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Hello,

I attended this week's Orientale Lumen conference here in DC and I posted some pictures and reflections from the conference on my blog. Enjoy!

Pictures [ericsammons.com]

Reflections [ericsammons.com]

Eric Sammons

I envy you! I would love to have been there, better yet to be in Constantinople [olconference.com] in another week! Like you I was one of very few (count us on one hand?) "Roman" Catholics at the OL Conference I was blest to attend a couple of years ago. It was an utterly transformative experience for me. I began attending Divine Liturgy when I came home and never looked back. I'm still canonically a Latin Catholic but haven't considered myself one since really immersing myself in the liturgical year of the East. I go back to and refer others to the Plenaries [oltv.tv] and the Liturgies [oltv.tv] often.

We in the Society of Saint John Chrysostom [ssjc.org] recently got a request for donations. I strongly encourage anyone who can to donate in any amount. The Orientale Lumen Conferences and OLTV streaming videos are fantastic resources.

Father Maximos was at our parish today and confirmed the wonderful rumor I had heard- he, Father Abbot Nicholas and Father Moses have been given a gift that is allowing them to go to the OL EuroEast III Constantinople July 5-8! Couldn't happen to more wonderful folks!

The talk entitled "How Many Ecumenical Councils? A Test Case for Eastern Catholic Theology" does sound interesting. My own position is that the fourteen Latin Councils are authoritative only for the Western Church.

Fr. Robert Taft, S.J. needs to re-think his views on "traditional Roman Catholics". He seems to forget that the Orthodox Church also values "tradition" as well. And will not be turned into a post Vatican 2 like church. A modern day Roman Catholic Novus Ordo type church, with tradition practically stripped away. With the bandage on his nose, maybe one of those so-called wackos got to him and he is upset. Also as for Abp. Donald Wuerl. Well we all seen how he presented tradition when Pope Benedict XVI came to Washington DC. An outcry!, in regards to the Papal Mass. Again a lack of tradition. Do Eastern Christians really want to discuss unity with the likes of these aging hipsters from the Roman side.