Dear Hawk,
I am currently in an Orthodox parish, so I am referencing "communion" in a , perhaps, very different construct from yours. If it is primarily about a more reverent Liturgical construct, I understand that. Perhaps a need that is felt for a more reverent Liturgy is symptomatic of a deeper difficulty, i.e., what is at the root of the "lack of reverence" in that which they are leaving. I say this as one trying to understand (well beyond a kind of 'liturgical preference') the underpinnings of the contemporary Byzantine Catholic reality as flowing from its historical Eastern/Western patrimony and painful losses of communion (among the various hierarchies) over the centuries. (I have no beef with the 'sheep'... pardon the butchered metaphor). I am needing to understand, in a very thorough, supplicatory way if becoming a Byzantine Catholic would be God-pleasing as the path of salvation for myself and my family. I have been shallow and presumptuous in my attempts at this understanding in the past. I hope this is not the case now. What is helping to propel me into this path again, is what I understand at present about the life of + Catherine Doherty (herself a saintly 'bridge' between East/West by a pure providence), and the model of community/discipleship found in Madonna House.
Does anyone know of particular threads on this forum that can address this desire to understand more "educationally"? My journey through protestantism, Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy covers 64 years at this juncture. I have no axe to grind. What good is an axe when all around is just sawdust?
Sincerely,
Ivanov
Are you saying that you want to become Eastern Catholic because you liked the model of service of one person? Fr. Brooks of St. John Chrysostom's Albanian Orthodox Church in Philadelphia helped run a Catholic Worker house in his native Texas and he continues a mission of service in Philadelphia to this day.
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles/LedfordPoor.php He's a convert from Protestantism; we could just as easily say that he's a bridge between East and West, too.
