I got a letter from our LR bishop, and since I'll never have the opportunity to personally discuss with him the series of events that led to my request to switch rites, I'll do it here, for the boredom/edification of anyone who may be wondering 'why in the world would anyone want to do that'?

Paragraphs of his letter to me in italics; my response/explanation in regular type:

As I am certain you know, it is the Church's desire that individuals remain in and preserve the connection with the Ritual Church to which they belong by baptism.

Well, actually, I'm a Moravian by baptism, if you're going to pick nits. And as I was confirmed in the Presbyterian church as a teen, I was a Protestant up till the time, at Easter Vigil 1991, I was received into the Church under the Roman Rite. I have spent considerable time meditating on whether I would have chosen the Roman Rite, had I known about the Byzantine Rites at that time. I think I would have been VERY drawn to the Eastern Churches. It is interesting to note that the current pastor of the parish where I became Catholic (Holy Family in Lawton, OK) is also the administrator of the Byzantine community in Oklahoma City - he's a bi-ritual priest. I really think (with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, of course), that I was done a real disservice in RCIA in that NO MENTION was made of there even being other Rites besides the LR. We did touch briefly on the fact that the Orthodox have the same sacraments but that Catholics can't go to Orthodox liturgies unless there is no Catholic Mass available, but that's as far as it went.

While the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom is certainly theologically profound and deeply beautiful, the distinction between the Ritual Churches is not merely liturgical. Indeed, a distinct spirituality and, in many cases, an ethnic or national character identifies the Ritual Churches.

You're not kidding! I'd have to say that, at the present time and in this diocese, the differences in spirituality devolve from differences in liturgy. The universal reverence that EVERYONE at my Byzantine parish displays during the Divine Liturgy naturally flows from the intense and deep spiritual meaning and 'non-ordinary' terminology and language used during worship. As I have witnessed personally in several local parishes, the more 'everyday' the language used in the Mass, the more it appears that the worshippers are casual about posture and attitude - and the more amazed they are when someone displays true reverence/piety - see my previous post about my youngest chec receiving the Body of Christ at a NO parish on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Comception.

In your own case, with three children under the age of 14, the request is even more momentous since the children will be transferred with you, though they will have the right to return freely to the Latin Rite when each celebrates his or her fourteenth birthday (can. 112 sec. 3). This is a great deal to explain to your children. There is also the question of how transfer will affect your member ship in a Latin Rite Confraternity.

HELLO!!!! The checs started referring to themselves as Byzantine Catholics within a week of my registering at the parish. Before I even applied to switch. They no longer whine about going to church or Sunday School. They know the Truth when they experience it. And as for it affecting my membership in a Latin Rite Confraternity, our foundress is thrilled that I'm at a parish where the words 'penance' and 'conversion' are part of regular catechesis. She knows that at my previous parish I was viewed as a total wierdo for being in the CFP. And she hopes that my witness at my new parish will help spread the word to Byzantines that the CFP exists. The CFP even has several spiritual advisors who are Byzantine priests and religious.

In the meantime, I ask you to recall that you are free to continue celebrating the sacraments in the Byzantine Catholic Church, no matter what decision you eventually make. And I thank you for your devotion to the liturgical life of our Catholic Church.

Um, well, I've already decided. That's why I wrote Metropolitan Basil and you, Bishop Bransfield. And it is precisely that devotion to the liturgical life of the Church that drove me to that decision.

I videotaped the Midnight Mass for Christmas from St. Joseph's Cathedral in Wheeling, and just a few minutes ago finished watching it. I have to admit I was very pleasantly surprised. Here in the liturgical backwater that is Morgantown, there is not a single NO parish where Mass is celebrated licitly. They're all valid, but every single parish adds or takes away something. I had come to the conclusion that this was the result of some sort of weird 'trickle-down' effect, that our Bishop was wishy-washy on the rubrics, or some sort of flaming liberal/progressive, but I now believe that there is hope for our diocese, even if I don't see any change in these parts in my lifetime.

There was incense, there were traditional carols, there were properly vested altar BOYS, there were concelebrating priests! There was also too much hugging at the sign of peace :-(

There were no extraordinary ministers. There was no Latin. There was no chant (except for the vernacular chanted Our Father). BUT there was no inclusive language, and Bishop Bransfield used the Roman Canon - the long version - and it was all there, word for word.

The most extraordinary thing I noticed was that Bishop Bransfield, the concelebrating priests, the MC and most of the others in the sanctuary actually DID genuflect at the proper place in the Credo.....and at that point the camera angle was a wide shot from the upper back of the nave, and I didn't see any of the congregation kneel; some bowed, but most remained standing :-(

Now, with that as an introduction, I noticed something else odd. While I understood (even better now) all the parts of the Mass, and would have had a beautiful worship experience had I been personally present at this Mass, I didn't feel as if I had missed anything by joining my new parish family - the Byzantine Catholics - for Great Compline and Liturgy on Christmas Eve. I didn't feel very 'connected' to any of it at all.

