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Does anyone know where we can find a catechism appropriate for Byzantine teenagers? This may have already been discussed in the past, but I am new-ish here.

I had a great one a few years ago, lent it to someone but..... they can't find it now. Unfortunately it was a byzantine catechism that is no longer in print, I think I had purchased it from Seminary Press in Pennsylvania. The last time I called they had no more copies.

We really don't want to use the CCC (don't jump on us about that!), we want something eastern.
We want to teach the eastern theology, you know there is a difference in the way we view original sin, Filioque, even the Trinity, etc.
denise

Denise,

There is new (1996) chatecism series in 3 parts called "Light for Life" by:

God With Us Publications
PO Box 99203
Pittsburgh, PA 15233
(412)-771-9119

The reading level is (i think) teenage and up in scope and written style and the volumes are not expensive.

STeve

Dear Denise:

You make an intriguing remark:


While the first two issues are clear enough, the last is not, at least to me. Would you, or anyone, like to comment on your perceived differences between the Eastern and Western conception of the Trinity?

djs

The three volume Light for Life series (the last volume, "The Mystery Lived", is finally out, after years of procrastination) is eminently suitable for use by teenagers. There is also the series of catechist preparation monographs from God With Us Publications, that covers Holy Tradition, Liturgy, Theology, Spirituality, Moral Theology and Church History. Each is about 100 pages long, and you can get a facilitator's guide. I use that in place of the 7th grade workbooks, which are hopelessly dated and far too touchy-feely for my tastes--or those of the kids.

See my post from elsewhere:

https://www.byzcath.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=001500

I have downloaded this Powerpoint presentation and intend to use it this year in my ECF class. I wonder why the Metropolia insists on starting from scratch on its ECF program, when in fact there is a perfectly good round, albeit Arabic wheel which we could adapt to our needs. Something to do with Arabs not being "Nas"?

Stuart,

Deacon Michael has a few more presentations on-line. One, I believe, actually follows the Face of God book, but I have to look into it to see if it does. They look pretty good.

There are a lot of 'connectives' in the presentation with the God with us series. It will be interesting to see if they follow the Light for Life trilogy, especially volume two.

[ 08-29-2002: Message edited by: J Thur ]

Dear Stuart,

Although the Arabs are not "Nashi," no one is perfect!

But one must never be prejudicial in these things. My next door Arabic Orthodox neighbour's mother is Rumanian . . .

Alex

To djs:
Anyone feel free to jump in a correct me regarding the difference between the Trinity in the west and the east.

Both, of course, see the Trinity as three persons.

In the west, it seems the Holy Spirit is viewed more as the relationship between the Father and the Son. The love between them. I mean no disrespect, but it seems as if the Father and the Son are the senior members and the Holy Spirit is the junior member. A linear relationship between the Father and the Son. And that the three tend to melt into one, and the Personhood of the Holy Spirit is lost. This conception probably has roots in the Filioque, that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The relationship between the three is off balance.

In the east, the Holy Spirit is viewed more as a separate person, more on an equal footing, although they all share in the same essence.
A relationship between three, as in a triangle,
although all are still one God. Like three suns shining together, so that you cannot separate the light of one from another.
The Son is begotten of the Father, the Spirit proceeds from the Father. There are distinct relationships between each person.
[You may be familiar with Rostov's icon of the Trinity (three angels that appeared to Abraham and Sarah). The three angels are equal, although the two on the right bow their heads to the one on the left. That is the "Father" on the left, the source of the son and spirit. The "Spirit" is on the right, with the "Son" in the center. The shape of the figures of the Father and the Spirit gives the impression of a chalice holding the Son.]

Does anyone else have a better worded explanation?

*****
To StuartK:
Thank you for the info. Will check and see if the organizer for Sunday school is aware these new books are now available.
(I have to agree with you about the old version being too touchy-feely. In fact, I am sure we
discussed these same books a couple of years ago on the "other" byzantine board)

denise

The Face of God by Archbishop Raya is a great book if the kids have a little background going into it. The three-part Light for Life is a great series.

Kucharek's "Our Faith, A Byzantine Catechism for Adults" while showing its age a bit is still a good book as well. Another that is a good historical overview and easy to read is Protodeacon (now a priest) Lawrence Cross of the Russian Catholic Church's book "Eastern Christianity: The Byzantine Tradition".

A good spiritual book that is easy to read for teenagers I have had good luck with is "Jesus: A Dialogue with the Savior" by a Monk of the Eastern Church (Lev Gillet). His "Year of Grace of the Lord" is also great introduction to the order and theology of our Byzantine liturgical year.

For those teaching children I highly recommend Sofie Koulumzin's "The Church and Our Children". She is a life-long educator and taught religious education classes (train the trainer sort of thing) at St. Vladimir's Seminary for the OCA.

I fully endorse any book by saintly Archbishop Joseph (may God grant him many more years!). I've already given my two cents on Light-for-Life, just wish that more eparchial education commissions would mandate its use, especially by adult catechists.

Kucharek's "Our Faith, A Byzantine Catechism for Adults", more than shows its age, its entire approach is, I think, no longer appropriate. He consistently tries to put Byzantine Tradition into Latin categories, and has the attitude, all too common, not too long ago, that the Latin rite is normative, and we have our quaint customs that Rome allows us to practice, but our theology is Latin, thanks a lot. More broadly, Kucharek's book reminds me of some older Orthodox theological works which tried to adapt Western theological methods to our Tradition. "Pseudomorphia", indeed. At least Light-for-Life takes a more authentically Byzantine approach.

