Byzantine, Texas

In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. May the Lord protect these people as they fight for freedom from the tyrannical powers over them. May He bring understanding to the hearts of the oppressors; leading them to observe His call to love our neighbors as ourselves. May the Most Holy and Pure Theotokos intercede for these besieged people through her loving embrace. Again I beg your aid in unchaining these people from the shackles of their imprisonment, for You are good and the Lover of mankind. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

As parent to a gaggle of small children I often get stares and comments from people whilst out of the house. Some people are very kind and rarely do we go to a restaurant without some elderly couple coming over to comment on our kids' good manners, "Oh, what a lovely family you have here!" Sometimes, of course we get less welcome attention. Somewhat surprisingly it's not snickers and backwards glances, but people who make offhanded comments to us directly, "Are these all yours?" "Are you a... you know... blended family?" "Don't you know where these things come from? [titter]" Three ways to respond come immediately to mind. The first is to simply smile and say something pleasant and innocuous. The second is to respond with some witty, barbed retort. The third, to my consternation, is to respond apologetically.I have seen many parents slouch their shoulders a bit, glance downward, and respond with "Haha... they're certainly a h...

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 24, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI affirmed that Eastern and Roman Catholics are united in forming one Church. The Pope said this today when receiving in audience the bishops of the Latin rite of Ukraine, in Italy for their five-yearly visit and accompanied by Greek-Catholic bishops from that country. They visited Benedict XVI at the papal summer residence south of Rome. The Holy Father stated: "In the variety of its rites and historical traditions, the one Catholic Church in every corner of the earth announces and bears witness to the one Jesus Christ, the Word of salvation for all men and for all of man. "It is for this reason that the effectiveness of all our pastoral and apostolic projects depends, above all, on faithfulness to Christ." The Pope asked for an intensified collaboration between the Latin-rite bishops and the Greek-Catholic bishops in Ukraine "for the good of the entire Christian people." Testimony "Animated ...

Go read His Eminence's exceptional post on his trip with Metropolitan Methodios and several Roman Catholic (no Eastern Catholics that I know of) and Orthodox pilgrims to Rome, Constantinople, and Saint Petersburg here . In fact, I recommend reading his blog at least weekly. There always something new and - a personal predilection of mine - copious amounts of pictures.

Interesting and positive news from a rather strange corner of the world. For a little background, here's Wikipedia's data on Christians in Libya: Christianity is a minority religion in Libya. The largest Christian group in Libya are the Roman Catholics, with the Russian Orthodox persons the runner up and the Serbian Orthodox third. There are about 40,000 Roman Catholics. Roman Catholic Vicariates Apostolic exist in Benghazi, Derna and Tripoli. There is a Prefecture Apostolic in Misurata. There are two Bishops, one in Tripoli (serving the Italian community) and one in Benghazi (serving the Maltese community). There is one Anglican congregation in Tripoli, made up mostly of African immigrant workers in Tripoli and which belongs to the Egyptian Anglican diocese. The Anglican bishop of Libya has his seat in Cairo. There are Coptic Orthodox and Greek Orthodox priests in Libya. Most Christians in Libya are Copts from Egypt. There are peaceful relations between Christians and Muslims....

( Kathimerini Newspaper ) - US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns yesterday expressed Washington’s support for the Ecumenical Patriarchate after meeting with Patriarch Vartholomaios in Istanbul. Burns said that the USA would also continue to support the Patriarchate’s efforts to reopen the theological seminary on the island of Halki but said that the issue needed to be resolved with the Turkish government. “We should leave the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Turkish authorities to discuss the relevant details of the matter. We are sure that with the necessary goodwill there will be progress.”

In most religious/pro-life websites you'll see some reference to the effort to keep a Planned Parenthood facility from opening in Aurora, Illinois. If not, go here . The situation rose to a fever pitch when the city council held a meeting with "concerned citizens" from both sides. The pro-life group was opposed to the facility on obvious grounds as well as the surreptitious attempt to use a front company's name instead of their own in what seems to have been a misguided attempt to not advertise who they were before it was too late. I wonder if a strip club could do the same if they called themselves "Floor to Ceiling Metal Pole Supply and Installation, Ltd."? Wednesday, September 19, 2007 Planned Parenthood Announces Day of Prayer Against Parental Notification Laws A guest satire by HENRIETTA G. TAVISH Special to The Dawn Patrol AURORA, ILL, September 19 -- Following up on its "pro-faith, pro-family" Day of Prayer in support of an Aurora abortion c...

