An Interesting Turn of Events at Our Parish

[rick43235]

We recently lost our priest (no, he didn’t die; the bishop moved him) and a retired priest has been saying mass at our parish for the past few weeks. It is a fairly small parish and, due to the acute shortage of priests, I was afraid that we were going to be closed. Thankfully, as it turns out, that is not the case. In fact, we now have a new priest…sort of. This is where it gets interesting. This new priest is a member of an Eastern Rite. He has been given special permission by the bishop to celebrate the Latin Mass - as soon as he learns it, that is. His rite has a very small presence in the U. S., and his primary duty is to minister to the few members of his rite in our area. But, he will be staying in our rectory and celebrating mass at our parish. Given his primary mission, I’m not really sure how active a role he will assume in our parish. Still, this impresses me as a very interesting situation, and I am looking forward to learning from him and just having him around.

No problem…no rant. Just sharing an interesting situation.

 

[Monica37]

Sounds like a unique opportunity for you and your parish. Best wishes for you, your parish and your “new” priest:thumbsup:!

 

[bpbasilphx]

Of which Eastern sui juris church (not rite) is he a member?

 

[patwolford]

At the Byzantine Church near my house, the priest there is a really old Benedictine that didn’t like the changes to the Mass, so he became bi-ritual. He’s very interesting to talk to, and the fact that he used to be Latin Rite helps a lot when he explains a lot of things to me, since he can drawl parallels and knows both forms inside and out.

 

[Sarabande]

We had a bi-ritual pastor at this rural parish I attend when I’m in the mountains. He was Eastern right - I believe Ukranian, but I could be wrong.

 

[JugglingReferee]

Ukrainian