Year: 2007

Christian Witness, Perspective, Political

Prosecuting small Christian communities in Turkey

This just off the RSS feed from the BBC: Turkish Christian priest abducted

A priest from Turkey’s Syriac Christian community has been kidnapped in the country’s south-east, officials say.

Edip Daniel Savci’s car was reportedly found abandoned near Midyat town in Mardin province on Wednesday.

A local clergyman had received a phone call demanding a ransom for his release, the Anatolia news agency said.

Attacks on Turkey’s Christian minority have increased recently. A Catholic priest was shot dead last year and three Protestants were killed in April.

Five men accused of the attack on the Protestant missionaries went on trial in the town of Malatya last week.

Turkish police are working to secure the release of the missing priest, security officials said.

Turkey’s Syriac Christian community numbers an estimated 25,000 people and is based mainly in Mardin, in the largely Kurdish south-east, and in Istanbul.

Syriac Christians are one of the faith’s oldest denominations and are found in modern Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Touchstone had a great article about the Suriani in March 2006. It is a small community that has mostly fled the Middle East due to persecution.

This follows on the vandalism that occured at the Halki Chapel of the Transfiguration which is part of the Theological School of Halki (closed by the Turks so that no Orthodox clergy might be trained). See: Halki’s Chapel of the Transfiguration left in ruins from Asia News.

Forest guards began demolition work on the chapel without warning, Only the immediate protest of the prior of Haliki and Metropolitan Meliton avoided its total destruction. A Church in Kadikoy, ancient Calcedonia is also targeted by vandals…

Those Turks – such great democrats, such an open and free society, protectors of the rights of all minorities, and wonderful American allies who fight against participate in terrorism.

Christian Witness

An ad orientem Thanksgiving

I had the pleasure of attending our local ecumenical group’s Thanksgiving prayer service.

The service was held at St. Peter’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Watervliet, NY.

The pastor, Fr. Bedros, developed the service based on the Armenian Church’s Evening Service.

The gathered clergy faced the altar throughout the service, excepting the readings and the homily.

It was amazing.

PNCC, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Methodist pastors all prayed ad orientem, facing liturgical east. For every prayer the Armenian deacon, facing the congregation, chanted the response. The psalms were prayed in stanzas, each stanza alternating between those seated to the left and right. The choir was simply beautiful.

Two other items of note. The Rev. Garen Gdanian, the retired pastor of St. Peter’s, had the most amazingly beautiful cope. Fr. Garen chanted the Gospel, a true blessing to hear. The other is, as always, the wonderful Armenian food and our fellowship which topped off the event.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC,

Heard of, commented on…

A few things heard out and about with my comments.

What would you do?

Let’s say that you have a small PNCC parish with Holy Mass in the Polish language every Sunday because some of your parishioners have requested it (you also have Holy Mass in the English language).

Your typical attendance at this Holy Mass is about 40 to 60 people.

Now let’s say that you have a neighboring Roman Catholic parish that’s predominantly Polish-American. It is a large parish, with several thousand parishioners.

There is a core group of people who attend this Holy Mass at your PNCC parish and there are others who come and go. One Sunday a woman you do not know shows up for this Holy Mass. You don’t pay much attention, you welcome everyone.

Several Sundays later almost no one shows up for that Holy Mass.

What happened?

Well, the woman that showed up one Sunday was a Sister sent over by your neighboring Roman Catholic pastor. She attended Holy Mass for the express purpose of taking down the names of all the folks attending your Polish language Holy Mass. Later she personally visited each person/family that had attended Holy Mass in your parish and expressly told them that if they continue to attend Holy Mass at the local PNCC parish they were going to Hell (yes, literally).

Two months later those folks begin to wander back to the PNCC parish.

Now in my opinion the local R.C. pastor is not all that concerned about the eternal salvation of those 40 to 60 people. Frankly the approach taken is bad theology and bad practice.

Such an episode would be sad and unfortunate. Thankfully it is becoming less and less common.

In my experience this attitude toward PNCC parishes exists among older R.C. clergy who are in predominantly Polish-American parishes. The letters I personally received, marked with the return address of the Albany R.C. Diocese’s chancery, were threatening in a silly manner.

As I said, thankfully this doesn’t occur so much anymore.

There are traditionally Polish R.C. parishes and PNCC parishes that get along great (most in Buffalo, N.Y. and in Hamtramck for example).

On the whole the R.C. parishes that surround my parish are welcoming, open, and positive. They have supported many of our events and we support theirs. Those I have visited for family funerals have welcomed me.

People may ask about the dialog between the PNCC and the R.C. Church. Oddball examples like the one noted above are one of the very reasons dialog is necessary. Unless we talk any good that exists will be drowned out by the loudness of such unfortunate events.

So to the question: What would you do? I say pray and talk.

That full, immediate, and universal thing

The Young Fogey had a post on Ecclesiastical bibs and bobs. In it he notes, as he has elsewhere, on non-compliance among R.C. Bishops with the Bishop of Rome’s recent Motu Proprio.

At a recent gathering I heard R.C. clergy confirm that. Their Bishop has said in effect ‘no Latin masses.’

I previously noted that the Bishop of Rome’s exercise of full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction is a problem in ecumenical circles. No one, excepting the R.C. Church, believes that such power exists.

Thinking on this it occurred to me that the negative “non serviam” reaction of U.S. and Western European Bishops (the Central and Eastern ones will catch up soon) is a huge ecumenical problem as well.

