By inviting others into their rich liturgical traditions, fostering belonging in small communities, and reaching out to the secular world through podcasts and “coffeehouse ministries,” many Eastern Catholic parishes have unique ways of lead people to live fully in Jesus Christ as disciples.
The Eastern Catholic Churches are not the largest of the 24 autonomous Churches of the Catholic Church – that is the Latin Church led by Pope Francis, the Bishop of Rome, with whom all of these Catholic Churches are in communion. But being equal in dignity with the Latin Church, many Eastern Catholic parishes clearly affirm that they are also equal in the same evangelizing mission.
“We are Orthodox in our liturgy, we are Orthodox in our spirituality, we are Orthodox in our theology and we are Catholic in communion,” said Father Hezekias Carnazzo, founder and executive director of the Institute of Catholic Culture and pastor of Saint-Georges Melkite. The Greek Catholic parish in Sacramento, California, told OSV News.
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church traces its tradition across the Middle East to the first Christians gathered in Antioch as recounted in the Acts of the Apostles, and celebrates the divine liturgies (equivalent to the mass) of the saints. John Chrysostom and Basil the Great.
St. George Parish was founded by Melkite Catholic immigrants from the Middle East, but as Father Carnazzo said, “Antioch was not for Antioch.”
“Our Melkite tradition, our Middle Eastern Christian tradition, is evangelical in nature,” he said. “And by nature, it’s attractive.” So he welcomes, opens his arms to everyone.
According to Father Carnazzo, St. George Parish is home to people from very different backgrounds. Exceeding pre-COVID-19 attendance, the parish serves 175 to 200 Catholics each Sunday. And their number is increasing.
“My fundamental action is not at all an action of evangelization,” said Father Carnazzo. “Christians themselves are by nature evangelical, like the Samaritan woman at the well. » Nourished by the Melkite liturgy, the parishioners of Saint-Georges invite others to know Christ.
Melkite liturgy is anything but calm, and the beauty of worship – with its incense, bells, chants and movement through the sanctuary – also has a liturgical culture that is largely inclusive of those present.
Neurodivergent people, such as those with autism, are encouraged to move to meet their sensory needs during liturgy at St. George Parish. Parishioners rearrange chairs to allow people in wheelchairs to sit where they prefer.
“I’m giving homilies and there are people walking around, lighting candles and kissing icons and children rolling on the ground,” Father Carnazzo said.
Recently, an elderly Middle Eastern man was having difficulty walking and a young American parishioner helped him reach the front of the church to receive communion. “They don’t really speak the same language,” explains Father Carnazzo. “But there they were, coming to communion, holding on, together.”
In short, anyone seeking Jesus Christ is welcome at St. George Parish.
Every Sunday after the liturgy, Saint George shares what Father Carnazzo calls the “agape meal.” This gathering can last one or two hours and allows parishioners to serve each other.
Like Melkite Catholics, Byzantine (Ruthenian) Catholics celebrate the divine liturgies of the saints. John Chrysostom and Basil the Great, although their history links them to Central Europe. Like St. George Parish, the proto-cathedral of St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Los Angeles hosts receptions after the liturgy.
Father Michael O’Loughlin, pastor of St. Mary’s, can invite people to attend the party without even mentioning that there is a liturgy first. Sometimes these people become curious and attend the liturgy.
“In the narthex of my church there might be people holding coffee or dogs, or men wearing hats,” he told OSV News. “We welcome these people because they don’t even believe it yet, most likely.”
He added that those who come to church out of curiosity “are told that we desire, more than anything, fellowship with them, but until that fellowship is established according to the very reasonable teachings of the Church, they will be asked to refrain from receiving the sacrament of communion. »
Within the Byzantine Catholic Church, Father O’Loughlin serves as evangelization coordinator for the Eparchy of Phoenix Office of Catechesis and Evangelism.
Online, Father O’Loughlin currently co-hosts the podcast “What God Is Not” with Mother Natalia, a Byzantine Catholic nun. Previously, he was a regular co-host of the “Catholic Stuff You Should Know” podcast.
Beyond his online presence, Father O’Loughlin enjoys going to cafes and bars and meeting people where they are.
By Father O’Loughlin’s estimate, “probably 95 percent of the people” he meets are happy to meet a priest, while “2 to 5 percent end up joining the church” and “about 25 percent » contact him again or visit him. parish.
Father O’Loughlin also founded a Byzantine Catholic association in Santa Paula, California. He expresses his missionary approach this way: “Let’s go to a place where there are no Byzantine Catholic churches and find one to bring this spirituality to life. , this church, accessible (there).
Every Saturday afternoon, Father O’Loughlin drives an hour or more to celebrate the Divine Liturgy at the Evangelism. As a missionary center, action begins with a core of “already faithful people.” This can include not only Byzantine Catholics, but also Roman Catholics (i.e. Catholics of the Latin Church) and even Orthodox Christians.
The presence of Catholics from the Latin Church making free and informed decisions to engage in worship and fellowship with their fellow Catholics from the Eastern Catholic churches sometimes gives rise to accusations of “poaching.”
But Father O’Loughlin sees a larger goal: to form disciples in their faith who reach the unreached and bring back the lost sheep.
“I think it’s good to offer our Byzantine Catholic spirituality and make it accessible even to people who already have the faith,” he said. “But the biggest problem is the non-believers.” This includes the many people who have “walked away” from the Catholic Church and other Churches.
“To welcome them into a church, you have to have a certain health in that community,” he said. “You have to do everything you can to make someone feel welcome.”
Maronite Catholic Chorbishop Don Sawyer acknowledges that many Catholics attend a church with a different rite than the one they grew up in — but he said that transfer happens both ways. The chorbishop – a Maronite cleric who has the power to confer minor orders, including the subdiaconate, but not the diaconate or priesthood – believes that people will attend a parish where they feel at home in the liturgy. And at Our Lady Maronite Catholic Church in Austin, Texas, he said, “they find community, too.”
The Maronite Catholic Church also comes from the early Christian community of Antioch and celebrates the Qurbono (Divine Liturgy) of Saint James, which Chorbishop Sawyer calls the “prototype liturgy” on which other Catholic liturgies are based.
“When we have a liturgy, heaven comes down and we participate in this liturgy that never stops in heaven,” he told OSV News. He noted that the liturgical language of the Maronite Church is Syriac, a Western dialect of Aramaic (the language spoken by Jesus), and therefore in a Maronite Qurbono the liturgy may be “celebrated in Arabic, English, in Spanish while retaining Syriac in certain parts of Quorbono”. , the Divine Liturgy.
Who attends Notre-Dame Maronite Catholic Church?
“Everyone,” Chorbishop Sawyer laughed. Its congregation includes parishioners from the Middle East, Latino Americans, Black Americans, white Americans and others.
He told the story of a Protestant who attended liturgy at Notre-Dame Maronite Catholic Church for several years. One day during the ward Bible study, she began to cry and then laugh, saying, “I knew the scripture, but I never knew the true meaning of it. » Now she is Catholic.
According to Chorbishop Sawyer, in small parishes it is easy for parishioners to care for each other – and welcome strangers, too. For Chorbishop Sawyer, “caring about people” – recognizing them even if they are sitting in the back of the church without saying a word – is evangelism.
“A parish is people,” he said. “The building is like a house.”
Read more Evangelization
Copyright © 2023 OSV News
