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Is there any problem with western Catholic churches offering more than one liturgy on a sunday. It seems that it would be impossible not to, and also, being Catholic we trust the authority of the church to make those decisions, so if they say it is ok, I would think it is certainly valid and acceptable. Is there a difference between East and West in this regard theologically or liturgically? Are you saying that for an Eastern church to do this unnecessarily is inauthentic and unEucharistic? Do you think it is equally inAuthentic for the west to do so? Or is it ok due to the fact that it is necessary seeing that we could never fit all the members of a parish into a church for one mass.

It is not uncharacteristic to have more than one Mass in a Western parish--and as you said, totally necessary logistically. However, in probably 90% of Ruthenian parishes, it is unnecessary and only divides the already dwindling congregations. Are any Ruthenian Greek Catholic parish churches that small where space for all attending is a problem? Most likely not, unless the parish is growing at a break-neck pace.

I used to feel that it was pastorally sensitive to have "Saturday evening Mass" and another on Sunday, in order to "keep people" in the Ruthenian Church. With the advent of the RDL, and the "episcopally" encouraged usage of the "Vesperal Liturgy" as normative, I have changed my position.

Often times, we're our own worst enemy.

Father, bless,

Father Thomas has made a very significant statement:

�In the meantime I propose that we seek to discover what I like to call the "inner dynamism" of the Liturgy: its character and what it says, what it is about. This something that not even the RDL or any other translation effort can take away. The key to this is integration.�

He then continues his point with a definition of �good liturgy� and how liturgy should encompass our entire being, both inside and outside of the Church.

I have much sympathy for those faithful having problems with the RDL, for whatever reason. However, if we orient ourselves to the integration spoken by Father Thomas, we can achieve the �big picture� sense of liturgy in our entire lives. From that, if adjustments are needed (such as the RDL), that can be addressed. The point is that whatever process we incorporate to restore authentic traditions, our emphasis is the liturgical application of our tradition in our entire lives. This should never be interrupted.

This approach has marvelous benefits in my opinion. My prayer is that our lives be directed to liturgy in all we do.

Deacon El

The proper way to orient ourselves and our Church to the �inner dynamism� of the Liturgy is not to reinvent the Liturgy, but to pray the Liturgy in its correct and complete form and allow it to form us and our Church so that we � as a Church - can discover and embrace this �inner dynamism�. Bad translations and reform based upon the ideas of men can and do harm the ability of the faithful to discover and participate in this �inner dynamism�. This idea that the Divine Liturgy is broke and does not enliven the Church, and that we can only discover the �inner dynamism� of the Liturgy by reworking it is just silly. As a Church we are very much ignorant of the quality and beauty of our own Ruthenian Liturgical Tradition and the larger Byzantine Tradition. There are very valid reasons that the Liturgical Instruction directs us to restore first.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

As the Administrator suggests: the answer is in being faithful to who we are, to our particular riches which are unique, powerful and very, very, very, much needed in western civilization. I call this the vertical journey down into our authentic selves rather than looking horizontally at what everyone around us is doing and then aping it because little ol'us cannot possibley have a good idea. I believe this is the 'Original Sin' of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

But, by being authentic when it comes to liturgy means to be integrated, total and comphrehensive. Liturgy is like systems theory: It is about more than any one thing and if you change one thing you necessarily change the character of the whole.

Example: What good is it to argue about the Recension versus RDL
in terms of rubrics, texts and chant settings when a church does not have an icon screen or at best has what I call an "apologetic" icon screen--one in which "we can still see the priest!" Both the RDL and the Recension have many instructions involving the icon screen. Without an icon screen these instructions are meaningless. Without an icon screen you simply do not have a Byzantine liturgy because the essence of Byzantine Liturgy is integration. In fact integragtion is perhaps the single greatest genius of Eastern Christianity which is why it is so devasting to take an approach to liturgy that is not completely integrated and comprehensive. The sound, movement rhythm, gesture, art, architecture is completely interwoven with the text and chant settings. If we focus any one element we simply do not have Byzantine Liturgy. We have to be more eastern (integrated) and less secular western (compartmentalizing) in our ethos of liturgy even in our discussion of translations and music. To think that if we just had the right translation, rubrics and chant settings that we will have great liturgy is to adopt a very dis-integrated approach. It is a very western or secular approach to Liturgy. Yes, we do need to hash out the issues of correct translation, and musical settings but if everything else is awry the translations and settings will not be as effective.

