Posted on 05/08/2006 12:11:18 PM PDT by NYer
The small group of Eastern-rite Catholics who gather each week in Sacred Heart Parish’s former church building in Wasilla now belong to a bona fide church community of their own. Blessed Theodore Romzha Byzantine Catholic Mission was established Feb. 16 by Byzantine Catholic Bishop Most Reverend William Skurla.
The new "mission" — a precursor to a parish — is associated with the only Byzantine Catholic parish in Alaska: St. Nicholas of Myra in Anchorage, founded in 1958.
So, what is a Byzantine Catholic?
The Catholic Church contains 23 rites, or liturgical expressions. The vast majority of people who call themselves Catholic belong to the Roman Catholic Church, which follows the Latin rite.
The Byzantine Catholic Church is one of the 22 Eastern-rite Catholic churches. It follows the liturgical traditions of the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches, but unlike them, it recognizes the Roman Catholic pope as the head of the church.
For the last four years, the Matanuska Valley’s Byzantine Catholics have been worshiping in the old Sacred Heart Church on Wasilla’s Bogard Road.
Sacred Heart, a Roman Catholic parish, moved into a larger church on the parish grounds in 1998. The pastor, Father Kasparaj Mallavarapu, welcomed the Eastern-rite group to use the old church.
Right Reverend Archimandrite Wesley Izer, pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Parish, originally made the 45-mile trip from Anchorage to Wasilla about once a month. He would celebrate Divine Liturgy — the Eastern-rite term for Mass — for about a dozen Byzantine Catholic families.
But about a year into the "outreach" project, Father Izer’s bishop requested that he begin making the trip every week.
The group is not vastly bigger — Father Izer said about 16 families now regularly attend — but because of the convenience factor, "now we see everybody more consistently."
The change has brought the people "closer to the Lord" and helped them "create a sense of community, too," Father Izer said.
The Byzantine church has its own system of jurisdiction, with bishops appointed to lead "eparchies," the equivalent of dioceses in the Latin-rite church. Both rites often designate a Catholic community a "mission" when it has reached a certain level of stability but isn’t yet able to support itself as an independent parish.
Becoming a mission gives parishioners a "sense of belonging," said Michelle Hand, who attends the mission in Wasilla with her husband and eight children.
"We’re here to stay and we’re growing and we’re a part of our community," she said.
The Hands used to attend Roman Catholic parishes in Palmer and Eagle River, but they continued to search for a "reverent Mass to raise our kids in" she said.
She said they found that at Anchorage’s St. Nicholas of Myra in Anchorage, but the weekly drive was time-consuming and costly.
"It’s been super-duper nice to not have to drive into town" for the past three years that Divine Liturgy has been offered weekly in Wasilla, Hand said.
The group may be small, but that has its benefits, too, she said. The survival of the mission depends on the volunteer involvement of everyone, she added.
Hand helped organize a group of about 15 people last summer to repaint the interior of the church, and families rotate vacuuming, cleaning, setting up chairs and preparing the sanctuary area each Sunday.
"The kids learn that it’s their obligation to support their church," Hand said.
It will likely be five to 10 years before Blessed Theodore Romzha Mission is ready to become a parish, according to Father Izer.
Nevertheless, nine months ago, the mission purchased land for a future church in Wasilla; the site is near East Seldon Road and North Wasilla-Fishhook Road.
Gloria Tokar said having a church of their own is important to Eastern-rite Catholics because the method of worship is very sensual and guided by the church’s atmosphere — the colors, the icons and symbols — which is meant to conjure the "beauty of heaven."
"The American dream is, like, owning your own home," Tokar said. "For a Byzantine Catholic, it’s having your own church, your own place of worship where you can contemplate God and your religion."
Art Hippler, a retired university professor, spent about a decade making the 104-mile round trip from his Wasilla home to Anchorage’s St. Nicholas of Myra Parish.
It was a worthwhile burden though, Hippler said, because the Eastern-rite Divine Liturgy is "profound, interesting, very reverent" as opposed to the "pretty sloppy and politically correct and essentially a childish version" of liturgy that he feels exists throughout the archdiocese’s Roman Catholic churches.
Now, with his wife and 17-year-old daughter, he drives only about six miles for Sunday liturgy and has time afterward to stick around and visit with other parishioners.
