www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization The Ukie Parish of the future

Dear Administrator,
Are you Brazilian by any chance?
Lauro

Dear Lauro,

Well, he's definitely not BAsilian!

Alex

:p

Dear Anhelyna,

This just popped into my head.

When I worked for a political party that won the elections here, my office received an insulting parcel in the early new year that was a box containing a lot of women's underwear . . .

When the Premier, who happened to be walking by, asked me what that was in my hands, I replied with a bit of a smile, "Nothing, Sir, just some new year's 'BRA-vado.'"

He replied, "Oh . . . good, carry on!"



Alex

Have to admit that it takes a lot of BRA-vado , if not sheer brass neck to carry that one off :p

Dear Anhelyna,

If I didn't laugh at where I worked, I would have had to cry!

I prefer to laugh . . .

Alex

Lauro,

No, I�m not Brazilian. Just a plain American who was born of parents of Slavic ancestry.

Admin

Dear Administrator,
Do you master any Slavic Language? Do the candidates for the priesthood in the Byzantine Catholic Church obliged to learn a Slavic language or maybe Church Slavonic outside of English?
Lauro

Lauro,

I have never mastered any language other then English. And I�m sure that some would question the idea that I have even mastered English!

I used to have an elementary - but decent - grasp of both Church Slavonic and Russian but I have not used either language in years so I have lost that skill.

The seminary in Pittsburgh offers two semesters of Church Slavonic. My guess is that that would be enough to master reading Church Slavonic aloud but it would not be enough to have a speaking ability or understand grammar. The Forum members who are fluent in Church Slavonic can speak to this better than I can.

There are no requirements for candidates for the deaconate or priesthood to speak a Slavic language. English has been the primary liturgical language in most parishes for the past 30-40 years. Also, there are few people in Byzantine (Ruthenian) parishes whose first language is other than English.

Admin

Dear Lauro,

So you see what kind of people we have to deal with here?

(Something my uncles would have said in response to a similar situation . . . ).

Actually, when I helped clean out my dead Godmother's things, I saw that she was not only a Ukrainian - but a Ukrainian nationalist of a certain type that no one else in my family were.

She had a number of items with the revolutionary colours of red and black, including pins (that are now mine ).

Going through her things gave me the experience of seeing her in a way that I really did not know her when she was alive.

Her married name, in Ukrainian, meant "unicorn."

Not too long ago I bought her a blue flag with a white unicorn on it - she loved it.

I have it with me now and will fly it on my flag-pole in her honour .

And now I'll have to make up a flag for the group she belonged to.

Perhaps I"ll get a flag to honour our Administrator - I'll write to Vernon, British Columbia to see if they have a flag . . .

Alex

Hi everyone! I'm a new member from Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada.(suburbs near Edmonton). I have been quite interested in the dialoge re: language in Ukrainian Catholic or Byzantine Catholic churches. You see our community has started a new parish in our community called St. Sophia Ukrainian Catholic Parish. It is 22 months old and the main vision of this parish is spirital not nationalistic or language based. Through research, the Ukrainian Catholic churches, nine in total are slowly declining in population. The only formula for success is 1. conduct majority of the liturgy's in English 2. provide interesting programs for not only youth but adult education,especially on Eastern Christianity, 3.active evangilization. At present we have the first Sunday of the month a Children's Liturgy, where the children stay and participate during the service. The next two Sundays are total English services, the fourth Sunday is bilingual (Fr. speaks English and the responses are mainly Ukrainian). Our membership started at 40 families, now is over 125. Many are 2, 3, or 4th generation families with young children. Even though this sounds wonderful, there is always the traditionalists that insist that the liturgy doesn't sound right if it is done in English. The silent majority are the ones coming and supporting this exciting vision. I enjoy everyone's opinion's. Together in Christ!

linda

Linda,

Welcome to the forum. While I agree with you that a parish's mission needs to be spiritual and not nationalistic or linguistically based, I think you have to be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. In parishes replete with immigrants, the traditional language may well be the most appropriate way in which to worship and the way in which the faithful are best served. There is never only (one) formula for success. The second and third points you raise, evangelization and education are essential; a balance of tradition and innovation are requisite though and the measure of each must be taken against the parish community as it exists at any point in time.

Many years,

Neil

Dear Linda,

What a great story about your new parish - 120 famillies in 22 months - wow ! As a 1st & 2nd generation Ukrainian-Canadian (but living in Boston). I'm happy to hear that you are renewing your faith in our Greek Catholic Church in Canada. I think your efforts are worth emulating.

I'm sorry about the language difficulties you were having. I attended Ukrainian school so the language issue was never a barrier for me. I like the bilingual mix of your devine liturgies, it helps bridge the gap between those who understand Ukrainian and those who do not.

A young neigboor of ours wanted to play in our Ukrainian marching band in Montreal. He was 3rd generation Ukrainian-Canadian on his father's side, and his mother was a French-Canadian. We had a rule that every member had to speak Ukrainian - he couldn't. He really wanted to play so we allowed him to join but told him to learn the language. To make a long story short, he now has a senior positon with NATO in Kyiv, Ukraine, and shames us all with his fluency in Ukrainian. Anyone can learn, one step at a time. There are some excellent bilingual schools (Ukrainian & English) in Edmonton.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has always mixed religion, culture and nationalism. There was an urgent need for this due to the dire (Russian Communist destruction) of the church and country of our forefathers. Most Ukrainians I know who speak the language don't understand the politics, so don't worry if you don't.

My brother told me over the Christmas holidays that in all probability each member of our parish could recruit a new parishoner in the next year or two (very much like you mentioned). That would double our parish size, yet none of us seems to be in too much of a hurry. There must be some subconscious reason for this. Maybe Orthodox-Catholic has an idea why.

QUESTION:

Why not just ask the bishop to have an English language divine liturgy at one of the existing Ukrainian Greek Catholic Parishes ? There should be no problem with this.

I hope you remain a member of this board.

PS: If Tammy (from California) is out there somewhere, and you still want to move to Edmonton, I suggest you e-mail Linda O. as soon as possible so that you can become the 121st familly in their parish.