www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Having a Divine Liturgy at my school

By all accounts, YOU have a lot of convincing to do!

Now, I think you may need the "assistance" or "guidance" of a Latin Rite priest, who could issue an "imprimatur" to the "propriety" of a Melkite Divine Liturgy in place of the Roman Mass!

The students will not be the problem; the school administration is or will be! :p

By the way, under what teaching Order (male or female religious) is your high school?

Amado

drewmeister2,

What wonderful news. I hope you are able to utilize Father Deacon Montalvo's suggestion of an additional priest and deacon to assist. It sounds like there are many students in your school.

I pray also that you will be able to have some sessions ahead of time to instruct the students and that the visiting Melkite priest will be able to give some instruction even on that day.

I'm sorry that you have no regular priest at your school. I pray that one will be assigned to your school. A retired priest could serve nicely, I should think.

Hmmmm....If I were a priest I would enjoy serving in such a position.

I think Father Anthony and others have give you some wonderful suggestions.

What is the time line for this?

You are to be commended for your courage and for your devotion to God in initiating this event.

Please pray for us as we move into one of the most important events in our Church on Aug. 6. Pray that God will embolden us to take the message we hear from our Lord to other parts of our country.

Dan Lauffer

Amado,

the high school is a diocesan school.

Thanks for all your comments! We do have a priest on campus (who is part of an Order), however, he only serves as a backup priest . Very sad. Fr. Deacon Montalvo is right though, it is a diocesan-run school.

Unfortunately, I don't think I will (or anyone else will) be able to instruct the students, as the principle doesn't allow the school just to miss classes for something like this. I have to say, I agree with his position, because if every "special event" we had at school needed some prep time with the students, then there would be no time for learning. Although, I wouldn't mind if he made an exception for this .

No time frame yet, as I haven't even talked to the school about it yet (school hasn't started yet). It starts on the 10th of August. I'll talk to them about it then; hopefully it will go through!

Thanks for all your support! I take no credit for the idea though. It was Fr. Deacon Rimmer's idea.

I went to a Latin Rite high school and we had our monthly Mass in our gym. I was a sacristan so I got involved with most of the "behind the scenes" stuff. We had Divine Liturgy a few times in the gym and it worked out OK. We had our Eastern peers serve and do the readings and the priest brought a cantor (I think...) and the books. It worked out well.

Of course, I never heard of this TeenLife stuff until a few months ago, and I'm from Eastern PA which is very traditional to begin with, and most all of the students KNEW about the Eastern Churches and many had attended a Divine Liturgy at one time or another, so it worked out well for us.

The bottom line is just go for it. Can it be any weirder to the kids than drums and guitars at Mass? oops, scratch that, I guess that stuff's normal these days...

Lol, yeah, sadly, that may be the case.

Thanks for the reply!

There should be no problem then if your high school is diocesan-run.

The school's priest-in-residence could very well assist the Melkite clergy in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. I figure he is as much interested as the students to know how a Melkite liturgy is done.

Your Latin Ordinary owes one to his counterpart in the Melkite Eparchy!

Amado

Terrific thing to do!

Let go and let God.

Tell us how it goes.

I'll pray to St John Chrysostom and our Lady, Theotokos, for help and blessings for your endeavor.

Paul

Andrew,

Deacon Marion is a wonderful man and if he can be there I'm sure he will. And, yes, Fr. Peter can consecrate two chalices and two diskos so that both he and Deacon Marion can distribute communion.

Let God take care of leading the experience for the kids -- don't worry!

Fr. Deacon Edward

Andrew,

Don't worry! What you may have trepidations about, may be truly minor. It will work out, and will be a truly educational and spiritual experience for all, including you :rolleyes: .

So relax, and let God do his part.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Thanks for all your replies and advice!