Establishing a parish in the Matanuska Valley was a dream of the late Right Reverend Mitered Archpriest Michael Artim, who came to Anchorage’s St. Nicholas of Myra in 1964 when it served only ten families and had less than $20 in the bank, according to Father Izer.
As the parish matured, some St. Nicholas families moved to the Valley, and by 2001, a dozen were living there. The parish soon launched the "outreach" in Wasilla to accommodate them.
Father Artim died in 2001 at the age of 85. He bequeathed funds and furniture from his private home-chapel to the mission’s development.
Now, Father Izer wears one of Father Artim’s vestments on Sunday, reads from his Book of the Gospels and is surrounded by Father Artim’s chapel furniture when he celebrates Divine Liturgy for the slowly growing mission.
Father Artim "saw a vision of the church spreading," Father Izer said.
Proselytizing who? Does that mean in your view there are huge areas of Alaska that are off. limits or is it your view that the Eastern rites in general should not be encouraged to expand period.
Firstly because Alaska is within the traditional Orthodox lands in which Rome promised not to proselytize, certainly the eastern churches SHOULD evangelize, but they should not evangelize to already baptized Orthodox, and the solution if the (orthodox) church in Alaska is not being active enough in evangelizing that church should be encouraged to do so.
Exapnding the Eastern churches is also quite loaded, because the Eastern Churches specifically represent what Rome did when it concured Orthodox lands, forced the people to accept the pope, and the filioque, but did not require they adhere to the Latin liturgy, dress, or customs regarding the clergy.
On the terrorory of the 49 contiguous states there isn't a strong argument as to who can and cannot be said to be canonical (even within the Orthodox church), however Alaska was part of Russia and was preached to extensivly by the Orthodox church, the first Orthodox churches on the continent were in Alaska. Expanding the Unia there creates problems for any sort of reunion, and is certainly against the spirit of the agreement not to proselytize in Orthodox lands.
If by "proselytizing" you mean taretting Orthodox for conversion, where's your evidence? You've been asked this repeatedly: why don't you answer?
Germany, Austria, western Poland, Czech republic. All areas that have been historically Catholic, not Orthodox.
petitioning them to play by a set of rules you openly reject is dishonest
Yes, I reject the rules that say that certain areas are "traditionally Orthodox" and any Catholic presence in those areas is "proselytism", while on the other hand there are no areas that are "traditionally Catholic" and aggressive Orthodox evangelism in those areas is simply bearing the true Gospel to the heterodox.
It's the Brezhnev Doctrine applied to Christianity: "What's Orthodox is Orthodox, what's Catholic is negotiable."
Certainly Alaska as it was when within the Russian Empire falls into the catagory of Traditional Orthodox lands.
Also yes I feel that Eastern Rite churches represent enough of a problem against reunion in their current numbers, and should be encouraged not to be setting up new parishes.
Are you saying that Byzantine Catholics have no right to have churches in the state of Alaska?
That's hardly the Orthodox perspective, nor the one which was agreed to.
There are CLEAR examples of proseyitsm since that agreement was made where churches have been seized and the faithful told to convert or get out. As you point out there is a difference between building a church to preach to protestants and heterodox, and building one to take away Catholics. For instance it stands to reason some Orthodox visit Rome, and or have moved there, it's not proselytizing for the tiny community there to have it's church.
This is a separate issue from the unia however, which were deliberatly created to make it easy to convert Orthodox to Rome.
Not according to the agreements which the Latin church has made with the Orthodox no.
Early Missions (1767-1900)
1741 Divine Liturgy celebrated on a Russian ship off the coast of Alaska.
1767 A community of Orthodox Greeks establishes itself in New Smyrna, Florida.
1794 Missionaries, including St. Herman of Alaska, arrive at Kodiak Island, bringing Orthodoxy to Russian Alaska.
1796 Martyrdom of Juvenaly of Alaska.
1799 Ioasaph (Bolotov) consecrated in Irkutsk as first bishop for Alaska, but dies in a shipwreck during his return.
1816 Martyrdom of Peter the Aleut near San Francisco.
1817 Russian colony of Fort Ross established 60 miles from San Francisco.
1824 Fr. John Veniaminov comes to Unalaska, Alaska.
1825 First native priest, Jacob Netsvetov.
1834 Fr. John Veniaminov moves to Sitka, Alaska; liturgy and catechism translated into Aleut.
1836 Imperial ukaz regarding Alaskan education issued from Czar Nicholas I that students were to become faithful members of the Orthodox Church, loyal subjects of the Czar, and loyal citizens; Fr. John Veniaminov returns to Russia.
