www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News What would you tell the Pope

I dropped one of the Anglican Use Chaplets in the mail this morning to you. They said it should take 4-7 days and I hope that's soon enough.

I also forgot to mention that I would ask him for a big old Apostolic Blessing for Byzcath.org and all the posters thereof.

Joe Zollars

Now, will your wife be pretending to be a nun?

Dear Joe,

Thank you and my wife won't be joining me . . .

She'd be too nervous anyway, whereas I'm right at home with His Holiness!

Alex

Dear Alex,

Since you probably will have a total of 20 seconds with him (unless you have some new hig profile position at Queen's Park), I would say the following:

I ask your blessing, Your Holiness. I am a Ukrainian Greco-Catholic and am very thankful for all you have done for my Church, and I eagerly await all that God has planned for you to do to help rebuiled the long-suffering Church in Ukraine and throughout the world. Through the intercession of (Saint -- depends on how 'gutsy' you feel, if not very, then Metropolitan) Andrei Sheptytsky, let us pray for Christian unity.

Daniil

Dear Daniil,

I will actually have more time than that and I definitely will mention Saint you-know-who!

Alex

Glory to God for all things!

Dear Alex,

Speaking on behalf of Russian Greek Catholics in Russia and in America convey to him our warmth and affection. We love him as a father. We love him more than he knows. We pray for him daily. We are grateful for the recognition accorded SS Leonid, Kliment, Feodor and Nikolaj, our Russian Greek Catholic new martyrs. Please visit our churhces.

In Russia we are in great need of a bishop to serve as an exarch. For those of us outsice Russia we need a visitor, a bishop.

We pray with him for the return of the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan to Russia. We pray that he will be able to return the icon in person and that our Russian Greek Catholic bishop, priests, and faithful will be able to join him in prayer for unity.

Presviataya Bogoroditse Fatimskaya, spasi nas.
Russian Orthodox-Catholic martyrs pray for us.

[ 07-15-2002: Message edited by: PaulOrthCathConfessor ]

[ 07-15-2002: Message edited by: PaulOrthCathConfessor ]

[ 07-18-2002: Message edited by: Roman_Seminarian ]

Tell him we have a house right on the ocean here in San Diego so if he wants to surf and hang out at the beach or go water skiing, he is more than welcome to come over

Tel him thanks for going to Ukrayina and to officially Glorify Metropolitan Andrew!

[ 07-16-2002: Message edited by: ukrainiancatholic ]

Dear Friends:

Thank the Holy Father for his faith, love and persistence in the cause for full Unity with the Orthodox Churches. Bid him clarify the demarcations between the Latin and Eastern Rite Churches (as previous poster suggested), and work towards simplifying the issues related to return of separated brethren -- lay and clerical -- related to full participation in the life of the Church after their return (should not be a limited exile). Finally, ask him to speak clearly on the need to beautify the art and architecture of Latin churches, and formalize a common text within each language of all liturgical materials (example in Roman Rite, US versus GB liturgical texts, example in Eastern Rites, differing translations, etc., etc., etc.) as this is a common problem in the Catholic and English using ORthodox Churches.

Dear Friends,

As I actually get to meet the Pope twice, those of you who wanted to send me a letter can take it easy on the timelines I indicated to you earlier!

Lucky Alex . . .

Alex,

Please ask His Holiness to remove all restrictions on the ordination of married Eastern Catholic men to the priesthood.

Thanks,
Anthony

You, indeed are a blessed individual to have an audience with the Holy Father.

Ask him to:

allow Eastern Catholic married men in America to enter the priesthood,

urge American Roman Catholic Bishops to educate their parishoners about the Byzantine rite(s), let RC'S know that we are here..we are the best kept secret in the Catholic Church

keep praying for a reunion with the Orthodox churches

also, pray for a reunion with the conservative independent Catholic churches

pray for a Catholic university in Arizona

pray that Catholics actually open their Bibles, not just put pictures in them!!

God Bless and have a memory-filled trip.

A sinner in need of His Grace,
Walter Metrick

Dear Alex:

Tell His Holiness that we all pray for the physical and spiritual strenght to allow him to continue his mission amoungst us.

Ask him to bless all our Churches, both East and West.

Ask him to remember and keep alive the ancient traditions of the Holy Catholic and Orthodox Faith made venerable by the blood of Martyrs and God's Saints.

And finally ask him to grant his Apostolic Blessing to all the past, present and future members of the Byzantine Forum.

Though unworthy sinners that we may all be.


Sincerely
Jose J. de Freitas-Lopes

Walt, Eastern Catholic men can enter the priesthood now, at least in the Ukrainian metropolia. Two were ordained in the U.S. last year.

Alex, I know this is a hot potato, but could you put in a little pitch for recognition of the Kyivan Patriarchate? If anyone can do it, you da man!

[ 07-16-2002: Message edited by: Diak ]

Dear Friends,

Keep your requests coming!

As I said, I'll hand this written account to him when I see my opening.

I'll be sure to mention this Forum and all of you here. Yes, of course, I'll mention the situation of the Eastern Churches, the married thing, the Patriarchal thing .

I don't know exactly how much time I'll have, but I promise to be composed and sober so as to speak with him in a proper manner . . . uh, my name, Your Holiness? You want to know my name? Uhhh . . .

Alex

All I can do is express my gratitude to the Holy Father, and request his Apostolic Blessing on myself, my family, and all the Christians of the Middle East. His prayers for our troubled countries cannot possibly be repayed.

I would quickly add on the behalf of the grateful Catholics young and old who attend the Tridentine Mass here in Montreal, having been graced by a rare and strong pastoral care that is enjoyed by few nowadays and that has provided them with the spiritual fount of their ancestors' ancient liturgy, that one cannot thank His Holiness sufficiently for his pastoral kindness in making this possible for them through "Ecclesia Dei".

In concurrence and agreement with the requests of our listmembers for the good of our Christian East, and as an Arab Melkite from Syria, of a mixed Melkite/Orthodox family, I thank His Holiness in tremendous measure for the love he has given us, and in particular us Christians of the Levant for whom he has shown the most wondrous affection, and for the support he has given our Melkite Church in its endeavours to restore and uphold our Eastern patrimony in its fullness and purity, especially our unique theological heritage, and to remove foreign elements that hinder that progress. We are grateful for his encouragement in our attempt to reunite with our Antiochian Orthodox brethren. And his contribution to fostering an understanding of the traditional communion ecclesiology of particular Churches, which is so important to the Melkite and Eastern Churches, should not be forgotten.

We could have never asked for a more loving Pope. Shukran ya Qadasatil Baba. Our Patriarch Maximos IV of Thrice Blessed Memory would have been honored and gratified to have lived to see your pontificate and the good our Church has benefited from it and your blessings that followed our steps towards the proper model of "Orthodox in communion with Rome" and towards building our strong relations with our Orthodox brethren.

Thank you for your visits to Syria and Lebanon. They will live in our memories.

In IC XC
Samer

[ 07-18-2002: Message edited by: SamB ]