www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West East-n-West or WEST VERSUS EAST part II

I am quite stunned at how often people of the Eastern Churches have had bad experiences when conversing with their Western brethren. It is mind boggling that people can be so insensitive and uncharitable, but I would have to guess that it comes from insecurities or xenophobia or both.

Anyway, with that in mind, I, a Latin Catholic, would like to know if there are any good encounters that my Eastern brothers and sisters have had when they converse with those of us in the Western Church, and if so, could you share some of them with us?

Thanks.

Brian

Well, getting to know you has been a breath of fresh air!

Ditto for most of the Latins who post here regularly.

My mother was pretty nice to me most of the time...

Thanks Michael. You really are too kind.

The encounter with a Latin Catholic which gives me the greatest sense of peace:

I reached a point where reading was no longer sufficient to answer my questions (and had not yet found this board) when I decided I needed some personal interaction. I wasn't ready to go to the eastern church yet, so I went first to a Latin Rite priest. It was obvious that he genuinely wanted to answer my questions for me, but did not have the answers himself. He went home and dug through his priest magazines to get one that focused on the eastern rites, humbly gave it to me as everything he could offer, and he suggested I call or visit the eastern parish directly for more guidance. He did not go out of his way to lavish praises, nor did he offer criticisms. When he heard me asking about eastern Catholicism, he supported me the way he was able and referred me to the eastern rite church for more.

To me, this was very profound. It meant he was firmly rooted in his own rite, and yet he saw equal validity in another, and showed it the respect it deserved. It gave me the gusto to continue my journey. I'll forever be thankful to him.

On many subjects, negative experieces tend to be more memorable than the positive because of the pain that they cause. Schopenhauer (rightly or wrongly) thought that really, pleasure was just the absence of pain and good, the absence of evil. When we have ordinary experiences that are pleasant and good, we are minimally aware of it, because they do not hinder our nature. But, painful experiences resist our natural feeling of well-being, and so they come into clear view.

Having said that, I will say that most of my experiences with latin Catholics are positive and I love all my brothers and sisters, western and eastern Catholic and Orthodox.

I have particularly fond memories of a Catholic priest in Beaumont, TX who helped us out when we lived there. He was the pastor of the cathedral and said to us from the beginning, "Anything that you need as Byzantine Catholics, just let me know. I will commune your children at any Mass." Then, he proceeded, at the first Mass we attended, to explain, after the homily, that a Byzantine Catholic family had just moved into town and joined the parish, because no eastern parish was available. He explained to the entire parish that byzantines commune their infants and small children and that our small children would be going up for communion.

I felt very honored, and humbled, and certainly grateful for this wonderful man. Peace in Christ,

Joe

Mostly I get the age old question, "are you really Catholic?" or Romans have no clue that there are other rites under the umbrella of Catholicism. It's nice to enlighten them but it gets old.

John,

I think one has to look at it as one less person who will be forced to ask the question in future. It's been one of the great joys of my life to do this (for years, being the red-haired guy in the midst of my Lebanese and Syrian brothers and sisters made me the ready target for approach by my Boston Irish Latin brethren).

Many years,

Neil

What is needed in my humble opinion is more exposure and information within the diocese, I just picked up "The Eastern Catholic Churches, an Introduction to their Worship and Spirituality" by Joan Roccasalvo C.S.J. and published by the Liturgical Press, they are Benedictine's

I am impressed by a statement by + Pope Benedict XV in the 1st chapter, " The Church of Jesus Christ is neither Latin nor Greek nor Slav but Catholic, it does not make a distinction between its children, be they Greeks, Latins or Slavs or members of other national groups, all hold the same position before this Apostolic See".

This needs to be emphasized by the respective Bishops East & West...if they won't then it is up to us get the info out

Just my 2 cents...

james

Neil - you might find this comforting:

An apocryphal story very popular in the Irish-speaking parts of the country recounts that around 1900 an American anthropologist was "studying" the Aran Islanders and said to one of the locals, in a burst of frustration: "you're such a provincial!"

The Islander snapped back "I am not a provincial - I'm a Catholic!" At first that sounds funny, until one realizes that it's a perfectly good answer, since Catholicism and provincialism are mutually exclusive. So the joke was on the anthropologist.

Enjoy!

Fr. Serge