I thought about this for a while, and wonder if, for the past nearly 16 years, I've been in some kind of RC 'foster faith' or 'faith incubator,' and just recently due to my becoming VERY SERIOUS about living an authentically Christian life, I've been discharged, as it were, to where I really belong. My Protestant background, as I've mentioned before, is a pre-Martin Luther schism from the VERY SAME COUNTRIES evangelized by the Holy Saints Cyril and Methodius. I grew up celebrating Advent; fasting during Lent was never strange to me. Some of my earliest memories of Easter include Holy Week services every night at the Moravian church where I was baptized, including a (I now realize) Protestantized Stations of the Cross, a Memorial of Our Lord's Passion, and the Tenebrae (service of darkness). Hymns sung by the Moravians aren't sung in any other denomination; this year I learned carols of the Slav tradition that brought tears to my eyes with their theological density (meatiness, I like to say).

One of the traditions that I grew up with as a child was that, on Christmas morning, we would all gather at the Nativity scene and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus before we ate our breakfast or opened any presents....in all my years as an adult I have kept that tradition with my own kids, but whenever I mentioned it, most often the reaction was "oh, neat, maybe we will start doing that too." Last night after Divine Liturgy we all gathered in the social hall, where there was a BIRTHDAY CAKE for Jesus and we all sang Happy Birthday before sharing it around. My Byzantine parish thinks it perfectly normal to do this, in fact they wonder why don't more people do it.....

I didn't have to endure watching the same kids of the wealthiest family in the parish bring in the Baby Jesus to the Nativity....instead, I bowed low along with my fellow worshippers and priest, in adoration and love after Father placed the Infant in the creche and incensed Him and sprinkled Him with holy water. After he placed the Babe in His place, Father knelt before Him on the floor and gave Him a kiss.

I have, truly, wrapped the Byzantine tradition around my heart like a comfortable sweater that once belonged to a favorite relative....it's not a perfect fit, but it's warm and I can feel the love in it from generations before me who have tried to do just as I am doing - "love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." I'm not Slav by any stretch of the imagination, but that strong-woman tradition is just as active in us Irish as it is in Eastern Europe. I've had to mostly find family in friends, but I'm doing that, having no plethora of blood relatives to walk with me this way (actually most of my blood relatives would probably be horrified to find I'm on my way to becoming a Byzantine Catholic - they already think I'm not Christian and not saved because I'm Catholic).

As I celebrate the days of the Feast of the Nativity, I am praying that as Christ is born in me, I can bring Christ to birth in my little corner of the world in some way every day. We are the ones who will rebuild His house, for as everyone can see, it is falling into ruin.

Morning Star, O cheering sight,
Ere Thou cam'st how dark earth's night!
Jesus mine, in me shine,
In me shine, Jesus mine.
Fill my heart with Light divine.
(Johann Scheffer, 1657; tr. Benent Harvey Jr., 1885; melody HAGEN 7.7.3.3.7)

Merry Christmas, all!

This is Father Kevin Marks celebrating Divine Liturgy at my parish. Photo credit: ByzCat.

While I wait for my mom to call and let me know whether she's coming for dinner or not, here's an update on the crabs -

All three are buried in the Forest Bedding....a new stuff we put in the crabitat that retains humidity better than sand....it's also lighter. Drawbacks are, you can't scoop leftover food out of it as easily as you can sand, and the moisture condenses on the walls of the crabarium and makes it hard to see the little boogers (which I guess doesn't matter much if they are buried, right?)

And a limerick I composed:

I don't think that girls should be priests,
Which is fine with the folks of the East!
So I've gone Byzantine -
Who on Pentecost, wear Green...
(And I love the abundance of feasts!)

It's true....the Byzantine Rite has umpty-billion feasts, one for every day of the year. And lots and lots of them are 'solemn' feasts, meaning that there is probably Divine Liturgy in honor of the saint in question. Today, f'r instance, is the feast of St. Spiridon, Bishop and Wonderworker in addition to being the feast of OL of Guadalupe - so says my Byzantine wall calendar, courtesy of my parish, which you can visit HERE. (I hope did that right - if the link doesn't work let me know, OK?)

Herewith, for your perusal and amusement, and hopefully your comments, is a ditty I composed regarding the quest to switch to the Byzantine Rite (of myself and children, and my friend ByzCat and her family) - followed by the letter I wrote to the Metropolitan Archbishop, Basil M. Schott, OFM, requesting said switch:

(Sing to "Go Down, Moses")

When we were down in NO land,
Let my people go.
Masses so bad we could hardly stand,
Let my people go.

(Chorus) You go, Basil,
Let my people go.
Tell ol' Michael,
Let my people go.

