Friday, December 18, 2009
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Beautifully done. As a former Eastern Catholic I hesitate to offer any negative comments. What I do want to say is that the program is correct in saying that Eastern Catholics make up about 2 per cent of the worldwide Catholic Church. The observation I would like to make is that Eastern Catholic parishes like St. Elias in Toronto, which are so faithful to the Eastern tradition, make up about 2 per cent of Byzantine Catholic parishes. Many of us who have moved from Byzantine Catholicism to Orthodoxy did so out of frustration of trying to live the fullness of the Eastern Church amidst pastors and Bishops who are lukewarm in their support for such an ideal. Very few Byzantine Catholic parishes have Vespers. Even fewer have Matins (Orthros). Very few Byzantine Catholic parishes have antidoron like is shown at St. Elias. I recently had correspondence with one a Byzantine Catholic professor at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome who sneered at Orthodox traditions relating to prosphora loaves. According to him, giving antidoron to the faithful "makes no sense at all" and he was "not really fond of handing out bread here, there, and everywhere." Abbreviation of and modernization of services has been a real problem in the Byzantine Catholic Church. The recent adoption of a Revised Divine Liturgy by the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church makes their Liturgy absolutely unique amongst other Eastern Churches. While mandating that the priest's prayers be said aloud, it truncates most antiphons and eliminates the majority of the litanies while at the same time permitting the use of pre-cut pieces of bread at the Proskomedia. Parishes like St. Elias are wonderful examples of what Byzantine Catholicism could be like provided it had the support of Hierarchs who were not antagonistic to Orthodox practice. Unfortunately, many Eastern Catholic Bishops seek a different path for their Churches.
ReplyDeleteWell said.
ReplyDeleteWell said? I can't agree.
ReplyDeleteI would stipulate that the BCC, like most other Eastern churches, has considerable work to do, both in working out the practice of Byzantine Christianity in America, and in restoring practices that fell into disuse as that process started. Analogous work is also ongoing in most EO churches in America.
A given individual may have a certain "image" in mind of what the outcome of this process should be, and may also be of the mind to shop around to find a church that best fits that image. This consumer approach to settling into a church is, ironically, surely a mentality of modern America. If one leaves not only a parish, but even a Church, because of disputes with the resident priest over practices, there may be many factors at work, but the search for an authentic Eastern phronema cannot genuinely be among them.
As to the specifics: I looked, via websites, at what is happening in the BCC in the west, since that was the eparchy of the one who made the comment. Sabbath vespers are done in 50% of the parishes, hours in 40% and matins in 25%. While admittedly deficient (OCADOW by comparison has 100%, 40%, and 52%), these numbers represent real progress, and are much better than suggested in the rant. At the level of weekday practice, the Van Nuys Eparchy - where over 50% of the parishes have daily hours, matins, and/or liturgy - hugely out practices the OCADOW. Maybe daily services are not part of the "image". Just as antidoron seems to be in, but our custom of mirovanije is not.
The comments on the RDL are odd. The author seems to attribute certain practices, in particular regarding the antiphons and litanies, to the RDL that had been established as typical, for a long as this old cradle BCC can remember. The author surely realizes that there is a great variety of practice of these elements of the liturgy within Orthodoxy - there is no received standard - and that BCC practice closely matches that of ACROD. Perhaps ACROD doesn't fit the "image". Incidentally, the practice on taking SOME of the priests prayers aloud matches OCA practice - at least that of the priests trained at SVS. Maybe they don't fit the image either.
I suspect that there are any number of passers-by who get disgruntled as they seek an aura of Dostoevsky in the BCC and instead find simple Rusnaku and stara babas - people who are interested in the ways that we received from our ancestors, and indifferent to the ways of others; we are not trying to BE anything other than good, and ourselves - in approaching that goal by means that we have seen and understood in the lives of our fore bearers.
Sorry if that is not enough for some - who I hope will find what they need. I also hope that they can find the grace to continue their affairs without the rancor. I can't see how that attitude is justified.
I would disagree with you that "the search for an authentic Eastern phronema" cannot be a genuine cause for thought. It has been cause for thought for many Byzantine Catholics both cradle and converted to look to the Orthodox churches. Certainly no two people will have the exact same list in their mind of what "authentically Eastern" means, but eparchies themselves (http://www.melkite.org/latin.htm) have made such lists and consider them important.
ReplyDeleteAs to the BCC and the West, the rule of thumb for the Ruthenians in particular is the farther West you go the more Eastern your parish will be. If you look at the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh you will find a grab bag of services offered ranging from almost none, to replacing every service with a Divine Liturgy, to a rather respectable liturgical offerings in select parishes. A primary problem is a lack of priests. The bi-ritual priest count far outstrips the Cyril and Methodius trained clergy and this borrowing of clergy makes for a poor band-aid.
As for the RDL, what was common for one parish pre-RDL was not common at all for another parish. There was quite a variety of practice. I am not one to put all the ills of the Ruthenian liturgy at the feet of the RDL, but the people in opposition to it are vocal and continue to shout unabated. People complain about the music - I, for one, know that the RDL caused many more people to sing in the parish near me as the music was easy to follow and readily available in the green pew book. People complain about the Royal Doors being open - there is certainly a variety of practice here amongst Orthodox and Eastern Catholics alike. People complain about the gender inclusive language... well... I have no defense for that. Pop the words 'Fr. Serge Keleher' into Google and you will see his laundry list of opposition to the RDL; I am no liturgical expert so can't speak with any authority on the use of Greek over the Ruthenian Recension in the new translation, the shortening of some parts of the liturgy, or of inorganic innovation.
