www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Going towards the right after leaving towards the left

My wife, two young children 9 and 10, and myself will probably be leaving our Byzantine Church and attend a Roman Catholic, mainly since the Roman Catholics are more flexiable with thier times. The question I have is:

Since all of us make the sign of the cross from Right to Left, how should we make it in the Roman church? Should we do as the Romans?

No one will ever really notice. Do what you feel comfortable doing.

Don't go Roman. There are multiple Byzantine Catholic churches in the Toledo area!

There are 2. St. Michaels BCC and St. Michaels UGC

Fr. Loya had a great radio show on the value of a single liturgy on Sunday as an important tradition to be followed always. Leaving aside the regulations on altar use beyond once a day, there is merit in the whole church attending together. The Latin parish near me offers a whopping 6 masses that fulfill the "obligation" every weekend. Looking farther out the next few close by offer only... 5.

Beyond the fact that the nearest parish holds 3,000 people few people know each other. Conversely, I know just about everyone who attends divine liturgy with me. Aside from the occasional embarrassing moment where I introduce myself to a "new" person who ends up being a long-time - if very occasional - parishioner I very much value this closeness. It's the only way we survive a DL with 20 small children and smile afterwards.

The RC church up the street is adding what I believe will be it's ninth weekend mass. No, wait; that can't be right. Evening in both English & Spanish both Saturday & Sunday, three or four Sunday morning in English, two Sunday afternoon in Spanish, and now another to be added. The fire marshal is insisting The church is only rated for something like 1,100 occupancy, and they're a couple hundred over.

hawk

GLORY TO GOD! Isn't that an awesome problem to have. A full church that many times a day. Glory to God!

It's the best kind, yes. Bishop Pepe would build three more churches if he had priests to staff them.

OTOH, the parishes are so huge, and the priests spread so thin, that they've let EC priests know that they are more than welcome to as many families as they can minister to . . .

hawk

I took your assertion that the parishes in the Diocese of Las Vegas are SO HUGE nonchalantly until the statistics revealed this:

The more than 700,000 Catholics in the Diocese of Las Vegas are spread over 26 parishes in 5 Southern Counties of Nevada, with approximately 27,000 faithful per parish, served by only 25 priests (diocesan and religious) and 34 extern priests, 14 permanent deacons, 4 religious brothers, 3 religious sisters, and 38 lay ministers.

The Diocese of Las Vegas was established only in 1995 (split from the Diocese of Reno to the North) starting with around 250,000 faithful. The Diocese grew by more than 200% since then.

Your parishes are, indeed, HUGE!

Amado

It is the same with our Church. We have 3 on Saturday (plus the 2 weddings and sometimes one funeral) = 6 and Sundays 6 = 12.Then the 2 large Masses each day and numerous funerals during the week.= Our isnt so much a lack of priests but of time &parkingpossibilities. Besides the other activities Sunday night, the CCD, the adoration, etc and on and on.
Unfortunately they were not that farsighted years ago when it was built, We could have used an extra city block just for the parking and another one just for the school.

Stephanos I
The final tally is a minimum of 22 Masses a week. Oy vey.
PS Just wanted to add the secret of Church growth #1 Preach the "authentic" Gospel # 2 Have ongoing intercessory prayer with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.#3 Offer Education in the Faith for all levels.

Matthew,

Changing rites should not be done lightly. Look into some other Byzantine Churches first. Examine whether or not some issues of convenience are worth making a change.

I would not change for an issue of convenience. Now if you are drawn to switch rites, because you are really drawn to the Latin Church, that is another thing. But to change Churches for temporary issues of convenience may not be the best decision.

A friend of mine once said, "you should not change churches like you change a shirt."


Blessings,


Lance


A Byzantine Christian in a Postmodern World [byzantinechristian.blogspot.com]

I'd encourage you to cross the Latin way, since you'll be in the Latin parish. Latin Catholics are encouraged to cross the Byzantine way when attending a Byzantine church, and I always do. I'm pretty sure it's a two-way street.

Alexis

If clergy don't exchange vestments when visiting why would we go left when we normally go right?

We are? We do?

I cross myself the way I cross myself. If anyone happens to even notice - no one has said anything to me ever - I will just say "I do it the Bernie Kozar way!" and leave it at that.

I always cross myself the Eastern way-regardless of the setting. I do not expect Roman Catholics to cross themselves right-to-left if they visit my parish (besides, I don't think anyone is paying attention to how someone crosses himself), and I will not cross myself left-to-right just because I happen to be attending a Mass. I don't cease being Eastern Catholic when I attend a Roman Catholic Mass.

Ryan