No more should they abuse endure,
Let my people go.
Let them go where the Faith is pure,
Let my people go.

(Chorus)

Who cares about ethnicity,
Let my people go.
They want to worship with dignity,
Let my people go.

(Chorus)

A "Light in the East" they now have seen,
Let my people go.
They were born to be Byzantine!'
Let my people go!

(Chorus)

BTW Michael is Bp. Michael J. Bransfield, Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, formerly Rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The 'ethnicity' line is in reference to a letter Bp. Bransfield sent to my friends about their request to switch - it seemed like he was concerned that they weren't the right ethnic heritage to appreciate or be at home in the Byzantine Church.

OK, enough with the humor, here's my letter to His Eminence:

(Nov. 21, 2006)


My children and I are Latin rite Catholics attending St. Mary's Holy Protection Church in Morgantown. I was received into full communion with Rome in 1991; my children are aged 9, 7 and 5 and were baptized in the Latin Rite as infants. My 9-year-old son has also received the sacraments of First Confession and First Holy Communion according to the Latin rite, and the younger two have made their First confession. I would like to transfer from the Latin Rite to the Byzantine Rite, along with my children, for the following reasons:

My personal spiritual journey includes a realization that in order to advance in holiness, a person must have a deeply personal relationship with Jesus Christ. "Without Him, I can do nothing." Jesus calls me, my children, and all who have been baptized into Christ, to "be perfect, even as our Heavenly Father is perfect." God has given me these shildren to raise. According to Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church, I have the duty and the right to instill in my children the knowledge that will help them have this same personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the Byzantine Rite I have found that this need for a personal realtionship with Jesus is taught from earliest childhood, and the Byzantine Catholics I have come to know in St. Mary's parish are good examples of the living-out of this teaching.

I am a life-pledged member of a private association of Catholics, the Confraternity of Penitents. Its members strive to live the Gospel in today's world by following the Franciscan Rule of 1221, with constitutions amending it to be able to be lived in modern times. We are especially called to be witnesses to Christ through continual conversion of life, service to tohers, and membership in a community of Christians. In the Light for Life series of adult instructional books, published by the Byzantine Seminary Press, these three elements of an authentically Christian life are presented in a very clear way, as metanoia (conversion), diakonia (service or ministry), and koinonia (community or fellowship).

By participation in the liturgical life of St. Mary's parish, I am contiually reminded of my smallness before God and His indescribable Love in calling me and my children to be a part of His Kingdom on Earth. We as a family are united with both our fellow worshippers and the choirs of angels in an incomprehensible way during the divine Liturgy. The Sacred and Holy Mysteries are just that - mysteries - and we will only fully understand what they signify when we are called to our heavenly Home to be with Him Who loved us "even before we were formed in the womb."

I am also inspired to a greater devotion to the Theotokos,m the Mother of God, In a mysterious and special way she was sanctified from her conception to be worthy to bearing in her womb the Savior of the world, and through her intercession both I and my children can be led to a greater closeness to Jesus. My devotion to Mary will naturally transfer to my children.

Finally, on a purely temporal note, I find I am very comfortable with the spirituality of the Byzantine Rite in general, and of St. Mary's parish in particualr. I find my fellow parishioners to be friendly, approachable, and eager to help me and my children learn about our new church home and family. I understand that a transfer of Rite is permanent, and I mke this request freely in the belief and hope that it is a part of God's plan for me and my children. I would be honored and pleased to be accepted as a Byzantine Catholic, and look forward to your response.

In trusting supplication, through Our Precious Lord and Mary, the Holy theotokos, I am your humble and obedient servant,

/s/

Unbelievable. My daughter, who recently came home from 2nd grade with a failing grade in math, has now done FOUR pages of math out of a workbook I got at - get this - the dollar store! And my younger son, age 5, insisted on being given a page from her workbook and had not done too badly.
In other news, today was Election day. Did you vote? Did you vote pro-life?
Some of you may have read about the 'horizontal' worship of the Latin Rite Catholic church as opposed to the 'vertical' worship of the Eastern Rite churches. This was confusing to me until I actually began attending a Byzantine parish (of which I am now a member).
In the Latin Rite (from now on abbreviated as LR) most newer churches are constructed so that the pews, seats, benches, whatever are arranged in a semicircle (or sometimes completely circular) around the altar. This, of course, results in some worshippers facing, not the altar, but EACH OTHER. The priest, also, faces THE PEOPLE from behind the altar. So the atmosphere of the Mass is that of a community gathering, a fellowship, a happy get-together....
In the ER (which in itself is amusing as an abbreviation, since I ran as fast as I could go to the Eastern parish having become spiritually starved in the LR) the pews ALL face forward (and I understand that in some ER churches there aren't many pews, if any). And the priest leads the worshippers with his back to them, but facing the altar - so it is IMMEDIATELY very obvious that when he prays, he ain't talking to you, dear, he's talking to THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.