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A road trip on a weekend and making sure you can still get to Mass can sometimes result in a very pleasant surprise and a holy experience.Quite recently Marjorie (my fiancée) and I were returning home over the weekend from a car trip to Ohio. Not wanting to miss Mass, we looked online at Mass times for the areas we would be traveling through on Saturday afternoon. Expecting to be driving near Uniontown, PA about four o’clock, we found several churches that had four o’clock Saturday afternoon Masses listed.But our travel plans were slightly delayed driving over the mountainous region...

Students and faculty at the University of Notre Dame who go to the university’s chapel on Sundays may be hearing something different from the usual Mass opening of “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”“Blessed is the kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always and forever and ever,” Father Khaled Anatolios recently chanted, as he made the sign of the cross with the book of the Gospels lifted high above the altar.He faced the altar, away from the congregation, and there were icons on either side. Those in the congregation sang...

As Christians went forth from Jerusalem they encountered different traditions, cultures, customs and languages, soon the Church became a communion of Churches united in love with each other, looking to the See of Peter in Rome as the first among them all. The Gospel of Christ has reached the four corners of the world. Jesus prayed for their unity, “that they all may be one” (John 17:21). For Catholics united with the Pope in Rome, there is already an amazing unity even within the reality of cultural diversity. The Catholic Church, comprised of twenty-one Eastern Churches and one Western Church,...

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Much of the focus of U.S. commemorations and celebrations for the Year for Priests has been on Latin-rite priests, but priests in the Eastern Catholic Church also are marking the year, many by renewing their priesthood with retreats or days of recollection and also promoting vocations. The geographic expanses of U.S. Eastern Catholic dioceses, which often encompass several states, can make it difficult for the priests to gather together, so their observances of the special year, which began June 19, may be different than those of their Latin-rite counterparts. "We're spread out, so we take advantage of...

Maronite Catholics, like many other Eastern Catholics, get a jump-start on Lent, which begins on "Ash Monday." Father Makram Kozah, spiritual director at the Maronite patriarchal seminary in Lebanon, said the early start gives Maronites "seven full weeks for Lent." "Thursday of the drunkards" precedes Ash Monday. Many Catholics enjoy a cocktail or arrack -- Lebanon's national liquor made from grapes -- with family and friends, but "Thursday of the drunkards" is typically considered the start of a feasting period before the Lenten fast. In previous generations when families were large, a lamb was slaughtered on that Thursday. This gave...

Rani Joseph, a professor of economics at a local college, belongs to a typical middle-class Catholic Christian family in Kerala. How does Rani react to Cardinal Mar Varkey Vidayathil's call on Sunday to the Catholic community to have more babies? Cardinal Mar Varkey Vidayathil, the archbishop of the Catholic Church in Kerala, has asked Catholic families to have more children because the population of Christians is declining. A market mentality is dominating relationships, the archbishop said, and the very future and sanctity of the family is in danger. So affluent Christians must have more children, he said. This advice comes...

From Byzcath blogger: "what I understand, Sunday, February 12, 2006, at 4 pm, Deacon Joseph Marquis became the first US-ordained, married Byzantine priest. This took place in Parma, and Father Marquis will take over as pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Livonia, Michigan."

Every Christmas, my thoughts turn to my friend Raymond Levesque. Along with our friends Dan, Jan, and Suzanne, Raymond and I have a long-standing conversation about “the gifts that are not under the tree.” This expression goes back to an article that appeared one December in New Covenant. While the magazine is no longer in print, during its run, New Covenant offered a fresh orthodox perspective on Catholic spirituality. Struggling to Discover a Catholic Identity Raymond and I first met through our local Latin Mass community. I was a teenager who had been catechized during the late seventies and early...

A Romanian prelate stirred deep emotions at the Synod of Bishops on October 6, with a powerful speech praising the Catholic martyrs who suffered for the faith under Communist rule in his country. Archbishop Lucian Muresan of Fagaras-Alba Julia was heavily applauded by the 250 bishops participating in the Synod at the conclusion of his 6-minute speech. He had recounted how Romanian Catholics of the Eastern rite endured brutal repression by Communist authorities who "had a great fear of God, who is present in the Eucharist." The Communist regime aspired "to give men just material 'bread,'" the archbishop said. In...

Solidarity among Christians must go beyond national boundaries, Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) said as he met on June 23 with representatives of groups involved with aid to the Eastern churches. The Holy Father met with 70 people from ROACO (Reunion of Organizations for Aid to the Oriental Churches)in the Clementine Hall of the apostolic palace. ROACO is holding its annual meeting at the Vatican this week. From the beginning of Christianity, needy communities of believers have enjoyed the support of their wealthier brethren, the Pope observed. At a time when individualism and consumerism are so powerful, he continued,...

Interview with Jesuit Fr. Robert Taft of the Pontifical Oriental Institute February 4, 2004 By John L. Allen, Jr. Rome Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is scheduled to travel to Moscow Feb. 16-20, 2004 for a meeting with the Patriarch of Moscow, Alexy II. In anticipation of Kasper's trip, NCR Rome correspondent, John L. Allen Jr. sat down with Jesuit Fr. Robert Taft of the Pontifical Oriental Institute. Taft, a pioneer in Eastern liturgical studies and a veteran of East/West dialogues, is one of the leading experts on Orthodoxy in the Catholic Church....

Holy Wisdom Byzantine Catholic Church had a promising beginning when it opened in the Succasunna section of Roxbury in the 1970s: The modest building was the only Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic parish for 38 miles. Worshippers from coal and steel mining towns in New Jersey and Pennsylvania with roots in Eastern Europe joined Holy Wisdom to practice their religion, which follows the principles of Roman Catholicism and the customs of the Eastern Orthodox church. In recent years, membership has declined. Holy Wisdom's congregants, like Byzantine Catholics elsewhere in New Jersey, have joined Roman Catholic churches that are closer to home. Decreasing...