What makes a good church?

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Honestly, I love it.

In 1990 (+/- a few years, but it was around then), on Pascha our former pastor (in accordance with Tradition), read the Gospel in Latin, Greek, Slavonic, Ukrainian & English - AND you had to stand for all 5 times the Gospel was read! My legs ached but I loved it.

On Great and Holy Thursday evening or Great and Holy Friday morning, there’s Passion Matins with the 12 Gospels (the first from St. John is the longest and covers about 3 chapters!). There’s prostrations before and after each Gospel, with various hymns interspersed at certain points. The priest changes his vestments before each Gospel too.

It’s marvelous.
 
Wow!! That’s quite a lot to do for a Mass. I’d love to hear a Mass in Greek. Maybe I’ll stop by a Greek/Byzantine Rite parish or maybe even a Greek Orthodox and check it out.
 
Only on Pascha is the Gospel read in Greek. Our current pastor used to read the Gospel for Pascha in Latin, Ukrainian and English. Now he does it only in Ukrainian and English.

You’re more than welcome to visit a Ukrainian/Byzantine Catholic Church. However, in an Orthodox church you can’t receive communion nor participate in the liturgy. If the priest knows you’re Catholic, he will not give you communion.
 
If he “takes forever” to make sure that none of the Precious Blood is left, that’s good - you can start making your thanksgiving.
 
I’d be unhappy with a parish that has masses under an hour (on the regular) outside of daily mass. All growing up and through multiple moves my Sunday masses have all been at least an hour. Masses get progressively longer through the Triduum (longest Easter Vigil I’ve been to was a little over 4 hours. We welcomed 23 people that year.) at my parish and midnight mass for Christmas is never less than an hour and a half.

I always see it as a moment to answer yes to the Lord’s question if I can spend an hour with him.
 
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The best time to ask Our Lord for graces is when you have Him within you right after Holy Communion.

Our Lord told St. Gertrude to say immediately after receiving Him:

“Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, may the whole world burn with love for Thee!”

Also the indulgenced prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola:

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within Thy Wounds hide me.
From the malignant enemy, defend me.
In the hour of my death, call me
And bid me come to Thee
That with Thy saints I may praise Thee
Forever and ever. Amen.
 
🤔 Understood. I wonder if the Orthodox priest’s reaction be based on hostility? Because I heard on EWTN that a Catholic can receive Communion, licitly; if there’s no Catholic church he can go to. I thought that with the recent detente between the Church and Orthodoxy, we could receive at each other’s church.
 
In Orthodoxy, you cannot receive Communion if you are not Orthodox.

Some of my relatives are Russian Orthodox. When my Ukrainian Greek Catholic grandmother passed away, my aunt and uncle stood like sentinels on guard duty for the entire Liturgy and only sat down for the homily. They didn’t say a single word (I was watching them almost the whole time) and did not receive communion.

My late aunt (who was a very devout Orthodox woman) would be absolutely aghast if she found out that an Orthodox priest gave a Catholic communion.
 
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Okay. Understood. Still, I think it would be a cool experience to witness an Orthodox Mass.
 
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Byzantine Catholic Church and other Catholic churches of the Byzantine Tradition have the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom are in full communion with the Holy See and pray for Pope Francis at every Liturgy.

I guarantee that the Orthodox do not commemorate the Holy Father during the liturgy.

Officially, there may be a detente but when it comes down to the local level, it’s still war.

The Orthodox church near me states in the bulletin on their website that only Orthodox who observe the traditional Wednesday, Friday and Eucharistic fasts can receive communion.
 
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Yeah, I understand. That’s one of the problems with Orthodoxy. They don’t accept the Holy Father as the head of the Church.
 
Wow. I can relate. When I converted to the Latin Rite back in 2016, my mother was very angry with me. Her basic attitude was: “ What, Lutheranism isn’t good enough? “ As if I was attacking her personally. At first after my conversion, she was very upset with the possibility I would convert my sons. She even got mad at me when my youngest son expressed an interest in becoming Catholic.
 
Imo, if you and your wife make a habit of thanksgiving after Holy Communion, she’ll probably wish that the priest would take more time to purify the chalices!

Learn to love the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and neither of you will find it boring.

Is there an EF Mass near you?
 
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Hahahaha After my ex wife passed, my fiancé ( Filipina Catholic ) was very excited at the prospect of raising our sons Catholic. My mother put a real hard stop to that when she expressed her hostility to the idea. My fiancé is traditional and doesn’t want to upset my mother. But, once I explained to her that I’m not forcing them to become Catholic; I leave it up to them. Plus, the priest wouldn’t receive a nine year old boy in the Church if he didn’t want to be Catholic in the first place.
 
EF as in Latin Mass? I believe there’s one in my archdiocese. We already love the Mass. Funny thing; get this: I suggested to her one night that we video call on Facebook while I’m at Mass; giving a “ we’re together at Mass “ feel. Not talking during Mass; but just spending time together over video chat in Mass.
 
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It’s different, though, when there’s a lot of wasted time.
As my mother told me once after a Mass I served, “Moving slowly doesn’t make it more holy.”
 
Michael16 said:
video call on Facebook while I’m at Mass; giving a “ we’re together at Mass “ feel. Not talking
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Are you serious?!? 😱 WHY would you video call during Mass??? It’s the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar! I guarantee that there was no “video call” at Golgotha (Calvary).
 
This strikes me as very sad.

When our Church is standing room only, Mass is going to run about 70 minutes. It simply takes longer for that many people to receive.

We ought all pray that our masses become longer and longer, because that means more people are coming to Christ.
 
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