1837 Death of St. Herman of Alaska on Spruce Island.
1840 Consecration of Fr. John Veniaminov as bishop with the name Innocent.
1841 Return of St. Innocent of Alaska to Sitka; sale of Fort Ross property to an American citizen; pastoral school established in Sitka.
1844 Formation of seminary in Sitka.
1848 Consecration of St. Michael Cathedral in Sitka.
1850 Alaskan episcopal see and seminary moved to Yakutsk, Russia.
1858 Peter (Sysakoff) consecrated as auxiliary bishop for Alaska with Innocent's primary see moved to Yakutsk.
1864 Holy Trinity Church, first Orthodox parish established on United States soil in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Greeks.
1867 Alaska purchased by the United States from Russia; Bp. Paul (Popov) succeeds Bp. Peter.
1868 First Russian parish established in US territory in San Francisco, California; St. Innocent of Alaska becomes Metropolitan of Moscow.
1870 Diocese of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska formed by the Church of Russia with Bp. John (Metropolsky) as ruling hierarch.
1872 See of the Aleutians diocese moved to San Francisco, placing it outside the defined boundaries of the diocese (i.e., Alaska).
1876 Bp. John (Metropolsky) recalled to Russia.
1879 Bp. Nestor (Zakkis) succeeds John (Metropolsky).
1882 Bp. Nestor (Zakkis) drowns in the Bering Sea.
1888 Bp. Vladimir (Sokolovsky) becomes Bishop of the Aleutians and Alaska; ordination of first American-born Orthodox priest, Fr. Sebastian Dabovich.
1891 Fr. Alexis Toth, a Uniate priest, petitions to be received along with his parish in Minneapolis into the Russian Church; Bp. Nicholas (Adoratsky) assigned as Bishop of Alaska but is transferred before taking up his post; Nicholas (Ziorov) becomes ruling bishop of the Alaskan diocese.
1892 Fr. Alexis Toth and his parish in Minneapolis received into the Russian Church; Carpatho-Russian Uniate parishes in Illinois, Connecticut, and several Pennsylvania soon follow suit; first Serbian parish established in Jackson, California; Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox parish founded in New York; first American-born person ordained, Fr. Sebastian Dabovich.
1895 First Syrian parish in Brooklyn, New York, founded by St. Raphael of Brooklyn; first clergy conference, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
1896 Bp. Nicholas (Ziorov) reports to the Holy Synod of Russia that "the commemoration of the Emperor and the Reigning House during the divine services brings forth dismay and apprehension among Orthodox in America of non-Russian backgound"; St. Alexander Hotovitsky appointed as rector in New York.
1898 Bp. Nicholas (Ziorov) returns to Russia; Tikhon (Belavin) becomes Bishop of the Aleutians and Alaska.
[edit]
Beyond Alaska (1900-1918)
1900 Name of Russian mission diocese changed from the Aleutian Islands and Alaska to the Aleutian Islands and North America, thus expanding its territorial boundaries.
1901 First Orthodox church in Canada, in Vostok, Alberta.
1902 Building of St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York.
1904 Raphael (Hawaweeny) consecrated as Bishop of Brooklyn, becoming the first Orthodox bishop to be consecrated in America; Innocent (Pustinsky) consecrated as Bishop of Alaska; first Romanian parish founded in Cleveland, Ohio.
1905 St. Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery (South Canaan, Pennsylvania) founded; Bp. Tikhon (Belavin) raised to the rank of archbishop; seminary opened in Minneapolis; Russian Orthodox see transferred to New York; Fr. Sebastian Dabovich elevated to archimandrite and given charge over Serbian parishes by Tikhon.
1906 In an ukaze dated January 27, addressed to Archbishop Tikhon, the Holy Synod of Russia confirmed the practice of commemorating the American president by name, and not the Russan Tsar, during divine services; blessing of St. Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery by hierarchs Tikhon, Raphael and Innocent; 1st All-American Sobor held in Mayfield, PA, at which the name of the Russian mission was declared to be The Russian Orthodox Greek-Catholic Church in North America under the Hierarchy of the Russian Church; translation of Service Book by Isabel Hapgood.
