Originally posted by Yuhannon:
Shlomo Teen,
The only reason that the Roman Church is the one doing missionary work in Africa, is because Eastern Catholics are FORBIDDEN to do so outside of their "territory". I know of a Maronite Priest that is a missionary in Taiwan, and he can not preach about the Maronite Church only the Roman one.
I will not go into the weakness of our Eastern Catholic Eparchs at this time, but this really enrages me.
Yuhannon,
I'm going to take a tact that Incognitus once took with regard to the Italo-Greico-Albanians' complaint about the lack of a jurisdiction and parishes in the US. His comment (which I thought cold at the time, but now appreciate):
Originally posted by Incognitus:
If there was really the potential for Italo-Greek parishes in the cities mentioned, I am cruel enough to suggest that much of the responsibility for the lack of such parishes rests with the Italo-Greeks. Sorry to be offensive, but the history of various Eastern Catholic groups demonstrates that those who are NOT willing to roll over and play dead eventually succeed. Go visit Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, for the oldest example. In the specific case of Our Lady of Grace, Staten Island, the society was asked several times by the bishops in Italy if they did not need a priest - and the answer was always "no, we don't need a priest, we need a church!". This is sheer madness; the building does not create the community. Nor could anyone have reasonably expected the Bishops in Italy to have sent over a church edifice, bells and all, and provided a building site into the bargain. Any group that seriously wants a parish should get busy and start one instead of weeping about the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Good works are wrought with trouble, and accomplished with pain, but whosoever endures to the end will be saved!
The Ukes are in Dublin, the UK, and all over Europe; the Maronites and Melkites are less pervasive, but they each have a European presence; the Belarusians are in London; everyone is in Oz; and the Maronites, Melkites, and Ukes are in South America. Those foundations exist because they were established to serve communities of the faithful.
Do you really think anyone in the Curia is monitoring who attends Liturgy there, who are being baptized, chrismated, communed, reconciled, married in and buried from those temples?
What a Maronite priest is doing in Taiwan as a missionary is beyond me, but since he is, who is stopping him from taking in any curious inquirer and why is he there as a missionary if he can't do mission work?
As to why the Latin and not the Coptic or Ethiopian Churches took the lead in African mission lands, that question lies more with our Oriental Orthodox brethren than it does with their Catholic counterparts. By the time evangelization in Africa was underway, Oriental Catholicism was essentially non-existent in North Africa - Latin missioners were there trying to bring about a reunion of communion; there wasn't a viable Oriental Catholic institution to effect mission work.
There is a sizeable
Lebanese population in Africa [lebanese.co.za] ; it doesn't take much to figure out that a goodly percentage of it is likely Maronite. There's been a Maronite parish in South Africa since the turn of the 20th century, but
The Lebanese of South Africa [mari.org] The most remarkable accomplishment by far was our people's retention and preservation of their identity as a Lebanese community in Diaspora. Lebanon did not help us with this at all. Indeed, until fairly recently (when Lebanon discerned the essence of this community), we were very much a forgotten and grossly neglected people. So, let Berke send out clergy to service its faithful and, if others come to worship with the community, bingo! You will have evangelized without contravening Canon 594
Missionary territories are those recognized as such by the Apostolic See.
Don't complain about the weakness of the Eparchs - look to your Patriarch, get over being enraged, and do something for yourselves. We of the East and Orient, whether Catholic or Orthodox, do not have the evangelization opportunities or resources or history of the Latin Church. We haven't got the massive network, the institutions of higher learning, the infrastructure of a Society for the Propagation of the Faith, and so on. What we are going to achieve in this area is going to depend entirely on having the initiative and wherewithal to get out and do things, instead of whining and waiting to be told that it's ok to do so.
In another of Incognitus' words of wisdom, he once observed something to the effect that
As we both know, Canon Law lies light on the Melkites
or something similar. We need to be embarressed if we are going to forego sharing our Faith with others for the sake of one line in the CCEO. Our hierarchs may not be able to establish canonical jurisdictions in the diaspora, but they don't need Rome's permission to send forth clergy - just the chutzpah and moral and intestinal fortitude to do so.
Many years,
Neil
