Church dominates religious life in Russia, and the Catholic minority is composed mainly of Latin-rite Catholics. But the Orthodox Church has been extremely sensitive about the existence of Eastern churches in union with Rome, and Vatican support for the Russian Catholic Church would undoubtedly provoke a negative reaction from the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Russian Orthodox Church has frequently complained about the activities of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, which is by far the largest of the Eastern Catholic churches. The Moscow patriarchate argues that the Ukrainian Catholic Church is interfering in the “canonical territory” of the Russian Orthodox.

References:

• Feeling Abandoned, Russian Catholics Appeal to the Pope (Wall Street Journal)

risu.org.ua - The Divine Liturgy and the burial rite of blessed memory Lubomyr (Husar) was held in the Resurrection Cathedral of the UGCC in Kyiv. The hierarchs of the UGCC participated in the service led by Patriarch Sviatoslav Archbishop Cyril (Basil), personal envoy of Pope Francis, Apostolic Nuncio Claudio Gugerotti, Secretary of the Congregation for Eastern Churches.

Clergymen (about 600 priests), monastics and faithful from all over Ukraine and abroad came to pay the last tribute to His Beatitude Lubomyr. Many public figures, government officials and politicians came on this day to honor the former head of the UGCC at the Patriarchal Cathedral. The latter represented different political forces.

Fairfax, Virginia – The Papal Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, will attend the opening events of the 21st Orientale Lumen Conference scheduled for June 19-22, 2017 in Washington, DC.  Other international ecumenical leaders who will be plenary speakers during the 4-day conference include Archbishop Job of Telmessos, Orthodox Co-Chair of the International Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue; Msgr. Paul McPartlan of The Catholic University of America and also a member of the international dialogue; Father Thomas FitzGerald, from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary and member of the North American Catholic-Orthodox Consultation; and Father Hyacinthe Destivelle, OP, from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity at the Vatican.  Video recorded lectures by Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia, of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and professor emeritus of Oxford University, will also be presented during the conference.

May 31, 2017, at 18:30 after a serious illness His Beatitude Lubomyr (Husar), Archbishop Emeritus of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Church died at the age of 85.

January 26, 2001 - February 10, 2011 he served as a Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Born in Lviv, Ukraine, on February 26, 1933, Lubomyr Husar fled from Ukraine with his parents in 1944, ahead of the advancing Soviet army. He spent the early post-World War II years among Ukrainian refugees in a displaced persons camp near Salzburg, Austria. In 1949, he emigrated with his family to the United States of America.

From 1950 to 1954, he studied at St. Basil’s College (Ukrainian) Seminary in Stamford, Connecticut. He continued his studies at Catholic University of America in Washington DC, and at Fordham University in New York. He was ordained a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest of the Eparchy of Stamford on March 30, 1958.