1907 Abp. Tikhon (Belavin) returns to Russia and is succeeded in his see by Platon (Rozhdestvensky) as Archbishop of the Aleutians and North America; Uniate Bp. Stephen Ortinsky sent to the US by Rome to stem the tide of Uniate returns to Orthodoxy; Papal decree Ea Semper issued, mandating all Uniate priests in American be celibate; first Sunday of Orthodoxy service in New York; first Bulgarian parish in Madison, Illinois.
1908 Church of Constantinople gives care for Greek Orthodox parishes in the US to the Church of Greece; first Albanian parish in Boston.
1909 Bp. Innocent (Pustinsky) transferred to Russia, succeeded by Alexander (Nemolovsky) as Bishop of Alaska; death of Fr. Alexis Toth.
1911 Minneapolis seminary transferred to Tenafly, New Jersey.
1913 Serbian clergy come under Church of Serbia.
1914 Abp. Platon (Rozhdestvensky) recalled to Russia and made bishop of Kishinev, after having received 72 communities (mainly ex-Uniate Carpatho-Russians) into Orthodoxy during his rule; Antiochian Metr. Germanos (Shehadi) of Zahle comes to US to organize parishes without the approval of his synod.
1915 Death of St. Raphael of Brooklyn; Abp. Evdokim (Meschersky) succeeds Platon; first monastery for women in Springfield, Vermont.
1916 Consecration of Philip (Stavitsky) of Sitka; Alexander (Nemolovsky) appointed Bishop of Canada with his see in Winnipeg.
1917 Ex-Uniate priest Alexander Dzubay consecrated with the name Stephen as Bishop of Pittsburgh; Archim. Aftimios (Ofiesh) consecrated as Bishop of Brooklyn; St. Tikhon (Belavin) elected Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
[edit]
Revolution and Rivalry (1918-1943)
1918 The Bolshevik Revolution throws the Church of Russia into chaos, effectively stranding the fledgling Russian mission in America.
OK let me bring this to your attention.
http://www.antiochian.org/western-rite
A few tidbits from the main page
"A Western Rite parish is to be distinguished from the more usual Eastern or Byzantine Rite parishes. When the Latin Church in the west separated itself from the unity of the Orthodox Church, the venerable and ancient Western liturgy was lost to the Church. In the Nineteenth Century, when the Papal claims of supremacy culminated in the novel doctrine of “papal infallibility,” the Orthodox Church was approached by Westerners seeking the apostolic purity of the ancient, unchanging Orthodox Faith wherein the Bishop of Rome would be considered to have primacy of honor. They would utilize their own familiar and theologically Orthodox liturgical forms, while coincidentally restoring the Western liturgy to the Orthodox Church"
"The Holy Synod of Moscow responded by approving the restored form of the Western Liturgy, the ancient Liturgy of St. Gregory the Great. This is the oldest Orthodox liturgy of the undivided Church still in use. The balance was struck involving the Eastern and Western traditions of Orthodoxy. In the Twentieth Century, the Patriarch of Antioch established the Western Rite Vicariate for North America . The Orthodox Church reclaimed what was rightfully hers"
"Although still few in numbers, Western Rite Orthodoxy exists throughout the world, and in the United States the work is blessed by His Eminence, Metropolitan P HILIP Saliba through the work Bishop Basil, his Archepiscopal Vicar, and the Very Rev. Paul W. S. Schneirla, who serves as the Vicar-General of the Vicariate. Western Rite Orthodoxy has proven itself to be an excellent missionary out-reach to those who seek the assurance of the Orthodox Catholic Faith and who find themselves better rooted in their own western spiritual ethos than the Byzantine character of the eastern rites"
"More precisely, the Western Rite, as approved by the Antiochian Archdiocese is a theologically corrected form of worship used by the Latin Church (Roman) or the Anglican Communion. In some Western Rite congregations, the Liturgy may be a Latin or English form of pre-Vatican-II Roman Catholic worship. (In France , all native French Orthodox Christians, who number in the thousands, use this form of worship). Other Western Rite parishes use a liturgy based on the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Modifications, while important, would not be terrible noticeable to even the most regular worshippers. Two of these alterations include the deletion of the filioque (“and the Son”) in the Nicene Creed and the addition of a stronger epiclesis in the eucharistic prayer said by the priest at the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ"
" addition to these two changes, the Western Rite includes other indiscernible changes that Latin Roman Catholics and most Anglo-Catholics (High Church Episcopalians) would find to be either familiar or certainly acceptable. As some Latin Rite Roman Catholic parishes as well as Protestant Churches continue their decline by denial of basic Catholic faith, doctrine and worship by turning to inclusive language liturgies, which refer to God as mother (to name but one example) and promulgate woman “priests,” many traditional Catholic Christians of both the Roman and Anglican backgrounds are turning to the Orthodox Catholic Church. "
Now Cardinal Kasper is fully aware of this situation and has infact called several people on this. For the record I have friends that are of this rite. They are great Christians and I have much in common with them. But why do they have a Church in Shreveport Louisiana. Why is it that they are expanding or certaintly plan to expand to other cities that all ready have a Orthodox Church or don't have Orthodox at all. I mean I have no problem with these in many ways but the Eastern Church's should not be hampered if this is being allowed.
