www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization Is your parish geared towards Byzantine Spirituality or Ethnicity

As the title says. What kind of parish do you have?

Well, how should I go about this? With the diversity that Parma has, after all, it's the Eparchial seat for both major Byzantine Catholic Churches (Ruthenian and Ukrainian), we also have our fair share of Latin churches here, too. In fact, besides me and my family, there are others here that worship in both Rites that we know of. How much of a trend this still is, well, it's still unknown. St. Charles Borromeo, being in a Polish neighborhood, although we do have other nationalities, like Irish, German, Asian, Slavic, etc... I wouldn't say that it's geared towards one Rite or the other. It's a full Latin Rite church through and through. Although the Latin Rite Churches in eastern Parma do have mainly Slavic populations, Slovak, Polish, Ukrainian, etc... Here you might have some that take on Byzantine spirituality, since there are Latin churches that are in between a lot of Orthodox or Byzantine Catholic or UGCC parishes. It's kind of a split city in terms of whether one is Latin or one is Eastern.

I mean, just your parish. Some parishes are very ethnicity-centric that people go there because they belong to that ethnic group. You will hear that they go there because of their ethnicity despite having good Catholic parish down the street where they live (which is RC). They do not know what Byzantine spirituality is and don't care. To them they do things differently than the RCs because that is how their motherland does things.

My parish has mostly ethnic Ukrainians. But, the services are tailored mostly in English, with Slavonic/Ukrainian bouncing off English counterparts. This has allowed me to enjoy learning a little Slavonic/Ukrainian, here and there. It helps to be inspired by the Father at St Irene who can speak a number of languages (10 or so). But, surprisingly, they try their best to muster through the English portions of liturgy (which encompasses 80-90%)

To quote Father Robert Taft, "The Oriental loves his liturgy because it is his, not because it is also yours".

But what about me/us?

Constantine,

I am curious why are you curious about this?

Eastern Christianity is a mixed bag. Some parishes are more UKRAINIAN/ EASTERN catholic and some are more ukrainian/ eastern CATHOLIC (depends on where the parochial emphasis is).

It is sad when a parish is so ethnic that they won't change to save the said parish. They would rather have a museum as a church that will eventually die, than to have a re-birth and long life for their community.

Just my opinion. It may not be right, but it is how I see it.

John

Because I went to a Ukrainian Church to be a Byzantine Christian (or whatever term one wishes to apply to the faith that grew out of Constantinople). I didn't go there to become a Ukrainian citizen. I am struggling now because I am there for a different reason from everyone else. It frustrates me a lot because I want to be active in the community and help promote the faith, but the community is more interested in cultural stuff. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but my frustration is that it seems that is all there is to being in that community. I mean, if they have a good, active spiritual life in the community and want to do cultural stuff, that is great. I won't bother with the cultural stuff but I would certainly be a part of the spiritual stuff. But outside of Liturgy I have zero spiritual stuff. And ethnic communites are resistant to change if you want to start introducing the proper traditions.

I see.

I am not sure in BC if there are any Byzantine Catholic churches...they are more ethnically neutral, I guesss.

You mean Ruthenians? There are hardly any Ruthenians in Canada. I think there are a couple of parishes in Ontario, but that is it. Even Melkites do not have a huge presence here. We have one mission parish that is in Arabic and doing their Liturgy in an RC parish.

If you love it, make it your own. The Liturgy sells itself, and stands or falls on its own merits.

A point of consideration, many thanks!

This was a concern for me also. Coming from a Roman Catholic background I have been attending a UC for about a month now. Most of the liturgy is in English the Ukrainian, there is, is not to difficult for me to understand since I was brought up in a very ethnocentric Polish RC parish, since my family was from the far eastern portion of Poland. I did not learn my basic prayers in English till third grade. In many large American cities this same ethnic vs spiritual also exists. This is a major battle brewing in the local Latin diocese as the Hispanic population is driving the old ethnic majorities out of their parishes, Hispanic sensitive priests refuse to allow the old traditional ethnic customs to be maintained. I guess having a Slavic connection makes it some what easier for me to understand and blend in. I can see where someone not use to ethnic expressions the ethnic developmental history of the eastern churches this may be a concern. For me it's the spiritual dimension that draws me in. If it was the ethnic there are many ethnic neutral and Polish ethnic parishes I could have looked for. I say let the Holy Spirit guide you.

Sbdn. John,

That subject was precisely the focus of the recent synod of all Ukrainian Catholic Bishops. It wasn't so much a question of whether or not to move towards a renewed spiritual focus, but of how best to do it. I would expect some direction from our bishops in the coming months, if there hasn't been some already.


Peace,
Deacon Richard

Thanks fr dn.

I got the article and it is hard knowing things will improve but not knowing when.

John