www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Disappointed with EWTN's Journey Home last night

Dear Gordo:

Joy Pinto, an Episcopalian married to an Episcopalian priest, was the guest last Monday, April 23rd, before Deacon Joseph Pasquella (yesterday, April 30th). Both the Pintos came into the Catholic Church together.

I think there is a lag time (of about 1 to 2 years?) in the scheduling of guests because there are so many on the list waiting to face the camera, and the music, on "The Journey Home!"

It takes a few days or a week, utmost, for an episode to be archived and made available in audio format at the CHNI website hosted by Marcus Grodi. Joy Pinto's is the 425th archived episode (although her episode is listed #1, being the newest) on "the Journey Home" since Mother Angelica requested Marcus Grodi to air the first episode on September 5, 1997 featuring Dr. Thomas Howard.

The program features mostly converts, some reverts, and a few cradles.

While I thought he did a nice job I don't think anyone will convert to the Catholic Church because of it.(No disrespect intended)As a convert to the Catholic Church I of course agree with him for returning to the Chair of Peter. That being said this wouldn't have swayed me either way. The only thing that would have made me think is when he brought up birth control.

On another note... while I respect his choice to return to the Latin Church I would have done anything to have stayed with the eastern liturgy.(Again no disrespect intended)

For those steeped into apologetics, next Monday's, May 7th, Journey Home should be another interesting (and intriguing!) episode.

Being the first Monday in the month of May, it will be "Open Line Monday," i.e., any and all questions by phone or by e-mail will be answered by the host Marcus Grodi and/or by his featured guest.

At the receiving end will be Patty Bonds, who aired her testimony on "The Journey Home" a while back. If you have not heard about her, she is the sister of the famous (or infamous) Protestant apologist/polemicist James White!

Deacon Joseph is a affiliate member of the Confraternity of Penitents, which I also belong to, some of his work can be seen at; http://www.penitents.org/dcnpas.htm

Please be charitable when commenting...

james

Dear Jakub,

An excellent confraternity with a very inspiring Rule and way of life!

I love your focus on the Cross of San Damiano!

Alex

Alex,

I wear many hats, some say it's due to the sparse findings on my head , but I like to use and draw from the many resources made available to us...

james

James,

Did you feel any of the comments above were uncharitable?

I found out about your group last night. It was interesting. I am a professed SFO, ut have always been drawn to a slightly modernized 1221 rule.

God bless,

gordo

Gordo,

The charitable comment was in reference to "after reading" from the link...did not see anything offensive in the previous postings...

Don't like those range wars...


james

Dear Jakub,

When I visited Nice in France, they had seven special chapels dedicated to various penitential Orders (the names of which I've forgotten).

Each had their special habit, Rule etc. and each chapel was beautifully decorated inside in the Baroque style. Sadly, they were only open to the public on specific days of the week.

Good for you!

Alex

So...does your confraternity wear a specific "habit" like the Tau cross or a garment? Do you have regular gatherings or spiritual conferences?

Probably the best work I ave read on the penitential movement is this text:

http://www.amazon.com/St-Francis-Th...mp;s=books&qid=1178048861&sr=8-1

Well worth getting...I started a Franciscan Roots and Fruits Group with my fraternity and we studied this text. It was extremely insightful!

Gordo, sfo

I skimmed the updated rule at http://www.penitents.org/statutesref.html#CHAPTER_I:_DAILY_LIFE

It looks quite good ! God be praised for finding such a group !

-- John

I can recall a few years ago a group calling themselves the "Orthodox Franciscan Penitents" had a marvellous site which blended Franciscanism and Byzantine spirituality. It even had listed specific rites associated with progression in hesychast spirituality.

The website is no longer running. I've always been curious what happened to it.

Gordo

Great news! I have the material from that site that I copied and pasted into a word doc. The site was around back about 5 years ago, but no longer exists. I will create a separate thread this evening and post a few items for your enjoyment...

