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A number of the American Melkites studied at the Greek Orthodox seminary. I think it is Holy Cross.

Getting rid of such groups as the Sister Servants in the UGCC whose total existance is RC from the structure of the organisation to the way they dress, will be a big problem. Down under has them and they are clearly very latinised. I suspect it is due to them and the also latinised Basilians (from Argentina) we have we still have first Communions and now first solemn confessions have appeared.

Thanks for posting this Jakub! I almost forgot about this great tradition. I just followed through with it two days late but better late then never.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the Melkite Church in the U.S. largely does its own educating, and if it can't it sends seminarians to predominantly Orthodox teachers. At least that's the impression I've gotten from talking to my friend who is preparing for his ordination to the Diaconate.

Heck, even in the "Melkite-run" course he was taking, their key text was "The Eucharist" by Fr. Alexander Schmemann.

Peace and God bless!

Chaldeans & Assyrians [marabba.org] have a seminary in the US now, the only Chaldean Seminary outside of Iraq, in CA.

Byzantine Catholic Seminary of SS. Cyril and Methodius [byzcathsem.org] PA

Our Lady of Lebanon Seminary for the Maronite [maroniteseminary.org] D.C.

St. Basil Seminary [saintbasils.org] Melkite in MA

St. Basil’s College [stbasilcollege.com] Ukrainian Catholic, CT

Holy Spirit Seminary [holyspiritseminary.org] Ukrainian Catholic in Ottawa

We're told he was banned and burned in Russia. He's been good for this lay person.

Regretably, both St Gregory's - the Melkite eparchial seminary - and St Basil's - the Melkite Salvatorian seminary - exist principally on paper. At one time, both flourished and, in fact, Bishop Robert of the Maronites and Bishop John Michael of the Romanians attended St Basil's and St Gregory's respectively.

Presently, at least two Melkite eparchial seminarians are enrolled at St Cyril & Methodius (the Byzantine Metropolia's seminary). The Salvatorians have one or two novices, I believe, but they are doing their coursework at Latin colleges and (I think) Holy Cross - the GOA seminary. Our relationship with Holy Cross goes back a long way - to the days of Archbishop Iakovos - and our seminarians have done coursework there even when our seminaries were functional.

Many years,

Neil

Thanks for the prayers. I will set about blessings the homes again this year. But we have to spread it out throughout the whole year.
And its only usually done when the home is new, or newly moved into. As Alice said, in a parish of 5400 families this anual blessing would be next to impossible.
Stephanos I
We usually sing "We Three Kings of Orient Are". The children have foil crowns and then we have a festive meal. (The only reason I go )

I will revive once again the suggestion that got me banned years ago: We should shut down all the Eastern Catholic seminaries and send all our people to the various Orthodox ones. We'll save scads of money, and the overall level of instruction will improve.

That sounds like a great idea to me.

I, on the other hand, think this idea stinks.

What a great way for our Byzantine Catholic Churches to be re-absobed into the Orthodox Church.

God forbid. I can't speak for anyone else but I have no desire whatsoever to join the Orthodox Church. I respect them and admire certain things about them but joining one of them? No thanks, man.

If we are indeed "Orthodox Christians in communion with the Church of Rome", then what will our people learn in an Eastern Catholic seminary that they cannot or will not learn in an Orthodox seminary? Let's face it--as compared to St. Vlad's, St. Tikon's and Holy Cross, our seminaries are not only under-utilized, over-staffed and over-facilitized, but offer a distinctly second rate theological education--which is why our best and brightest go off to Orthodox institutions anyway.

Just what do you think those awful Orthodox will teach our people that will cause us to be "re-absorbed" into the Orthodox Church?

Although, now that you mention it, I will repeat Bishop John Michael (Botean)'s oft-repeated aphorism: "The vocation of the Eastern Catholics is to disappear". Face it--at some point, maybe sooner, maybe later, the Catholic communion and the Eastern Orthodox communion will be reconciled, and at that point there will be no reason for our continued existence as distinctive ecclesial entities. Our destiny, our telos, is to become one with our Mother Churches.

Dear brother StuartK,

I have a definite understanding of the mission of Eastern/Oriental Catholicism as a bridge between the Catholic Churches and the Orthodox Churches. It is that mission which will be put in danger, IMHO, if we let all our people be schooled in EO seminaries. I am less apprehensive if we are talking about Oriental Catholics being schooled in OO seminaries since the OO (sadly, except for the COC) generally have official recognition of each other's sacraments and Churches as true Churches.

I am admittedly not fully apprised of the context of this message, but it seems to me that this reabsorption spoken of by the Bishop refers to the time when there is a mutual reabsorption of all the Catholic and Orthodox Churches into unity.

Blessings

I went Byzantine becuase the Orthodox reject the God-Given duty of unity to Peter's Heir as Christ's appointed shepherd of the flock. (Jn 21)

Sheesh!

I do not consider the Orthodox to be "awful"- I admire their witness under Soviet oppression but I do take issue with them on several theological points and with their barely-disguised contempt of the Latin Church.

I do not agree with their vision of what the Pope's role in the Church should be nor with their rejection of the immaculate Conception, to name a couple of points.Their collaboration with the Communists in the destruction of the greek Catholic Church in Ukraine is simply disgraceful.

What you quote Bishop John Michael as having said sounds to me like something that could have uttered at the seudo-Synod of L'viv in 1946. If he went to Romania today he could see first-hand the disappearance of our Greek Catholic Church going on there now.