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Glory to Jesus Christ!

Just happened to notice that EWTN is broadcasting a show called "Byzantine Catholic Expression" tonight at 10 PM.

According to the listing, "An exhibition honors the first mission of the church in the United States."
Original Air Date: Jul 31, 2005.

Wasn't 2005 part of our authentic heritage?


Deacon El

OK, that will be 9pm central time. Cool!

Thank you!!!

Woohoo! Now if I can only remember to watch.

I was going to post that but someone beat me to it. I've already set the DVR. The problem is I can't get things from the DVR onto any other format or I would offer to make copies for anyone who wanted a DVD.

Tim

Must check and see if it will be broadcast in Ireland.

Fr. Serge

Caught the broadcast and found it very good. At least when one understands that the vast majority of those who watch EWTN know absolutely nothing about the Eastern Church and those in communion with Rome.

It is date, however, since it seems to have been taped for the 75th anniversary of the Byzantine Catholic Church in America--when it mentions the bishops and their eparchies.

BOB

Guys, that program was pretty horrible. It was an auditory presentation of museum exhibits. It was a narrated slide show.

You are correct, that's exactly what it was, a slide show. I watched the credits and it was dated "2000." For someone with no knowledge of the east I suppose identifying the items might be of interest. But it seems to me that a presentation of the eastern faith as lived and in action might have been better.

It was an old program. I saw the exhibits in the Heinz Museum back in 1999.

What would be better would be a program about the Pilgramage, or a Divine Liturgy.

"New Life in the Trinity" was much better. I think they ran it around Easter. But for someone with zero knowledge of the East (most viewers), this was capable.

Then there was that little program, "Light of the East."

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Western Orthodoxy Blog [westernorthodox.blogspot.com]

I recorded the program the other day and had a chance to watch it this afternoon. In all Christian charity--if you get a chance to see it--don't. It is nothing but a hand help camcorder (poor quality) or a slide show. Very little is explained. There's not even a credit as to who wrote it. If there was I missed it. And I watched the credits twice!

It is pretty much a slide show of an exhibition held in Pittsburgh. This is NOT a criticism of the exhibition! I'm sure it was quite interesting--to those who were already Byzantine and a member of the Pittsburgh Metropolia. If you didn't know much about Byzantines, you weren't going to learn that much at the exhibit. Unless there was much more than was shown in the show. That's possible. So I am not knocking the exhibit. But the show was produced by the Pittsbugh Eparchy (i.e.--paid for) and directed, filmed and edited as well as narrarated by the same person. Again, no criticism here. I just thought something shown on an international TV network, I would have expected something of a different quality.

The portion on the iconostasis was barely explained. If you don't know what it is or why we have them, you sure wouldn't understand after this show!

Don't waste your time.

Tim

Here's a suggestion for a future exhibition on the development of the Pittsburgh Metropolia:

arrange three, or perhaps four, full-scale reproductions of church interiors, each to represent a specific historical period and stage in that development, along with as many photographs as reasonably possible illustrating how that particular church was used in its time.

While we're at it, there is no reason to pretend that the Pittsburgh Metropolia somehow represents all the "Byzantine Catholics" in the USA. To be honest, such an exhibition should recognize and include the Ukrainians, the Melkites, the Romanians, the Russians and so on - particularly since as the decades passed there was some interesting cultural sharing.

Nor is there any reason to pretend that all this happened in a vacuum; the reciprocal relationships involving the Ruthenians and the Orthodox, the Ruthenians and the Roman Catholics, and so on should be included, not air-brushed out.

Finally, it would be helpful to have some indications of where these communities came from and what the Church in those homelands was doing then, did later, and is doing now.

All this, of course, should be accompanied by a really beautiful catalogue, with lots of pictures, historical information, maybe some DVDs . .. the possibilities are endless, and the value of such a resource would be almost unlimited.

Fr. Serge

Why isn't there a television broadcast of a Byzantine mass? There are broadcasts of Latin rite services all the time.

Blessings,

John

John,

I assume you mean on EWTN?

Main reason would be that normally the Masses are those celebrated in the Chapel of EWTN by their clergy, and they are Latin Rite.

On the other hand, in 2006 I saw two Divine Liturgies celebrated according to an Eastern Rite on EWTN. One of the Syro-Malabar rite, served right there in the same chapel by a hierarch and other ministers of that Church from India. The other was the Divine Liturgy celebrated by the Ecumenical Patriarch last November, with Benedict XVI in attendance.

EWTN also has occasionally Masses celebrated by the Bishop of various dioceses in the USA. Perhaps if someone from the Byzantine Rite spoke to EWTN about it, something could happen. I think we Latin Rite Catholics should see the Eastern Rites celebrated more frequently on EWTN, especially if it were accompanied by respectful, discrete and knowledgeable catechesis.

Best,
Michael

I didn't necessarily mean EWTN, but why couldn't a camera crew video the Byzantine service for broadcast on EWTN or other television networks/stations? Maybe this is done on public access cable TV in certain spots in the US, but I've never seen a Byzantine Service on television. There is the syndicated radio broadcast of a Byzantine Mass from Parma every Sunday, but that's about it. I suppose someone just has to make the arrangments and do it, or at least determine if someone other than myself would watch.