www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Great Lenten celebrations with neighboring parishes

Hello my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I was wondering if it is common for parishes to invite other parishes or attend other parishes for Lenten "Pan-Eastern Catholic" divine services. In the Lehigh Valley area in Pennsylvania, the few (3 or 4) Ukrainian Catholic parishes come together to celebrate Forgiveness Vespers at 3PM on last Sunday before Great Lent. The parish which hosts rotates. Unfortunately, there is nothing done together after that until Holy Week confessions. Outside of this time, they are rarely if ever mentioned to the point of only people "in the know" would know they exist. There are also a similar number of Ruthenian Catholic parishes and one Melkite mission in the area but, for whatever reason, they haven't attended. Do any of your parishes do something similar to this or more? I might talk to my parish priest about inviting the rest of the Byzantine bunch, just because there are so few of us and we are all Byzantine Rite Catholics.

The larger Orthodox community in the Lehigh Valley does this as well. This is a link from 2014 (don't know for certain if they still do it):

Lehigh Valley Lenten Pan-Orthodox Services & Events 2014 [lvorthodox.wordpress.com]https://lvorthodox.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/lehigh-valley-lenten-pan-orthodox-services-events-2014/

I also have another question. Is it up to and ok for my Ukrainian Catholic parish priest to invite the Ruthenians and Melkites over himself? Or does this have to go up and down the "hierarchical ladder" for permission, so to speak?

-Aug

Hi Augoustinos,

Your pastor is the one to answer the questions on the guidelines on how to go about organizing an inter-eparchial event. If he is not sure he can ask his bishop.

Such things do happen. I don't know if it is still ongoing, but for many years the Scranton area parishes (Ruthenian, Ukrainian and Melkite) held held a week long mission during the Great Fast (one night at each parish with a common theme and retreat master).

I have recommended for decades that something like this be done in as many places as is possible. Sunday Lenten Vespers (either in the most convenient parish or alternating parishes) would be an excellent idea. There would be a theme but the talks would be short (maybe 20 minutes). Afterward a light reception (coffee and a lenten dish).

One of the issues generating enthusiasm is that people generally don't think of Vespers as a service worth going to since there is no Eucharist. We've taught generations of people that services without Eucharist don't count. The only way to turn that around is to pray Vespers and other services well and be happy with a dozen people. Let the Lord work on getting more people there.

John

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely talk to him. I think that, in addition to Vespers, getting people to come out to any divine service is getting tougher and tougher. Lots of the older folks are hitting their limit of ability to attend every week, or they are dying. Most younger people move away from the parish they grew up in or find convenience in simply going to a closer Roman Catholic Church.

I can't speak for other UGC Churches, but my parish rarely holds vespers or matins for the exact reason you stated - they aren't eucharistic celebrations.