www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization We need an Eastern Catholic website!

I assume Carson is addressing me. Yes, Holy Transfiguration has a web site, though it is nothing spectacular. The parish is growing and half that growth is organic (i.e., we like making babies). Of the remainder, half of that, I estimate, comes through marrying in, about a quarter through changes of particular ritual Church, and the rest are really, truly conversions involving adults receiving some or all of the Mysteries of Initiation (some people having been baptized in a Protestant denomination, other not). In the eleven years I was at Epiphany, I think there were just two other adult baptisms aside from mine and my wife's. There are typically three or four a year at Transfiguration.

I attribute a lot of this to the world of one of our deacons, Sabbatino Carnazzo, who runs something called The Institute for Catholic Culture and also teaches at Catholic University. This allows him to bring a lot of people, individually or in groups, to the Liturgy; a surprising number keep coming back. The rest just goes to the parish environment, which is extremely active, dynamic, and welcoming. That, in turn, is a reflection of the pastor, Father Archimandrite Joseph Francavilla.

I wouldn't scoff at the Middle East Food Festival held every Labor Day. It brings in thousands of people, and though they come for the food, there are also church tours and lectures about the Melkites and the Liturgy. Food festivals are really a secret weapon. We're Greek Catholics because we went to the Slavic Festival at Epiphany, went on the church tour, saw that (contrary to what our Orthodox friends had told us) this was a very Orthodox liturgy (sic transit gloria!), which encouraged us to come the next Sunday, and the Sunday after that, and after that, and finally to tell Father John we would like to be initiated into his Church.

Again, the key is the liturgy: if you do it well, and you can get people to come just once, very likely they will come again. Hence, the centrality of liturgy in the life of the Church: font and touchstone of theology, principal method of evangelism, primary instrument of catechesis through mystagogy.

Going after disaffected Latins is like robbing Peter to pay Andrew. Also, many of those disaffected in the West would be even more disaffected with us. I would prefer to go after the unchurched, so as to avoid what Paul described as "plowing in another man's field".

As Father Taft has noted, the problem is tautological: the bishops beg off implementing reforms because "the people are not ready", and the people are not ready because the bishops refuse to teach the authentic Tradition. Meanwhile, priests who want to do so find themselves whipsawed between the directives of the Holy See to restore the fullness of our patrimony, and their eparchial bishops who refuse to do so and (sadly) sometimes discipline priests seen as too "Orthodox".

In such a situation, only the laity can break the logjam by demanding that which is rightfully theirs: the full Tradition of the Byzantine-Constantinopolitan rite, in liturgy, theology, spirituality, doctrine and discipline. Nothing less will do. If we do not want this, then we should just become Latins and have done with it.

Most are likely to be familiar with Western Christianity. Rather than make comparisons, just elaborate on what we do.

Y'all we just had our festival. From Thursday afternoon until Friday evening we served over 100,000 people. We completed the festival with almost that many the next day. Unbelievable! They said the church tours were nonstop with thirty to fourth people in each group, with four groups going all the time.

Y'all we just had our festival. From Thursday afternoon until Friday evening we served over 100,000 people. We completed the festival with almost that many the next day. Unbelievable! They said the church tours were nonstop with thirty to fourth people in each group, with four groups going all the time.