But the bigger question is WHY does a parish NOT have an icon screen? Or why does it have an "apologetic" one whose design philosophy is based upon a Latin Rite and secular understanding of Mass (Liturgy) and complete ignorance of the "inner dynamism" and absolutley vital role of the icon screen in Byzantine Liturgy? This points to a very fundamental need for education and reformation spiritually in a faith community (including the pastor.) This is the kind of real foundation spiritual renewal and Judgement Day that I believe the Eastern Catholic Churches are called to. You can have the most perfect, faithful liturgical text, rubrics and chant but it will mean little if the rest of the story is not told. Byzantine liturgy is not confined to words or musical notations on a piece of paper that are faithfully executed inside four walls for an hour on Sunday. This is of course a very, very vital part of it. But it is only one part of. But what about the entire ethos of liturgy, Scripture,or the spirituality that is brought to and taken from our experience of the Divine Liturgy in Church on Sunday? If the church building itself, its proper design, acoustics, iconography, allowance for liturgical gesture, processions, the interior life of the particpants, their understanding of liturgy and of how integrated liturgy is with every aspect of life is not renewed, if a sacramental versus secular worldview is not renewed, then a proper pew book just is not going to have the effect it should. The text and chant settings can be a part of a transformation but text on a page are simply not going to transform people whose spirituality has been largely formed by secularims, relativism, and the "original sin" of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

What I am speaking about here is of course much more difficult and involved than reprinting a pew book or chant settings. I am talking about comprehensive, concrete reform from the ground up on every level of our existence as Church. We are simply afraid to do this because we know what a daunting and indicting task this is. So,we make the mistake of playing it safe. Changing text on a page and printing a new pew book seemed like an "easier" or safer route. But simply changing text on a page and musical settings to be used within the confines of an hour worship service on Sunday is like putting a coat of paint on a car that is rusting from the inside out. Yes, the coat of paint is vital. But unless the car itself is renewed the new coat of paint will be ineffective, whereas it could otherwise be very effective. By using this analogy I am not suggesting that the importance of text and chant settings are superficial. These things are VERY important. But, I am merely trying to make the point that unles EVERYTHING changes, the money, energy and ire spent on a "pew" book will be mute. The consideration of a coat of paint has to occur simultaneously with the consideration of changing the entire car body to properly go hand in hand with the wise selection of a coat of paint.

The Judgement day that is required in relation just to liturgy itself is vast: Our understanding and integration of Feastdays,
Fasts, the Domestic Church, our insistence on "fitting" liturgy into an hour framework, Saturday night "Mass" instead of Vespers. But it goes much much deeper":

Many of our parishes cannot supply a qualified cantor nor form choral groups which can be extremely effective evangelically. The reason is because we have more parishes than we can "staff" adequately. This is something that is a result of huge demographic changes in the last 40 years that we simply are not repsonding to. Good cantoring, good congregational singing is vital to the evangelical power of Byzantine Liturgy. If we want "good" liturgy which includes proper cantoring and congregational singing we will have to combine our resources. When we did this in Illinois and we went from one cantor to eight great cantors almost overnight as well as several choral groups that produced a CD of our chant that is selling like hotcakes literally around the world.

(NOTE:I submit this example as prooftext and encouragment for others and for no other reason. If there are other examples like this out there I am the first to want them to come forward so that the whole Church can benefit. Even if you want to boast. That's fine with me. But at least let's see something really dyanmic that has happened out there.)

But to do things like combining resources (parishes, financial assets, clergy, faithful and cantors) is the one thing we are deathly afraid to do. Again, this points to a need for very serious spiritual renewal. This points to our whole concept of ecclesiology and of Christian community. It indicts our very Faith and trust in the Lord. All of these things must be dealt with and they go way beyond text on a page, rubrics and chant settings.

Basically what will happen (and is happening) to the Eastern Churches given their current course is that "only the strong will survive." This may seem depressing but it can also be good because it is only via the strong that a Church can evangelize and grow again. The Ruthenian Church in America in years to come will probably be just a few dyanmic parishes, a dynamic monastery or two,(perhaps), a ByznTEEN Youth Rally and perhaps one or two other entities that are "radical" in their nature and therefore evangelical. I do not see this as depressing. Although I wish things did not have to go this way, I do believe that nonetheless it is our only forseeable avenue to a renewed, expanded Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church in America.

Liturgy is not text. Liturgy is life. Renew life and we renew liturgy. Conversely, renew our liturgical worldview and we renew life. Renew our life and worldview and we renew a Church.