The Bishop of Rome actually does believe and teach as his Church believes and teaches, but his brother bishops do not accept such teaching. They do not believe what they proclaim vis-í -vis the Pope.

How does this play out?

For sake of argument say that a Church were to come into union with the R.C. Church. That Church would have to accept that the Pope has full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction (unless the R.C. Church redefines itself – not likely). That Church might even see that, as some Roman Catholics posit, the Pope’s full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction is a rock against a changing world. That full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction is a protective and positive thing.

The Church coming into union with Rome accepts all that. Thus the dilemma.

If the Church coming into union accepts all that, then that Church will quickly find that a majority of its brother Bishops actively reject what they themselves have accepted. They will be in conflict (at least in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Western Europe) with their fellow believers. They will be stuck between their neighbors day-to-day dismissal of the Pope and their adherence to what they proclaimed in achieving unity. Further, if they were to rely on the protection of the Pope as to the terms and conditions of their union, they would quickly find that the Pope could do little to help them. Their neighbors day-to-day actions would wear them down while they await the Pope’s protection (the bureaucracy would tie that up for two to three Papacies).

On the other hand, if the Church coming into union rejects all that, except on paper, expecting to live from day-to-day like the majority of its fellow R.C.’s do, then that Church lied to attain unity. That’s simply disingenuous and not a basis for any real unity.

The argument could be made that there are always a few bad bishops. I can accept that. But in the case of the U.S. and Western Europe it would seem that those who stand as adhering to the Pope’s decrees are far fewer than those who give a wink and a nod.

Even among those who live in active unity with the Pope, someone like Archbishop Raymond L. Burke from St. Louis, what is the extent of their unity. Is it unity because they personally like the Pope’s direction? What if the Pope were to tell Absp. Burke that Masons are great and to lift the excommunications from St. Stan’s? In all cases, unity with the Pope is only as good as the person’s humility before his full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction.

The argument could be made that so many disagreeable bishops should not be the yardstick by which unity is measured. After all, look at the extent of the Arianism. It could not withstand the power of the Church.

True, but that was a Church governed by Councils, with universal agreement, and further backed by the political means to suppress disagreement.

So for unity, what value in proclaiming and confessing if the majority of those you are coming into union with do not actively believe or live that which they verbalize (beyond the Bishops look at the congregation)?

None really. Thus the problem and dilemma of full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction. Thus the major hurdle to unity.

So we pray for unity and catechize.

We all need to teach and to try to reform what is broken. Maybe that is the first and best move toward unity.

Homilies,

The Solemnity of Christ the King

“Amen, I say to you,—¨today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Behold the power of the impossible.

There was a criminal hanging on a cross. He was naked, with nails driven through His hands and feet. He was alone, abandoned by those who were His friends.

This criminal was charged with undermining governmental authority.

—Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”

A criminal, crucified along side other criminals, seditionists, thieves, murderers.

This criminal to whom another criminal, a thief turned and said:

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”—¨

Jesus the criminal who told Pilate:

“My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants (would) be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”

Pilate questioned Jesus, looking for an answer in his questions. The answer was given, Pilate ignored it.

The Chief Priests and elders, the soldiers, and the other thief reviled Jesus. They verbally abused Him while he was dying, all looking for a sign, for proof that He was the Messiah, the Christ. Only the cross was given, they looked right at the sign and missed it.

St. Dismas, the —good thief— wasn’t looking for a sign. He didn’t have any questions. He simply asked:

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

The cross is the sign of the impossible.

That God would join His immortality to humanity and offer Himself as a sacrifice, a sacrifice offered in the most horrific way, is impossible. That God who has and is all would deign to love us that much is impossible. That this criminal dying on a cross is our immortal, eternal King and God is impossible.

Yet, we are here.

Yet we kneel and pray in the manner He taught.

Yet we build churches and spread His Gospel.

My friends, brothers and sisters,

We are impossible. Our mere existence as a people of faith and our acceptance of all this is impossible.

But St. Paul tells us:

Let us give thanks to the Father,—¨who has made you fit to share—¨in the inheritance of the holy ones in light. —¨He delivered us from the power of darkness—¨and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,—¨in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Today we celebrate this Solemnity. We look into the eyes of our public servants, our government, our employers, our families and say, this criminal, on the cross, is our King.

We say that what is impossible has been made possible. The Father has done this.

We say that Jesus is the Everlasting of Ages, the One through Whom and by Whom everything came into being. He is the one in Whose image we are fashioned. He is our beginning and our destiny.

Brothers and sisters,

If you wear a cross, if you have one on the lapel of your jacket, look at it in the mirror tonight. Look at the cross on the wall of your kitchen, or living room, or bedroom and say out loud, You are my King and my God.

It will be hard at first, saying it out loud. But persist. Saying it out loud is the first step to proclaiming it out loud.

Doing good works and acts of charity is perfectly in keeping with our character as Christians. More than this however, we must engage in active proclamation, the preaching and teaching of Jesus Christ through our words.

Tell all that you meet: He is our King. His Kingdom is not of this world. Rather it is eternal and perfect. Beautiful and magnificent. God came to us, died for us; all so we could live with Him forever. Come join us.

Jesus answered Pilate:

“You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

We proclaim Him our King.

If we believe what we say then listen to His voice, proclaim His truth, tell of Him, teach others about Him, and follow Him.

Amen.