Yes!!! After Liturgy, the Lebanese often resort to their native tongue, especially with Abouna. I listen so carefully, hoping to pick up words. One Sunday, a young mother instructed her miscreant child to give father a 'baise'. Voilla! French! It all blends so naturally with the flow of Arabic (ahem ... Lebanese) and English. This young mother just gave birth to her 3rd child - another girl. The oldest, a boy, is named 'Elias' but everyone affectionately calls him 'LiLou'. The 2nd is a girl, Michelle and the 3rd has been named Danielle.
Each Sunday, without fail and following the Divine Liturgy, the mom embraces me with the beautiful exchange of 3 kisses, just like the French. Last Sunday, we had visitors from South America. I tried to strike up a conversation only to learn that neither of them spoke English. No matter ... we settled on French, even though we were all rusty. This is what I love so much about the Maronite Church! We gather as a community to pray and then share our mutual faith afterwards, with coffee and special delicacies offered up by a member of the congregation. Amongst the newcomers are a Greek Orthodox couple from Jordan. He is an Englishman, a convert to the GOC from the Episcopal Church; she is Jordanian. They have a beautiful baby girl. It is just awesome! Last Sunday, we also had visitors from Brazil - Maronite Catholics. It is a beautiful reminder of just how far the Maronite Church has spread around the globe.
"This is what I love so much about the Maronite Church! We gather as a community to pray and then share our mutual faith afterwards, with coffee and special delicacies offered up by a member of the congregation."
I think this is a bigger eastern tradition. We do much the same thing in the Byzantine church. There's always food and fellowship after liturgy, and it seems that we always have visitors. We also seem to have at least one Roman Catholic seminarian as well as a deacon or two attending Divine Liturgy.
And this in a parish that has maybe 50 families.