Fr. Lawrence's book is excellent, and well suited for use by Latin Catholics exploring the Byzantine Churches. Anything by Fr. Lev is well worth reading.

I look forward to reading Sofie Koulumzin's book, and still stand in awe and envy of the various Orthodox jurisdictions and the amount of time and effort they devote to religious education and catechist formation. With them, it's central to the ministry of the Church. With us, it's chrome, that takes second place to bingo and piroghi-fests.

Stuart,

"I wonder why the Metropolia insists on starting from scratch on its ECF program, when in fact there is a perfectly good round, albeit Arabic wheel which we could adapt to our needs. Something to do with Arabs not being "Nas"?"

I feel the exact same way about youth ministry in our Metropolia. One of the things that struck me as odd about the Metropolitan Youth Commission was that it was another instance of the Metropolia trying to reinvent the wheel by starting with the brakes first. Why is this latest initiative from the top-down? Where is the laity's input (from the parish level) on the course of things to come?

Here's what I think happened: It was clear as day to anyone with two eyes that the Ruthenian Metropolia not only lagged behind the Roman and other Eastern (especially Melkite) Catholic Churches when it comes to investing in the spritual, theological, social, and "diaconal" (diakonia is required of all) development of our young people (as we are also light-years behind the Orthodox, but there I go again pointing out the obvious). Concurrent with this is the youth's participation in the Uniontown Rally (which precipitated the establishment ByzanTEEN Rally), and thus the need to create a body that will plan and put together the ByzanTEEN Rally (and hence the Eparchial teen reps to give input). And since the Metropolitan Youth Commission is the only official, organized, structure for anything dealing with youth ministry (they also helped plan the ByzanTEEN "track" for World Youth Day), the Sisters of St. Basil the Great (who work extensively with the MYC) de facto inherited the job of creating a Metropolitan-wide youth program now that they're main responsibilities (WYD and the Rally) are now out of the way.

For the record, I'd like to say that I think the Sisters of St. Basil the Great the are very open to input from anyone is willing to actually help them (at the ones whom I touched base with).

I think what the late Metropolitan +Judson (Eternal memory!) intended when he created the MYC was to use the momentum from the events that are already going well (the Rally, primarily, and to some extent WYD) and build on those. I don't think at all he meant for the MYC to be the basket all the Eparchies put their eggs into.

The problem with the MYC as I see it is that, as is so often the case youth ministry becomes an auxiliary of religious ed and is handed to whoever is willing to take the job (because so many in our Church think that our purpose revolves pierohy instead of people, the Church can't exactly be choosy). I have nothing against those who were chosen to be Eparchial reps for Van Nuys (Fr. Joseph Hutsko and the now Bishop William Skurla), but isn't there more input from the parish youth programs that are going well? How about St. John Chyrsostom in Seattle? OLPH in Albuquerque, NM?

In summary, it makes perfect sense in the Roman Church (when a diocese often comprises only one major metropolitan area, and there are no overlapping jurisdictions) to address youth ministry concerns at the diocesan (eparchial) level. It makes absolutely NO SENSE in our Eastern Catholic Churches when Eparchies span half a continent or more and overlap with several different Eastern Catholic Churches sui juris, many of who's parishes are just across town. I am afraid that all the shots will be called from the locus of the Ruthenian migration, and away from some of the most vibrant, growing parishes in the Met.?

Let me just close by saying that too often we try to address things from the top down, whether it be building a Metropolitan youth edifice BEFORE we invest more in our eparchies and parishes, or on the parish level where the youth group is made the fiefdom of a person who usually is untrained and unsupported. What we need is an entirely new approach, one based on re-investment in the parishes (where EVERY parent and adult shares the responsibility of supporting our youth groups and EVERYONE IS INVOLVED). What we in fact need is to reproduce the Melkite and Orthodox (oh no!) approach, and make our youth groups youth-run, with strong support and guidance from the clergy and the whole congregation, and from the ground up build a SOYO or NAMY-like program that will become ONE BCYO (Byzantine Catholic Youth Organization) FOR ALL THE BYZANTINE JURISDICTIONS.

For some reason we continue to be insular, and focused on our "nas" and yet get a kick out of pointing out that it is the Orthodox that have jurisdictional problems.

S'nami Boh!

Darrenn

[ 09-09-2002: Message edited by: J Thur ]

J Thur,

Lemme start a new thread in the ByzanTEEN section (it's about time we had a new one in there), entitled, "From Paralysis to Paradosis". I love catchy titles.

God bless,

Darrenn

Gentlemen: (I almost typed Gentlemean -- talk about an oxymoron)

Anyway, thank you all so much for your input.
I will make notes of all these sources. On another thread Alex talked about The Way of the Pilgrim. I just might give each kid (okay, it's only 3) in my class a copy, even if they don't read it right away, at some point it will be a good book for them to have.

I have to agree with someone who commented about getting ALL the parents involved. Yeah, I wonder why I'm almost the only catholic mom teaching 7 or 8 years straight. How come it's the protestant moms who seem to volunteer???? And not many Dad's volunteer, either; but some will complain if they don't like how classes are going.
ARRRGGGGHHHH.
denise