EC w/o an ECC

[Splagchnizomai]

For those Eastern Catholics who have no Eastern Catholic Church nearby, what do you do to maintain your Eastern Catholic traditions and practices?

 

[ByzCathCantor]

My brother has lived through this dilemma most of his adult life. He joined the Air Force after high school, and has lived in the South. He only recently moved to Tennessee, where we have a small mission parish.

He has sustained himself by (i) joining Roman Catholic parishes (until now), (ii) reading his Orthodox Study Bible and (iii) never forgetting his roots, with ample iconography in his house and keeping as many holiday traditions as possible. He even went so far as to ask his RC pastor to bless an Pascal foods basket for him one year!

Of course, whenever he came home, he made it back to our home parish before leaving. He also sought out our parishes whenever business travel to the Rust Belt and elsewhere would put him in proximity.

 

[Splagchnizomai]

My brother has lived through this dilemma most of his adult life. He joined the Air Force after high school, and has lived in the South. He only recently moved to Tennessee, where we have a small mission parish.

He has sustained himself by (i) joining Roman Catholic parishes (until now), (ii) reading his Orthodox Study Bible and (iii) never forgetting his roots, with ample iconography in his house and keeping as many holiday traditions as possible. He even went so far as to ask his RC pastor to bless an Pascal foods basket for him one year!

Of course, whenever he came home, he made it back to our home parish before leaving. He also sought out our parishes whenever business travel to the Rust Belt and elsewhere would put him in proximity.

Thanks for the response! Do you find that this is a similar experience with other ECs in similar situations?

I also wonder if some ECs would attend Orthodox parishes, such as Vespers and such.

 

[ByzCathCantor]

Thanks for the response! Do you find that this is a similar experience with other ECs in similar situations?

I also wonder if some ECs would attend Orthodox parishes, such as Vespers and such.

I’ve heard similar stories from others who are separated by distance from EC church communities.

In my brother’s case, there was also a dearth of Orthodox parishes, so that wasn’t much of an option. That said, I’ve heard from others with Orthodox communities nearby that they generally became members of an RC church an attended Mass there, but often attended Orthodox services supplementally. In one case, a fellow Byzantine was surprised to learn that the local RC priest actually had bi-ritual faculties and loved the Byzantine rite, and up sprang a mission parish! You never know!

Even though I have a nearby Byzantine Catholic parish, we cannot have matins and vespers on a recurring basis, as it is not pastorally practical. There is however a ROCOR monastery nearby, and I do enjoy going to matins and vespers there whenever I can. We are encouraged as Catholics (even as Eastern Catholics) to experience the Light of the East!

 

[kitkatty]

I am one of those Byzantines Catholics without a parish, or any Eastern Christian presence for about 100 miles or so making Divine Liturgies few and far between. You just do the best you can. For me that means trying to doing things like having an icon corner and using Byzantine spirituality in my daily prayer life. That is where the internet can be such a blessing.

 

[kitkatty]

Forgot to mention I attend the local RC parish, attendance at Orthodox Vespers I would be fine with but thats another option I dont have around here.

 

[ByzCathCantor]

So sorry you are that far removed. I lived in metro-Detroit for a few years, and was a parishioner at St. Basil’s in Sterling Heights. I really miss that church and the parish family! If you are ever nearby, please do go - I’m sure you will be as warmly welcomed as I was when I first moved there.

I’ll keep you especially in my prayers!

 

[kitkatty]

Wow, I lived about two miles from that Church in my teens and had been there a few times but we had lived downriver in my younger childhood and my family attended Christ the King, (long suppressed Hungarian Byzantine parish) then St. Stephens in Allen Park where they kept going even after we moved to Sterling Hts. I am now ,and have been for most of my adult life, living in the Cadillac area and Bay City is the closest Ruthenian Church, about two hours one way.
Nice to meet another Byzantine who once was living in the metro-Detroit area

 

[Splagchnizomai]

I’ve heard similar stories from others who are separated by distance from EC church communities.

In my brother’s case, there was also a dearth of Orthodox parishes, so that wasn’t much of an option. That said, I’ve heard from others with Orthodox communities nearby that they generally became members of an RC church an attended Mass there, but often attended Orthodox services supplementally. In one case, a fellow Byzantine was surprised to learn that the local RC priest actually had bi-ritual faculties and loved the Byzantine rite, and up sprang a mission parish! You never know!

Even though I have a nearby Byzantine Catholic parish, we cannot have matins and vespers on a recurring basis, as it is not pastorally practical. There is however a ROCOR monastery nearby, and I do enjoy going to matins and vespers there whenever I can. We are encouraged as Catholics (even as Eastern Catholics) to experience the Light of the East!

It’s interesting what ECs have to do to make do.

I am one of those Byzantines Catholics without a parish, or any Eastern Christian presence for about 100 miles or so making Divine Liturgies few and far between. You just do the best you can. For me that means trying to doing things like having an icon corner and using Byzantine spirituality in my daily prayer life. That is where the internet can be such a blessing.

Wow, 100 miles! Do you try to make it for Easter or Christmas or other holidays – or would something like that be impossible?