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dizzy_dave
Guest
Of what order of priests do the EWTN priests belong to? They all seem to wear those grayish outfits, I notice almost all wear them except Fr. Mitch Pacwa, what order does he belong to?
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whosebob
Guest
The priests and brothers wearing brown habits bearing a representation of the Eucharist exposed in a monstrance on their breasts belong to the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word. Their website . . .
mfva.info/
They are one of the only two men’s communities in history founded by a woman: Mother Theresa founded the Missionaries of Charity Brothers and Fathers; and Mother Angelica founded the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word (MFVA).
The MFVA live in a friary located on the same campus as the EWTN studio. Their charism and primary apostolate is the EWTN television and radio station. They also provide the sacraments and spiritual direction to the many studio employees and visitors. Also, they provide the sacraments and spiritual direction to the nuns at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery and visitors to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament (those two structures are joined together and are about an hour’s drive north of the studio).
They are third-order Franciscans, but originally the community used the rule of St. Augustine. They adopted a Franciscan constitution and character several years after being founded by Mother. The switch was requested by her; and though it split the community almost in half at the time, today they are flourishing and are very open to vocation inquiries.
Having spent a week living with the Friars, I do know that they are interested in finding a young man who feels called to be a permanent brother (that is, not to the priesthood) who could work full-time in the context of EWTN’s Internet apostolate. In other words, they need a computer-geek friar in their ranks.
If you see priests and brothers in grey (or some other color) habits, they may be visiting long or short term and living and working with the friars.
Something else that is interesting to note, Father Angelus Shaughnessy (who often is the principal celebrant and homilist at daily Mass) is the current guardian of their community but is not a member of it himself – note that he doesn’t have the monstrance symbol on the breast his habit. He is a Capuchin friar (from Philadelphia I think) and graciously agreed to guide and protect their community when they made the switch to being third-order Franciscans. Once the MFVA are sufficiently “franciscan-ized” and mature, then Fr. Angelus will step-down and they will elect a superior from their own ranks.
I hope this information is helpful.
In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
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whosebob
Guest
Oh yeah, I almost forgot . . .
Fr. Pacwa is a Jesuit priest.
Fr. Pacwa is a Jesuit priest.
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Deacon_Ed
Guest
Just to add a little more… Fr. Pacwa is a bi-ritual Jesuit. He celebrates both the Latin Mass and the Maronite Qorbono. He also speaks fluent Arabic and Syriac (modern day Aramaic). I had the pleasure of attending a Liturgy he celebrated Saturday with Fr. Tony Bakh, the pastor of St. John Maron Maronite Church in Anaheim, California. As a deacon, I received communion from Fr. Pacwa.
BTW, in the Eastern Churches all clergy go into the holy place (sanctuary, altar or holy table area) to receive communion – usually just wearing a cassock and stole.
Deacon Ed
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DaveBj
Guest
Deacon Ed:
DaveBj
Wish I could get to know him. I’m reasonably fluent in Arabic too and would like to keep that skill up, but with a Catholic slant. I posted in the General Forum requesting information on where to get Catholic materials in Arabic (and Russian), but no one responded. I would love to visit a Maronite Rite church, but figure the odds on finding one of those in northern Alabama
DaveBj
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Deacon_Ed
Guest
Let me know what materials you are interested in and I’ll see what I can do. I am bi-ritual and serve the Melite Church which uses Arabic so I have access to some material in that language. There is both a Melkite (St. George Church, 425 Sixteenth Avenue South) and a Maronite parish (St. Elias Maronite Church, 836 Eighth Street South) in Birmingham should you get down that way. Perhaps a little closer to you is a Maronite parish in Atlanta (St. Joseph Maronite Church,502 Seminole Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30307).Wish I could get to know him. I’m reasonably fluent in Arabic too and would like to keep that skill up, but with a Catholic slant. I posted in the General Forum requesting information on where to get Catholic materials in Arabic (and Russian), but no one responded. I would love to visit a Maronite Rite church, but figure the odds on finding one of those in northern Alabama
DaveBj
Deacon Ed
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Pani_Rose
Guest
Hey Fr. Deacon Ed,
I was wondering if that was you. I had just sent Dave a message to see if we can help. I don’t know which side of Cullman he is on, but if it is the south side that will work well. Also, Fr. Deacon Paul is living near Hanceville and he is here everytime the doors are open. There is another family that drives down from that direction too.