--Fr. Thomas J. Loya, STB, MA.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Shawn,

Thanks for your message. I too presented at World Youth Day in Toronto. In fact I spoke in the church in which I later discovered they filmed the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."
I had been pushing for an eastern service at the manin venue of World Youth Day such as the Vespers with the Pope. Of course we did not get that venue (yet) but Toronto was at least a mini-breakthrough for the Eastern Churches in terms of having some recognized presence at World Youth Day.

My plan is this: We get present a package of radio programing from representatives from all Eastern Catholic Churches and approach the Catholic radio mediums and strike a deal: an"Eastern Hour" in exchange for the increased listenership and financial support that these radio efforts desparately need.
You can listen to my program, "Light of the East" on my website since we archive every program: wwww.byzantinecatholic.com. You can also get it on EWTN radio. You can also listen to my live interview on Thursdays at 7:00AM Central Time: www.relevantradio.com [relevantradio.com] We are also on Ave Maria Radio which also has a satellite feed. To my knowledge these two efforts on my part are the ONLY substantial radio effort for the Eastern Catholic Churches. There are other efforts but they are very, very small. We have a foot in the door. Now we need the rest of the Eastern Catholic World to step up and this means ultimately our bishops. These radio stations will respect bishops especially if a few Latin Rite bishops speak on our behalf. But the bishops will be moved to act more aggressively if a completed radio package is presented to them.

Bishop Gregory Mansour has been supportive and he is a classmate of mine. So if you would like to help me put this package together it would be most welcomed. I am only one tiny foot in the door but it is a foot in the door nonetheless. Now we need some episcopal "muscule."

--Fr. Thomas J. Loya, STB, MA.

There is also the up and coming Orientale Lumen TV. Check it out. Hopefully in ten years we can have our own Eacstern Catholic television network, but we need to support it!

http://www.oltvweb.com/

As the founder and producer of OLTVweb, I certainly hope everyone has a look at our website and gives feedback. I hope and pray that we'll continue to add more material -- especially educational -- in the future. For now, you can view the Overview material -- Intro shows, etc. -- easily, but must register (for free) to watch any of the the other stuff. Other than the Overview stuff, the other material available is under Events: OL Plenaries (all the talks from our first Constantinople conference), OL Liturgies (six liturgies and a variety of other services from past conferences), and Other (the only video so far is of the Papal visit to Constantinople in 2006. We hope to add video footage from the 2006 Uzhorod Prostopinije Conference liturgies and other events in the near future.

I also hope we can have a full TV network up and running in less than ten years, but we'll rely on the Holy Spirit for that!

CIX!

Excellent work, Jack, on the OLTV as well as ECP - both have been very good instruments of evangelization.

Back to WYD - didn't the Eparchy of Toronto have a Greek Catholic service? I think the Eparchy in Australia is planning same for the next one.

Thanks, Diak.

Gordo and I have some more family oriented educational material planned for release in the near future -- watch this space, and my own blog (that you can access from ECPubs and OLTVweb), where I'll be doing weekly annoucements about new material and upcoming events.

And Fr Tom and I are also collaborating on a few new media projects as well.

Jack

Jack Figel needs an award from Pittsburgh or the Orthodox hierarchs at large if he hasn't gotten one already. OL conferences, EC Publishing, the OLTV initiative, etc. etc. Truly a blessing to EC and OCs alike.

I wish you God's choicest blessings on your ministry. would that I had a computer (I have to use public ones) where I can hear your messages. as far as Typicas are concerned, as far as I know, I am the only EC in southeast Tennessee, so my Typicas are one man shows. I know that I could benefit from your messages.
Much Love,
Jonn

AMEN! AXIOS!

Gordo

Domestic Church Resources is now up on the ECP site:

https://ssl.webvalence.com/ecommerce/kiosk.lasso?merchant=ecpubs&kiosk=books&class=26

More to come! (Vol II: The Great Fast and Pascha and the Minor Feasts; Vol III: The Sundays of the Liturgical Year)

The tagline for DCR is "Bringing the Light of the East to the Heart of the Home". The rationale for this is that we need to see the family (aka "the Domestic Church") as the focus of the New Evangelization. Parents are the first evangelizers of their children, but they often need to be equipped with the resources and tools that help aid them in this apostolic task.

Here is DCR's Mission Statement:


I will also mention that our very own Father Anthony has created some very useful tools for families, although I do not know the link to get them.

In ICXC,

Gordo

Here you go Gordo,

Family Resources [familyaschurch.org]

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+