The Seven Deadly Sins, Sins against the Holy Spirit, Etc.

[Brigid]

There are more martyrs for the faith in that rite than the Catholic Church can count; tortured and killed for the faith during Stalin's purges in Eastern Europe.

Although I knew that Byzantine Church is under the Pope and that it's fine for latin-rite Catholics to go there at any time (or even to register at one) I didn't realize about all the martyrs. Thank you, Bailey.

[Bailey2]

Two books on that subject by the former pastor of the Byzantine parish here in NM.   I am honored to have had my Byzantine Cross blessed by him (from his wheel chair).  My spiritual director is very good friends with him and tells me he is God's suffering servant who has endured a very hard life, though I don't know the particulars.  See descriptions of his books below.  I read the first one.  Slow reading.  Broke my heart, gave me nightmares, and inspired me.

The Forgotten, by Rev. Christopher L. Zugger, Catholics of the Soviet Empire from Lenin through Stalin.

However small, the Soviet Catholic Church has produced more than its share of martyrs and confessors.
Although some believers compromised their faith by cooperation with the police, and others abandoned it under the pressures of both persecution and secularization, far more were sent to jail, labor camps, and psychiatric hospitals and suffered hardships at work, school, and in their daily lives because of their adherence to Catholicism. All have tasted the bitterness of discrimination--and many, of personal suffering.

This work seeks to bring an awareness of the complexities and marvels of the Soviet Catholic Church, which comprised barely a million souls in 1925. By 1991, Soviet Catholics numbered perhaps 12 million, scattered from Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea near Poland to the lonely ex-prison port of Magadan near Alaska. Their history is a record of martyrdom, betrayal, victory, and the triumphs of ordinary people facing extra-ordinary times.


His second book:
Finding A Hidden Church is the second book by Father Christopher Zugger, pastor emeritus, on the suffering of the Church under communist rule in USSR.  Hidden Church describes the underground survival of the Greek Catholic Church in Transcarpathia under the Diocletian-like persecution by communists in the twentieth century.

[martin]

Th Soviet Catholics have suffered terrible persecution under communism. The more martyrs there are, the more the Lord blesses their sacrifice with a harvest of millions of new converts despite the regime doing everything in it's power to destroy them.

I was resding recently too of the underground Catholic Church in China and the suffering they've endured (and still enduring) holding to the true faith.

[Brigid]

Hidden Church describes the underground survival of the Greek Catholic Church in Transcarpathia under the Diocletian-like persecution by communists in the twentieth century.

This would be an interesting book as would the earlier one.

[Bailey2]

Sometimes, I think people forget that these kinds of things are still going on rather than occurring 2000 yrs ago during early Christianity.  Very, very inspiring.
The opposite of the seven deadly sins, yes?   

[Brigid]

I should say so!

[RachelKH]

not to sidetrack this thread, but because my friend is very concerned about why her priest says they aren't under the Pope -- she loves the liturgy and solemnity and all so much and doesn't want to go back to the Roman Catholic Church but will if what her priest says is true -- anyhow, there is a forum that is just more confusing me.  It is a byzantine forum but i can't post the link here, oops!   

I know it is true that we forget that others are suffering terribly while we enjoy such freedom here where we live -- we just take it for granted and think everyone else has this -- like my children not understanding that others are actually starving while we eat to our fill, how can we realize this unless we read and find sources that truthfully tell us -- most of these sufferings are hidden from us if we just rely on the mainstream news.  it is so easy to not think of other we will never meet.  we need to go out into the world and help those oppressed, but in the busyness of day-to-day life we shrink into our own little safe, convenient circle.

[Shin]

Well in general Byzantine Rite churches are under the pope, there are I think there are only a very very few that have issues. I wouldn't know whether the one your friend encountered or not was one of this small minority or not without knowing which church it actually was. 

[RachelKH]

St. Michael Byzantine Catholic Church   
2230 Highland Road
Hermitage, PA 16148
724-981-6680
Pastor:   Rev. John J. Cuccaro

is it ok to even post that??? 

[Shin]

I don't see why it's a problem, should be public info.

Now see, with that you look that up in a search engine you find there's an official Archeparchy web page for all the Byzantine churches in that general area, and it's listed there as one of them. So since it's part of the Eastern Catholic "diocese" so to speak, unless something unusual has happened that hasn't been recorded yet online.. which is possible though surprising.. It's officially in union with Rome.

I'd have to ask that priest for further clarification about why he said what he did, to make sure there wasn't a miscommunication because of that. To find it officially whether it's in good standing with certainty one would call, I believe:

The Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh
66 Riverview Avenue • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15214
Telephone: 412-231-4000 | Fax: 412-231-1697

I love the Eastern Catholic liturgies.

Before you go, I suggest calling ahead and talking to the priest and letting him know you're coming for the first time and asking any advice he has for attending properly.

FWIF I think all the above is correct. 

[RachelKH]

thank you!  i don't know when i'll get to it -- my job starts today!

[Bailey2]

Shin's advice is good.  But I do want to add, just in case that Roman rite priest persists, that the eastern Catholic rites are often confused with the Orthodox "Catholics,"  which are not under the pope.  That is the church that has a valid priesthood and Eucharist and which the pope has been having dialogue to unify them back under the pope.  This is a millennia old problem.  I suspect it is an issue of power.   (I forgot why the priesthood is still valid). 
Most likely your friend's priest simply misunderstands.  However, even though the eastern rite churches are under the pope, there still remains some residual tension between the two rites because the Roman rite clergy feel the eastern rite is somehow "lesser" and often take a move from western to eastern rite as a step down.  The eastern rite clergy by contrast often feel pushed aside and some clergy get a bit resentful.  It's much like discrimination really.  Of course this is not true in theory nor in practice in most places (as evidenced by my pastor's close relationship with an eastern rite priest) but people are people.  And it is common for the eastern and western to be very unknowing of each other in the same cities.   So, there's a bit of church politics for you.