I'll be going to this if at all possible, obviously. Byzantine Catholics will of course be upset that he is not coming to the Fourth Rome aka Pittsburgh, PA. Washington DC, Sep 17, 2007 / 10:15 am (CNA).- Details about Pope Benedict XVI’s much-anticipated apostolic journey to the United States next year have begun to emerge. Anticipated stops for the Pope’s first-ever US visit include, New York, Washington, Boston and possibly Baltimore. The tentatively scheduled April 15 to 20 trip is centered around a papal speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon personally invited the pontiff to address the UN. Among other events in New York, the Pope is expected to celebrate Mass at Central Park, give an address in St. Patrick's Cathedral, and take a moment of reflection at Ground Zero. The trip, however, will begin in Washington, where the Pope is expected to meet with the president, visit Catholic University of America and say Mass on t...

Who could have imagined this during the Cold War? Certainly not I (even as young as I was then). As most Eastern Christians will tell you, it is a strong monastic presence that invigorates and sustains the laity. So in true chicken/egg thinking one could say that the mark of a faithful people is a strong monastic community just as one could say that monasteries/sketes/abbeys are a requirement for the growth in faith of a people. Moscow, Sep. 17, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The Patriarchate of Moscow is reporting a four-fold increase in the number of Orthodox parishes and monasteries in Russia during the past 20 years. In 1987, before the final collapse of the Soviet Union, there were 6,800 Orthodox parish churches and 19 monasteries in Russia , Patriarch Alexei II told an audience in Moscow last week, as reported by the Interfax news service. By the beginning of 2007 there were 27,300 parishes and 716 monasteries. "Those who were in the Soviet Union 20 years ago and come here again [today...

This quite amused me. The bishop of my area hasn't done it (quite the contrary), but many other bishops are setting up fiery hoops that priests would have to jump through to perform the "old " Roman rite. Things like strong understanding of Latin, minimum number of parishioners interested, when and where the liturgy can be celebrated, ad nauseam. I tend to see the draconian and legalistic mindset of a lot of "TradCaths" in recent times to be a very natural response to the eccentricities visited upon the faithful by post-Vatican II interpretation (misinterpretation) or assumed loosening of the norms of liturgy or just good taste. You know... the " GIRM as a table leg stabilizing device" group. Cardinal Dario Castrillon-Hoyos, president of the Ecclesia Dei commission says no more : No more permission needed for Latin Mass, cardinal says Rome, Sep. 14, 2007 (CWNews.com) - With the formal implementation of Summorum Pontificum, the Pope's motu propr...

The majority of my communications are done over email. I get about 200 hundred emails a day that need varying degrees of response from clicking a few buttons cloaked in secrecy like the Wizard of Oz to sending long, rambling technobabble infused emails that seem to grow more acronym-filled with each click of the send button. The problem is that my personal emails are handled using the same computers, same applications, and during the same (overly long) span of time I spend in my office... behind the green curtain. Salutations and farewells have started to blend together. How easy is it to insert "IX XC," "Pax," "Under His mercy," or similar parting phrase right before sending an email? I've caught myself more than a few times with my finger hovering over Send; staring in surprise at the 2-3 word phrase that has insinuated itself onto my screen. This sort of thing can be embarrassing. Not in that I'm unduly meek in announcing my Christian beliefs, b...

The story of the finding of the True Cross, from the Catholic Encyclopedia: In the year 326 the mother of Constantine, Helena, then about 80 years old, having journeyedto Jerusalem, undertook to rid the Holy Sepulchre of the mound of earth heaped upon and around it, and to destroy the pagan buildings that profaned its site. Some revelations which she had received gave her confidence that she would discover the Saviour's Tomb and His Cross. The work was carried on diligently, with the co-operation of St. Macarius, bishop of the city. The Jews had hidden the Cross in a ditch or well, and covered it over with stones, so that the faithful might not come and venerate it. Only a chosen few among the Jews knew the exact spot where it had been hidden, and one of them, named Judas, touched by Divine inspiration, pointed it out to the excavators, for which act he was highly praised by St. Helena. Judas afterwards became a Christi...

Some Wikipedia information on the Assyrian Church of the East and some from an interview with Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. As with most ecumenical efforts, there were some anti-dialogue people that stalled out talks 13 years ago. Lord, pour out upon us the fullness of your mercy and by the power of your Spirit remove divisions among Christians. Let your Church rise more clearly as a sign for all the nations that the world may be filled with the light of your Spirit and believe in Jesus Christ whom you have sent, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. VATICAN CITY, JUNE 21, 2007 ( Zenit.org ).- In an audience with the leader of the Assyrian Church, Benedict XVI addressed Christians' situation in Iraq and a renewed commitment to ecumenical dialogue. The Pope was visited today by Mar Dinkha IV, Catholicos patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, and his entourage. The H...

