Dear friends,
PLEASE forgive my long intro; not only that, but I am new to this "discussion board" means of communicating, and I already have this introduction on this board-- but I realized I put it in the wrong spot! (Sorry!!!)
So I am copying it here. I hope that's okay!!!
Just so you'll understand where I'm coming from...
Although my parents weren't Catholic, I was baptized as an infant (long story) and received the other Sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church while I was growing up back in Pennsylvania, USA... As a teenager, I fell away from the Church... After years as an agnostic, I was blessed with a DRAMATIC "born-again" conversion experience in a little apartment in Los Angeles, CA-- ten years ago this month. Praise be to God, I was blessed with so many miracles during this time, that my hardcore-atheist husband instantly became a believer!.. Unfortunately, it never even occurred to me to return to the Church, and we inadvertantly fell into a choppy sea of fundamental evangelicalism.
To make a very long story short, last month I had my marriage convalidated and I began to receive the Sacraments again. However, I was sorely disappointed by the many changes in the Church.
Now to backtrack a bit: during my years away, and at a time when I was disgusted with the church we were currently attending, I had actually looked into Orthodoxy and even began attending a Greek Orthodox Church. I liked their theology (at least, the little I understood!), and thoroughly enjoyed their liturgy. Of course, my fundamentalist friends and even my dear husband thought I was going to Hell-in-a-handbasket!
Although I grew to love the Divine Liturgy, and it nearly killed me that I could not receive the Mysteries-- oddly enough I did not feel the Lord leading me to convert. So I just stopped going, but the experience never left my heart.
So now I'm officially and "legally" back in the Church, and-- lo and behold-- I recently discovered that the Roman Rite is NOT the ONLY Rite of the Catholic Church! I was FLOORED. I just learned about the Byzantine Catholic Church a couple weeks ago, and I was so thrilled I would have done cartwheels if I could! (I did cry tears of joy, though!) I really was one of those Roman Catholics thinking, "Are they REALLY in communion with Rome?!??" But in my case followed by, "This is too good to be true!!!!!"
Well friends, yesterday I had my first experience in a Byzantine Catholic Church-- and it was like a little slice of Heaven here on earth! Not only that, but-- miracle of miracles-- my sweet Protestant husband (and our little children, AND my Lutheran mom!) went with me, and everybody loved it (though I had to take our fidgety 2 yr. old out to cry in the entrance area a few times
...
My husband responded MUCH better to the Eastern liturgy than the Roman. We got to speak with the Priest after the Divine Liturgy, who was wonderful and welcoming and easy to talk to, and my hubby really liked him a lot. We even asked him about Baptism, and he was SO warm and encouraging!
So now we are praying about having our little ones baptized into the Byzantine Catholic Church. You have NO IDEA what a miracle this is-- especially concerning my dear hubby. I'm no Church history scholar, but from my limited knowledge, I believe this is much like Calvin, Luther AND Zwingli deciding to have THEIR kids baptized Catholic!!!!!!!!!!
Well, I don't understand much, and I have a lot of undoing of my evangelical mindset ahead of me, but I haven't had this much PEACE in my heart in years.
So now hopefully you will know why I will be asking you guys so many "dumb" questions in the coming days and weeks!!! (Please bear with me!)
Your new friend,
Donna Ellis ><>
