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Dear Incognitus,

Well, "Incognitus" sounds downright Latin to me . . .

Alex

hey Vito!greetings from my Esposito half brothers delivered from an honorary paisano, eh?
yeah, I can imagine that the group in New Orleans could be snubbed by the Latin ordinary, so, what else is new? at times, we ECs are the red headed freckle faced stepchildren of the Church. There is a group in NYC that the Latin Archdiocese allows, another in Nevada that the respective Latin O allows. Grazie to the Lord that the Latin bishop in Knoxville diocese allows the Ruthenian mission to be. I guess it has something to do with the fact that Bishop Kurtz is from Pennsylvania and was raised close to where the Metropolitan was born and raised.I hope things will improve for the New Orleans group, but it begs the question: what are the Latin hierarchs afraid of?
Much Love,
Jonn

Dear Jonn, Thanks to the Esposito boys for their greetings and a hearty "ciao" from me to you. The Nevada parish you referred to is under the Eparch of Van Nuys.

If these two hundred faithful in New Orleans are for real, there is no problem. Negotiate with the Melkites, the Romanians, the Ruthenians or the Ukrainians - any one of these bishops who has jurisidiction in Lousiana can bless the founding of a mission or a full-fledged parish. He can also request the Bishop of Lungro or the Bishop of Piana to send him a priest - or, for that matter, MANY Greek-Catholic priests speak Italian, from student days in Roma.

Incognitus

Incognitus,

There is a substantial Arberesh community in New Orleans - two hundred is actually significantly less than the real number. I have heard that it said that it's the largest single concentration of them in the US. Presently, there is a gentleman from the New Orleans community actively participating in the diaconate program of the Eparchy of Newton (he's registered as a member here at the Forum, but has never posted).

I recently inquired of Archdeacon John DeMeis as to what their specific plans were - whether they were looking to open a mission there under the Latin jurisdiction or to affiliate themselves to either the Ruthenian or Melkite missions that presently operate there? When I hear back from Archdeacon John, I'll let folks know.

I'd get on that bandwagon with you, my revered brother, but coming from a historically Arabic Eparchy with presbyters surnamed Belisarius, Eliane, Francavilla, Frechette, Fulcher, Gallaro, Golini, Gosselin, Graham,, Harrington, King, Littlefield, McAnerney, Melone, Milienewicz, Mitchell, Moloney, Munn, Murphy, Parent, Peralta, Raczka, Rose, Russo, Sherman, Skrocki, Smith, Steinmetz (and I probably missed someone), I thought it might compare to the pot calling the kettle black

Many years,

Neil

Dave,

I absolutely agree with you. Something that I failed to mention was that there are no addresses associated with most of the "parishes" or "communities".

Like you, I know Binghamton NY quite well, its carousals, pirohi, and its EO and EC churches, and, like you, I've never encountered this one.

Many years,

Neil

Neil, According to my information, the man you reference finished his diaconate studies but hasn't been ordained. Even though there seems to be sufficient support for a mission, the local Latin ordinary (again according to what's been told to me)says it's not needed.

Call me silly, but why has anyone asked the local Latin ordinary? Do Latins in traditionally Eastern countries ask the local Eastern hierarchy their opinion? NO! There are four Eastern Catholics hierarchs they can turn to for support. Once they get themselves organised under an Eastern hierarch he can then approach the local Latin ordinary and say "I have a community in your area in need of a place to worship. How can you help?"

Why must we continually play "Mother, may I?"?!?

Σώσον, Κύριε, καί διαφύλαξον η�άς από τών Βασιλιάνικων τάξεων!

Vito,

I believe he has one year of studies remaining. This evening, I'll be seeing a friend who was just ordained to the diaconate last month and will check with him; I'm almost positive that he told me previously that the gentleman was a year behind him.

I agree with Kobzar and am fairly certain that we (Melkites) would think nothing of ordaining him to the service of our Eparchy and outreaching to the Italo-Greico-Albanians in NO. We have a history of a close relationship to the Society of Our Lady of Grace in NYC and both a priest and archdeacon from our Eparchy serve on its board.

Many years,

Neil

The remnant of the Italo-Greek parish in New York has been lamenting the lack of their parish for many years. However, they don't seem motivated to do anything about it. One of the bishops in Italy offered to send a priest - and got the bizarre answer "we need a CHURCH!". Almost anyone should be able to grasp the point that trying to form or revive a parish requires a priest - you hold Divine Liturgy wherever you can, and then you scramble madly for long-term premises.

Incognitus

I live in Utica, NY and this is the first I have heard of plans of a new hospital here. I also work at the Catholic hospital in Utica and have heard no news of anything about a new hospital being planned. Believe me, this would be BIG news if this was true. Will be doing some more checking around.....

Deweydecimal

Incognitus, finally the Italo-Albanians seem to be stirring. I've heard that Our Lady of Grace is in the process of preparing a mission manual which will include the Divine Liturgy in English with a little Greek, Arberesh and Italian sprinkled in. Also, there will be a recording of Arberesh chant from Italy.
Concerning New Orleans the situation seems somewhat complicated. Apparently they have a Latin priest who wants to serve them who's trying to get Eastern faculties. The group there seems to be 80 % Arberesh, some of the elderly still speak the language, and some Melkites and Russian Catholics.

Vito,

Your info as to him having completed his studies is correct. I owe Archdeacon John an e-mail and will see what he can tell me about the status of things.

Is this very recent? Didn't see anything in the last newsletter from Our Lady of Grace, which was only about a month or so ago, as I recollect.

We have a mission there currently, served from our Atlanta parish, with Liturgy once a month. Father John Azar, our pastor at Saint John Chrysostom in Atlanta, is an old friend from his days as Rector of the Cathedral. I'll e-mail him this week and see what he can tell me.

Any idea if the Latin priest is diocesan or otherwise? I know that the Jesuits are putting Father John up during his stays down there and I think its a Jesuit parish in which our Liturgy is being served.

Many years,

Neil

Dear Neil, It is my understanding that the preparation of the outreach material is being done for near future. My Arberesh contact says that he was there for the starting of the Melkite mission at the request of Bishop John Elya. The priest I mentioned is diocesan and is pastor of a parish that is predominantly Italian. I'm told he's Italian on his mother's side and attended St. Vladimir's before becoming Catholic.

There is at least one Italian Greek Catholic priest in the US that I know of,he was a Latin rite Catholic, later converted to Orthodoxy and was ordained a priest, at later returned to Rome, but as a Byzantine rite priest(so I heard).HOWEVER, his roots are in Milan, though his wife is Sicilian.I'd rather not give his name wiyhout his permission and I'm not 100% sure where he is or even if he serves anywhere.Milanese sure seems a far cry from Sicilian, not to mention Arberesh.BTW, I read that Tuscany in Northern Italy was allegedly settled by Tosks(Southern Albanians).Does Andrew Rubis or anyone else know anything about this?