Where are the "traditionally Catholic areas" where the Orthodox are not establishing eparchies, not building churches, and are refusing to proselytize Catholics?
Actually, the parish has about 16 FAMILIES. The Hands have eight children, all of whom attend. The oldest boy, Chet, is one of the Lectors.
There is no Orthodox parish in Wasilla that I know of. There is one in Anchorage. Although there are a lot of Russians in the Wasilla area, I don't know where they go to church.
Most of the newer arrivals at Bl. Theodore are "refugees" from the RC churches in the area. The Anchorage archdiocese is notoriously liberal, and the services are virtual travesties.
Don't get me started...
as i mentioned proselytizing and uniatism are two separate issues.
the orthodox do not proseytize in catholic lands, though they do build some churches.
i will note there is a problem with proselytizing in south america as well but not on the part of the orthodox. Catholic bishops are outraged at protestants proselytizing in these lands, for the same reason the orthodox are outraged at this in orthodox lands.
See post #30.
This is an interesting discussion and I hope it continues. I have to admit I have a little exasperation with the Orthodox right now. It seems we(Roman Catholic and those in communion with her) are trying to always expand our knowledge and spirtuality from the Fathers and others from the East while I am still having to defend St Augustine's Orthodoxy to my Orthodox friends for heavens sake as well as believe it not the validity of our sacraments. I have noticed that the level of anti Catholic rethoric from some(not all) converts to Orthodoxy is rising. Again its just a general trend I am noticing in internet forums etc. That is not helping any sort of reunion if this is indicative of a new emerging attitude.
I guess I feel a need to stick up for the Eastern rite because I often sense there viewed as something horrid by the Orthodox. LEt me clear on the Vatican stance. I think this is instructive and show there is no such agreement for Eastern Church not to be able to go into "Orthodox Lands"
"CARDINAL SAYS RUSSIAN ORTHODOX HAVE LED DIALOGUE INTO 'BLIND
ALLEY'
by John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican's top ecumenist, Cardinal Walter Kasper, said
the Russian Orthodox Church has led ecumenical dialogue into a "blind alley" with its
objections to Catholic Church activities in a predominantly Orthodox country.
Such territorial claims are more ideological than theological and eventually lead to
an "ecclesial heresy" that sees church mission confined by cultural and ethnic
identities, Cardinal Kasper said.
"As long as the Russian Orthodox Church is anchored to these ideological positions, it
cannot begin a constructive dialogue with modern society and with the Catholic
Church," the cardinal said.
Cardinal Kasper made the comments, the bluntest by a Vatican official on the
Catholic-Orthodox impasse, in a lengthy article published in the March 16 edition of
"La Civilta Cattolica" ("Catholic Civilization"), an influential Jesuit magazine.
Despite Orthodox objections to the increasing Catholic presence in post-communist
Russia, in February Pope John Paul II created four Catholic dioceses in Russian
territory. Defended by the Vatican as a normal administrative move, it was denounced
by the Russian Orthodox as further evidence of Catholic "proselytism" in an Orthodox
land.
Cardinal Kasper emphasized that the church's pastors have no intention of bringing
Orthodox believers into the Catholic Church. But he said the Orthodox have widened
the definition of proselytism to include any Catholic-sponsored appeal to the many
nonbelievers in Russia.
