www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology First visit to Eastern Catholic parish in Australia

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

Greetings in the love and peace of our Lord from Australia.

I attended my first ever Eastern Catholic liturgy down here in Sydney, Australia, not last Sunday but the Sunday before, and absolutely loved it! The Eastern Catholic community here in Australia is not as large as that in America but the liturgy (in English on a Sunday night) was absolutely beautiful. I have been to Greek Orthodox services before and the liturgy of St John Chrysostom which was celebrated at this Church (St Elias) was absolutely beautiful - basically identical to the Greek Orthodox Mass. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something truly wonderful about Eastern Catholic services - the icons, the incense, the chants, the singing - absolutely wonderful. I know this is a bit of a cliche, but you can really feel God's presence there. Australia is also celebrating the centenary of the birth of Blessed Josemaria Escriva at the moment, and last night His Grace Bishop Issam Darwich (Archbishop of the Melkite Eparchy in Australia) celebrated a Mass at St Mary's Cathedral in honour of Blessed Escriva. St Mary's Catherdral of course is a Roman Catholic Church and I must say that the Mass didn't have quite the same special effect without all the icons etc, nevertheless the Mass was still beautiful!!! They had all the clergy from the Melkite Church in Sydney there (along with some Roman Catholic Priests who were assisting), and the many Roman Catholics who attended loved the liturgy. I don't think many of them had seen an Eastern Catholic liturgy before.

It was interesting during the profession of faith, because when reciting the profession in relation to the creed, the Eastern Catholics said "from the Father" and then about half the other voices (ie the Roman Catholics) added "from the son".

Both liturgies were truly beautiful and you have a lot to be proud of in your Eastern Catholic faith. It is a shame that more Roman Catholics do not know about the beauty of Eastern Catholicism. I have been fortunate to have been exposed to it indirectly through my Orthodox friends. I am involved in apologetics work and I am keen to learn more about it. I would really like to show some of my other fellow Roman Catholics the beauties of the Eastern Catholic Church. Let us all pray that the west will become more familiar and appreciative, in accordance with the wishes of Pope John Paul II himself, of the Light of the East. I find it both perplexing and amazing that in the past some Latins wanted to subsitute Eastern practices for Latin ones. I love the Melkites!!!!

Love in Christ, Aussie Man

Aussie Man, can I add something to your appreciation of the Eastern rite. I've been attending Divine Liturgy for a 2 months now and last Sunday it dawned on me what is so very attractive about the services.

It's the humility of the people and their complete involvement in the services. Everyone is participating .... the old man who sat next to me was chanting so beautifully and "loudly" that I was absolutely enthralled. The priest at this church I attend is very kind and patiently attentive to everyone in the congregation.

I agree more Roman Catholics should take a look (and see what they have been missing).

Peace,
Loretta

Dear Aussie Man,

If you want to learn more, stick around a while. There are many an intelligent mind here that can explain things. I am not one of them, but I will offer the first commentary. We tend to call our Eucharistic Liturgy "Divine Liturgy", not "Mass." The Mass refers only to the Latin Liturgy (as you probably know, the word comes from the phrase "Ite, missa est." These are the closing lines to the Roman Liturgy. Our Liturgy does not close with these words). To me it is a squares and rectangles things: all Masses are Divine Liturgies, but not all Divine Liturgies are Masses.

God bless

Aussie Man

Do not be deceived by the Eastern glamour you saw - look beneath it to the way that particular rite really treats its people in that Eparchy.

Dear Lampada,

Are you from Australia (I note that your location says that you are from Australia)?

I was not "deceived" by the Eastern Liturgy - I was highly impressed and taken in by it. I am not the naieve type and I'm not sure what you mean when you refer to "treatment", and, with the greatest of respect, I find your post to be a little perplexing.

If there is a criticism that you would like to make of the Eparchy please do so in an open, sensitive and constructive way. That way I can understand a little better what you mean.

Yours truly in Christ, Aussie Man.

Aussie Man
Just because clergy from a sui iuris church celebrate a "beautiful" liturgy doesn't mean that the clergy from that rite are actually pastoral in their dealings with the flock.
Lampada

Lampada,

We have had plenty of innuendos, lies, halftruths (and unfortunately some true issues that didn't need to be public) posted on this forum. This is NOT the place to make accusations, or worse, to make statements like, "you don't *Really* know what's going on there."

Deal with whatever problem has happened with you and the Melkite clergy of Australia in a constructive way--don't post it on a board mostly frequented by Americans who can't verify your information.

anastasios

Anastasios

I did not say that I had trouble with the clergy of that particular sui iuris church.

Please do not attribute things to me which I did not say.

I wanted to point out to Aussie Man that once one gets under the "beauty" of the Liturgies etc. the cold,hard reality of how a particular church operates is often a very different thing!

Lampada

Dear Lampada,

In the interests of a constructive and sound discussion of the issues that you raise, would you prefer to discuss this in private? As has been said on the message board, most of the members visiting this site are our dear American brothers and sisters and perhaps would you feel more comfortable discussing this in private as 2 Aussies "mate-to-mate", as we are closer to the Eparchy (although I am a Roman Catholic, yet with a reasonable knowledge of Eastern Orthodox / Eastern Catholic stuff).

If you want to email me privately, you can do so at aussiemanmate@hotmail.com

Love in Christ, Aussie Man

At the end of November, I had the great fortune to attend a Byzantine Catholic Church in Columbus, Ohio. I am RC, I went with a friend, mostly to just see what was what, and the two of us were just dazzled.

It was clear to me after about five minutes that this was truely a holy thing.

I am not a big critic of the liturgical reforms of the RCC, but my friend, you are right...the west could really stand to take a look at what the east has going for it.

Neil