Yes, with his speaking Arabic, he would fit right in at St. Georges or St. Elias. We are getting ready for our Middle Eastern Food Festival ( we made 5000 meat pies last Sat and mamoul). We use the Arabic, Greek, and English in the Divine Liturgy, like I imagine you do.
My husband is Fr. Deacon Stan, so we will be glad to help however we can.
Pani Rose
I was wondering if that was you. I had just sent Dave a message to see if we can help. I don’t know which side of Cullman he is on, but if it is the south side that will work well. Also, Fr. Deacon Paul is living near Hanceville and he is here everytime the doors are open. There is another family that drives down from that direction too.
Yes, with his speaking Arabic, he would fit right in at St. Georges or St. Elias. We are getting ready for our Middle Eastern Food Festival ( we made 5000 meat pies last Sat and mamoul). We use the Arabic, Greek, and English in the Divine Liturgy, like I imagine you do.
My husband is Fr. Deacon Stan, so we will be glad to help however we can.
Pani Rose
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Friar_David_O.Carm
Guest
While this may be true that there are only two male orders found exclusively by woman, I know for a fact that there are many male orders who were founded by a man and a woman.
And can we truely say that these two orders were founded by a woman only? Then who was the first man to be int he order? Can we not consider him a founder also? Without him there would be no order.
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mercygate
Guest
Deacon Ed:
Pacwa also speaks Polish.
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Deacon_Ed
Guest
Pani Rose:
Our Middle Eastern festival will be near the end of September, but we are already six months into planning and preparing.
Deacon Ed
Great! Since I’m on the West Coast it makes it hard to know what it’s like driving in that area.
The 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month we use more English than Arabic while the other Sundays reverse that. What this really boils down to is the litanies (all three) are done in English on the 1st and 3rd Sundays and in Arabic the rest. Greek, of course, is used in unvarying amounts: the trisagion prayer, and a few other places.
Our Middle Eastern festival will be near the end of September, but we are already six months into planning and preparing.
And how is the recently ordained Fr. Deacon Stan doing?
Deacon Ed
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Friar_David_O.Carm
Guest
Pani Rose:
I thought Pani is the term used to describe a priest’s wife.
Off topic, I know but…
I thought Pani is the term used to describe a priest’s wife.
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DaveBj
Guest
Thanks to both Pani Rose and Deacon Ed for their replies. I’m only 45 minutes north of B’ham; only problem is, my job (weekend industrial security) pretty well kills Sunday mornings for me. But I will make a note of both those churches 
DaveBj
DaveBj
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whosebob
Guest
Good points. But it is common to see in Church documents and histories that a bishop or priest or layman is referred to as the founder of a particular women’s order. Now, of course the first woman member or women members were “co-founders” for sure. But I think “founder” is the credit given to the man or woman who conceived it in thought, worked in an immediate sense to make it a reality, “recruited” men/women to join it, and defined a particular charism for the new community.
So, in that sense, Mother Theresa is credited as the founder of the Missionaries of Charity Brothers and Fathers but was never herself a member. She is in a real sense too the “author” of their charism, and her example and personal invitation is what encouraged the first men to join.
In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
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stellina
Guest
The Franciscans in grey habits belong to the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, which is another newer off-shoot of the Franciscan order. Fathers Apostoli & Groeschel are the ones I see on EWTN most often.
There are a lot of types of Franciscans around - I even went to Franciscan schools & I still can’t figure out all of them!
The priests & friars at my high school wore black habits (they were Conventuals), but when I was in Assisi last summer, I saw only the plain brown habits.
There are a lot of types of Franciscans around - I even went to Franciscan schools & I still can’t figure out all of them!
The priests & friars at my high school wore black habits (they were Conventuals), but when I was in Assisi last summer, I saw only the plain brown habits.
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Bizob
Guest
Well, there aren’t a lot of Conventuals around. OFMs and OFM Caps are much more numerous.
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Carlos_Palad
Guest
Is this the reason why Frs. John Mary and Augustine Mary, who I recall watching in the late 90’s, suddenly disappeared from EWTN and MFVA?
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