From Christian Today , a new patriarch for the Romanian Orthodox Church. Based on what I have read he may continue the good ecumenical work of his predecessor. Here is the background of his Beatitude (or should I say his Eminence as the inauguration is in three weeks?). There is also another story from Radio Free Europe that discusses the Soviet collaboration scandals still being uncovered in Russia and its former satellites. BUCHAREST - Romania elected on Wednesday Metropolitan Daniel as the new Patriarch of its Orthodox Church, the national clerics council said. Daniel, who has been the Metropolitan of the northeastern regions of Moldova and Bucovina for the past 17 years, was chosen as the country's sixth Patriarch, after a 40-day mourning period for his predecessor Teoctist, who died in July. "I want to serve the church as Teoctist did," Daniel told reporters after the election, which he won by 95 votes out of 161. In 1999, Teoctist invited the late Pope John Paul t...

I have family in China so I thought I might go see the games there. Then I pondered the current state of the Church now and in recent history. Can I in good conscience attend or even watch the Olympics next year? It's something I need to prayerfully consider, though my initial, visceral reaction is no. My other, more cerebral response is to consider the logic of engagement leading to a better situation for the oppressed Christians in China (a more EU approach if you will). Reporters Without Borders calls on the National Olympic Committees, the IOC, athletes, sports lovers and human rights activists to publicly express their concern about the countless violations of every fundamental freedom in China. After Beijing was awarded the games in 2001, Harry Wu, a Chinese dissident who spent 19 years in prisons in China, said he deeply regretted that China did not have “the honour and satisfaction of hosting the Olympic Games in a democratic country.” Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky’s ...

A homily by Fr. Andrew posted on Christ in the Mountains . Here's an excerpt: In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. In the Book of Exodus, after the Hebrew people left the land of Egypt, they wandered in the desert for some forty years before they finally came to the Promised Land. During this time, they met with God on the holy mountain of Sinai. There, they worshiped God by offering up sacrifices to Him. One of these sacrifices is described in the 24th chapter of Exodus, and then the next passage is dedicated to a meeting that took place between God and the Prophet Moses. Moses ascends up the mountain to meet with God, and there God gives Moses some very detailed instructions regarding worship. Everything is there for how to construct the mobile worship space for the Hebrews, called the Tabernacle, including details on dimensions, building materials, tapestries, specific designs for iconography, what the priests should wear, and so on. A...

PARIS, September 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Newly elected French President Nicholas Sarkozy did not shy away from tackling controversial issues in his campaign and he has, once again, engaged a politically hot topic in a nation previously renowned for its secularism. In a letter written by Sarkozy and publicized yesterday, he addressed the teachers of France, calling on them to take part in a "renaissance" and to reflect on the huge responsibility placed in their hands - the responsibility to "guide and to protect the spirit and the sensibilities that are not yet completely formed, that have not yet attained maturity, which are searching, which are still fragile and vulnerable." Sarkozy explained that such a national rebirth would only be possible through a reform of the French education system. Sarkozy clarified that such a reform must include "rewarding the good, punishing the faults, cultivating an admiration of that which is good, just, beautiful, great,...

I have a fetish for heraldry - most recently for religious heraldry. It's sort of a niche interest, but also a very enjoyable, if complicated one. More than that the heraldry of the West differs from the East in a few ways. I'm going to throw away a lot of the confusing terminology as explaining sable vs. black or the crest vs. the shield. Go to the American College of Heraldry for excellent explanations and all things armorial. Fr. Guy Selvester has a website listing some of his renderings for religious personages, churches, and groups as well as some papal arms from recent history. He also contributes to Shouts in the Piazza , which covers similar topics along with current events. Ecclesiastic heraldry has existed for quite a while. It first was assigned to the individual, but eventually extended to places (abbeys, monasteries, etc.) as well as organizations. Heraldry used for religious and non-religious follow the same standards of color use, seal shape, and decoration but...

MOSCOW, SEPT. 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II has recognized the Vatican's representative in Russia for his efforts in establishing good relations between the two Churches. Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia has awarded Archbishop Antonio Mennini the Order of the Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow, third degree, according to Interfax news. Archbishop Mennini is being awarded "in recognition of his efforts for establishing good relations between the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches and on the occasion of his 60th birthday," the official site of the Moscow Patriarchate reported today. Monsignor Mennini has served as the Vatican's representative in Russia since November. These sorts of articles bring up questions. Who is Archbishop Antonio Mennini and what sorts of things does he have to say? Here is his background. Here 's an article on his opinion of clericalization. What's the Order of the Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow? From here we...