This is something the Catholic Church cannot accept, because it violates the church's
missionary identity, he said. It also reflects badly on the Orthodox Church's own
pastoral efforts, he said.
"The Orthodox Church sees its own pastoral and evangelizing weakness and therefore
fears a Catholic presence that is more effective at a pastoral level, although much
smaller in numbers," he said.
The Orthodox objections are basically ideological, in that they identify their church
with the Russian culture, Cardinal Kasper said.
"(The Orthodox Church) is defending not only a Russian reality that no longer exists,
but also a relationship between church and people or church and culture that is
problematic on a theological level," he said.
Cardinal Kasper rejected the Orthodox idea of "canonical territory" that would
reserve Russia to the Orthodox Church. He said the church instituted by Christ is
universal and was never subdivided into territorial spheres of influence.
He said, however, that in instituting the four Russian dioceses, the pope was careful
to respect Orthodox sensibilities and the ancient principle of "one city-one bishop,"
by naming the dioceses for saints and not for the cities themselves.
Cardinal Kasper repeated the Vatican's invitation for the Russian Orthodox Church to
provide concrete cases of Catholic proselytism among Orthodox believers --
something that has never been done, he said.
The cardinal acknowledged that "some Catholics are certainly too zealous," but he said
that was true of individuals in every church.
He insisted that the Catholic Church was not employing a "strategy" to "try to exploit
the current weakness of the Orthodox churches and turn Russia into a Catholic
country."
The cardinal said that at an individual level, an occasional Orthodox Christian may
decide to join the Catholic Church. But such cases are rare and must be respected for
reasons of religious freedom, he said.
In the end, Cardinal Kasper said, the Russian Orthodox decision to freeze dialogue
will prove counterproductive.
"By interrupting the dialogue, the Russian Orthodox Church is damaging itself and its
own interests above all" because it is strengthening extremists instead of moderate
forces, he said.
"It would do better to resume dialogue with the Catholic Church instead of
interrupting it and pull itself out of the blind alley in which it finds itself ... in order
to assume the place it deserves in today's world, especially in a Europe that is
unifying," he said.
He said the Catholic Church was ready to cooperate and promote this type of dialogue
Thanks for that clarification. My numbers were far from accurate. The point, though, is that they are not raiding the Orthodox; they are serving the spiritual needs of Catholics.
1. It seems they are using an Eastern Rite parish to schism from the local Latin Rite Bishop (That's not how these things should be done).
2. If they are taking care to make sure that the local Orthodox population is not brought into the church, or to at least disuade them then it would indeed not be proselytism, though expanding unia in general does little to foster current dialogue.
What is the date of that article? Last I'd heard Kasper was fairly optimistic...
If they are viewed as horrid by the Orthodox it's because they were violently forced upon the orthodox and detractors paid in blood, that will generally give something a bad stigma.
Also most Unia are fairly Latin Rite in comparison to Orthodox churches, and the Orthodox churches in America for instance which developed from Unia immigrants definitly showcase this Latinized traditions.
And, all this time I thought it was just some narrow minded Baptist or Pentecostal or non- Christian Freepers who started Flame Wars on Threads.
Now, I have seen these Comments going back from forth and a virtual Flame War ready to erupt at any point of time on this Thread from an unlikely source.
I was never aware that there are Orthodox who have such a negative attitude against Catholicism and the Catholic Church.
In a certain country, that I am acquainted with I know of a number of Orthodox Eastern Rite Christians who regularly enter the Latin Rite Catholic Church and the Eastern Rite Catholic Church every Easter.
It is not a big deal as is being made out here. I guess it is only in the United States and in some parts of Europe that you have some Orthodox who still have issues with the Catholic Church.
If I was Orthodox, I would have no problems in becoming a Catholic since I know now that the Catholic Church is the only Church that has the fullness of the Christian Faith.
This back and forth on this Thread makes me sick to my guts specially, the attacks I have observed on some Catholic Freepers.
If all of us believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and venerate Our Lady as the Mother of God which is what Catholics and Orthodox believe -- I mean what's the big deal in evangelizing.
Evangelization by the Catholic Church in some Orthodox areas is being portrayed as some evil activity or activity by some Hungry Pack of Wolves or Werewolves so to speak.
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