Gordo

An Eastern Orthodox Deacon�s �Journey Home� to Catholicism on EWTN

1 May 2007

This transmission was shown here in Ireland tonight; it was seen in North America last night (the rebroadcast here was necessary, since few viewers would be apt to be awake to watch the program at 2 AM Greenwich time).

Immediately, the knowledgeable viewer would have been startled, and unhappy, that this deacon was wearing a business suit and necktie � with a full Orthodox priest�s cross! Any deacon ordained to that rank, as this deacon seems to have been, in the Antiochian Orthodox Church, can be expected to know better than to usurp the insignia of a higher order.

At the end of the program, the knowledgeable viewer would have been startled again, when the deacon gave a blessing with his right hand in the manner of an Orthodox priest. This he has no right or authority to do.

Between these two �bookends�, as it were, a great many other problems appeared. The deacon had been originally a Roman Catholic, then a Pentecostalist (at the age of 11), then associated with some sort of Evangelical group calling itself �The Way�, then became involved with Eastern Orthodoxy, and now is once again a Roman Catholic. In itself, this calls into question the wisdom of having such matters broadcast to the public. Any man�s personal spiritual odyssey is, one hopes, a deeply intimate and personal matter. In addition, a convert is not some sort of human trophy to be waved around triumphantly.

But back to the deacon. His attempts to address the issues between Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism were not successful, and showed a good deal of confusion which will do no good to anyone. Those who know these matters will be annoyed, and with good reason; those who do not know these matters are not apt to form a high opinion of Eastern Orthodox teaching and practice.

To complicate matters still further, Marcus Grodi, who is the host of the program, and who normally speaks with converts to Catholicism from Protestantism, was not sufficiently prepared for a serious discussion of Eastern Orthodoxy. This became only too apparent several times, but perhaps the strangest was Mr. Grodi�s assertion that he was very impressed with the special wording of the liturgical commemorations of the Pope of Rome used by the Eastern Orthodox during the First Millennium. Unfortunately he offered no examples and no references. This is hardly surprising, since there were no such commemorations at the time. Even today, it is not difficult to find Greek-Catholic (Melkite) hierarchs, priests and deacons who do not make any liturgical commemoration of the Pope: the deacon and priest commemorate the bishop, who commemorates the Patriarch, who commemorates the Pope. One wonders what Mr. Grodi would make of that.

In response to a question about Eastern Orthodox veneration of the Holy Mother of God, the deacon asserted that Orthodoxy denies the Immaculate Conception and instead teaches that the Virgin Mary was purified from original sin at the Annunciation! Relatively rarely, one can hear such a theory suggested, but it is certainly not a dogma of Eastern Orthodoxy and never has been.
Instead of serving in one or another of the Eastern Catholic jurisdictions, the deacon is serving in the Roman Catholic diocese of Buffalo. This is probably just as well, so far as we are concerned. If he appeared in our Churches speaking as he does, severe embarrassment could result.

Meanwhile, though, EWTN has given its viewers a seriously distorted idea of Eastern Orthodoxy, which becomes yet another barrier to genuine efforts aimed at healing the schism. Would it be too much to ask that EWTN would invite qualified Eastern Orthodox, Greek-Catholic and Roman Catholic theologians to discuss these matters in a scholarly and dispassionate way? If EWTN feels unable to do that, then it would be best for EWTN to avoid the topic altogether.

Fr. Serge

Blahoslovy!

There aren't too many converts from Orthodoxy to Catholicism around are there?

Of course, we have a convert here on the Forum who also happens to be a priest (I'll keep him anonymous, but he can jump in if he wants to) . But I have only heard of one other priest besideds him who has converted, Fr. Chrysostom who lives in Denver. I also have seen Fr. Deacon David Hess on The Journey Home as well, I thought he did a good job but that was when I was kinda new to the whole apologetics thing.

I think that this point makes it hard to find good examples to put on TV. That and the numbers of Protestants who convert dwarf any and all conversions from Orthodoxy.

Maybe EWTN could get these fine priests to go on Marcus' Show.