I have asked, in another Forum, how our various Churches (Eastern Catholic and Orthodox, as well as other Eastern Churches) have approached the task of bringing Christ to people of cultures and ethnicities different from the one(s) predominating in the Church that is seeking to carry out that missionary task. It occurs to me that it might be helpful to view our, occasionally somewhat too contentious, discussion of the RDL and its predecessors, as well as matters of liturgical change/reform in other Eastern Churches, through a similar lens.
The task of the hierarchs, clergy and Laity of the Catholic Churches of the Byzantine liturgical tradition today seems rather different from that facing their forefathers. Our own parishes (as well as the communities in which we live) are now "mission territories" rather than cohesive communities of those newly arrived in North America. (Whether the same may be true of other Eastern Churches, I leave to others to assess.)
Many Byzantine Christians, though linked by blood to the "founders and benefactors of [their] Holy Church," no longer speak the Mother Tongue and may know little, if anything, of the culture of their ancestors. Other Byzantine Christians, not sharing even such a blood-tie, may have little more than a vague appreciation of the language, music, literature, cuisine and customs of their co-religionists. Neither group may see the need for their Church to reinforce elements of an ethnic tradition they do not share (at least not fully). They may, however, need to be reassured that their Church fully respects their present culture and ethnicity and is prepared to help them discover how it can be reflected in worship and in the life of the Church community.
Are "my way or the highway" approaches to liturgical reform consistent with the missionary task that confronts our Churches in North America? Is the musical tradition of Galicia or Transcarpathia, or any other single country, the only possible means of expressing sung liturgical prayer in communities that share so many different musical traditions? Are their other elements of our common culture here in North America that can be adapted/adopted to enable us to worship with more fervor, greater understanding and deeper faith as Byzantine Christians in North America?