People come to the BCC hoping to find "authentic worship of the Eastern lung" and instead often find things they weren't expecting. People arguing with visitors and old-timers alike that they are not "under the Pope" but rather "in communion with him." People that consider Byzantine Catholicism to be "Orthodoxy in communion with Rome" and others that think it is just a "flavor of Catholicism." Rusyns who don't want non-Rusyns there and traditionalist Catholics who come for the liturgy but never really "convert" their thinking. Families that want to make a change of ritual church only to be stopped by the priest, the Latin bishop, or the poor organizational skills of the eparchy. Irregular service offerings due to a lack of deacons and priests due in no small part to the decisions made by the chancery to put strange limits on diaconal training. The lists goes on, but while true that you can go from parish to parish forever looking for the perfect church, the BCC has huge problems that turn off many people. The problems are not insurmountable, but they will not be solved by Metropolitan Basil.
Is it possible to paste into this box?
ReplyDeleteWithout scanning the book I'm short on a handy list.
ReplyDeleteThis might be helpful:
http://www.byzcath.org/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/207173/Serge%20Keleher:%20Studies%20on%20the%20
As might this:
http://www.davidpetras.com/page/response
“I would disagree with you that ‘the search for an authentic Eastern phronema’ cannot be a genuine cause for thought.”
ReplyDeleteNo you would not, as I agree with that point, and in fact stipulated it at the outset of my post. This remark is completely unrelated to what I actually said, namely that an authentic Eastern phronema cannot genuinely be among the impulses involved in one’s leaving a Church.
Let’s take an analogy. All children, at a certain age, come to the realization that their parents have limits – that they are likely not the brightest or most successful people on the earth; that they have character flaws, perhaps very serious ones. Nevertheless, even with our current widespread abandonment of traditional family values, we have not reach a stage, except in extreme cases of abuse, that children could get a legal guardian, go to court, get emancipated, with the help of “better” parents whose family they could then join. Thankfully, this remains unthinkable. On the other hand, we have certainly passed into realm that was, not so long ago, unthinkable, in spousal relationships. In both cases, the emphasis on a poorly informed sense of self-actualization is completely incompatible with an authentic understanding of how we are called to live in these relationships.
Family and spousal relationships are the very image of relationships in the church. Shopping for a church that suits is as undeniable an aspect of contemporary life in America as so-called no-fault divorce. But neither have anything to do, respectively, with authentic church life or married life. We should be developing a keen sense of humility, compunction, and an awareness of the call to kenotic service, that would illuminate the pride, self-centeredness, and prelest in the consumer approach to religion. An Eastern phronema is simply inherently incompatible the seeking out a church that better fits one’s image of superior practice.
That was my point, made in passing in response to the inaccurate details in the initial response. I hesitate to presuppose that it is applicable to that poster, but I think it a general point worth making because it is a recurrent theme in internet religiosity, even among people who should know better.
I am not sure what your point is about my having commented on the West. As I noted, I did this precisely because it was the eparchy relevant the initial responder. Your comment, btw, also applies to, eg, the OCA. Indeed, any restoration of practices that have fallen into disuse – any change at all, in fact – is more easily done at parishes without long-established traditional ways of doing things. FWIW, I think that your statistics on bi-ritual versus seminary-trained Byzantine priests are wrong, but I don’t dispute that the BCC needs to have more of the latter.
ReplyDeleteI am not especially interested in rehashing all of the commentary on details of RDL, or critiquing the book of Fr. Keleher. I am very well aware of these discussions. There are interesting issues involved, but internet discussions of the matter have not been edifying or particularly illuminating.
ReplyDeleteIn answer to your comment on clerical numbers and the number of bi-ritual priests. Please do call the chanceries. They will confirm the information as will most parish priests. In the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh in particular they have fewer priests than they have open parishes.
ReplyDeleteAs to your point on "Eastern phronema" I think we are opposed in that I do in fact see the problematic issues found in many Eastern Churches on that matter are cause for looking somewhere else. I speak more to the recent convert who finds hybridism, syncretism, and ethnocentrism, and sometimes outright hostility where he was searching for a home more than I am thinking of the cradle Eastern Catholic.
I am not advocating Church-rental where someone tries out Church after Church, but I am saying that there is value in Eastern practice and that the confusion that results in a mish-mash of Western and Eastern practices and theologies is problematic to the point of being cause for reappraisal. I would not say that one is "superior" as much as I would say a horse is beautiful and a fish is beautiful. I cannot think of many parts from one that I would give to the other.
The latest issue (Dec 20, 2009) of the BCW (on-line) lists the priests of the Eparchy of Pittsburgh. Of 66 listed (included nine retired priests), eight are form Latin "home" parishes, and one a Melkite. It is likely that not all of these nine are bi-ritual. While not all of the others were trained at SS C&M seminary, all had BCC "home" parishes. (I know that one went to SVS, another is Ukraine.) But overall, while the number of priests in the Archeparchy is clearly not sufficient for the number of parishes in the Archeparchy (http://www.archeparchy.org/page/directories/directory.htm), the idea that the bi-ritual priest count far outstrips the Cyril and Methodius trained clergy cannot be true. Perhaps you were trying to make another point.
ReplyDelete"As to your point on "Eastern phronema" I think we are opposed in that I do in fact see the problematic issues found in many Eastern Churches on that matter are cause for looking somewhere else..."
ReplyDeleteYou resist the point. You speak to the shopper. But shoppers are no more authentically Eastern than folks who are looking for the religion of Joel Osteen; they just have tastes and sensibilities that respond to Eastern motifs.
Anyway, by now, a dead horse, and I regret the discussion.