Parish Council Meeting

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Last night we had our monthly parish council meeting. As has been the custom here I begin the meeting with a little segment called pastor’s time. I have used this time in the past for various things and last night I decided to use a quote that I heard many years ago and I think we can use in the church. Now this quote is not from Scripture or even from a church father. The quote is from Margaret Meade a Sociologist.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world: indeed it is the only thing that ever has.

We are a small church but a faithful church and I believe that if we truly pray and work together we can indeed change the world. We need to pray for peace, for our leaders, for those who have been placed above us in leadership positions in the church and in the world. If we hold the church and the world in prayer, we can make a change. Let’s try, what do we have to loose.

Statement from Catholic-Orthodox Panel

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Even small steps are good steps. (ed.)
“They Commend Dialogue to the Prayers of the Faithful”
VATICAN CITY, OCT 15, 2007 (ZENIT.org).- Here is the text of a statement from the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox, released by the Vatican press office after the 10th plenary assembly meeting of the panel ended on Sunday.
The meeting was held Oct. 8-14 in Ravenna, Italy.
* * *
The 10th meeting of the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church met in Ravenna, Italy, a city marked by its historical and artistic monuments, many from the Byzantine era. The meeting took place from Oct. 8-14, 2007, generously hosted by the Archdiocese of Ravenna-Cervia.
Twenty seven of the 30 Catholic members (cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests and lay theologians) were present. The Orthodox members (metropolitans, bishops; priests and lay theologians) represented the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Patriarchate of Antioch, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Patriarchate of Moscow, the Patriarchate of Serbia, the Patriarchate of Romania, the Patriarchate of Georgia, the Church of Cyprus, the Church of Greece, the Church of Poland, the Church of Albania, the Church of Czech Lands and Slovakia, the Church of Finland and the Apostolic Church of Estonia. The representatives of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria were unable to attend.
The commission worked under the direction of the two co-presidents, Cardinal Walter Kasper and Metropolitan John of Pergamon, helped by the two co-secretaries, Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima, (Ecumenical Patriarchate) and Monsignor Eleuterio Fortino from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
The session began in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe on the evening of Oct. 8, with the celebration of Vespers, presided over by the Archbishop of Ravenna, the Most Reverend Giuseppe Verucchi, and with a prayer on the part of the Orthodox members.
In addressing those present, the Archbishop of Ravenna stated: “We are happy that you are here. You have the prayers of our two contemplative communities, of the religious men and women, the priests and the parish communities. While you are busy with the dialogue, searching for the path that will lead us closer to full communion, we will not disturb you, but we will embrace you with our affection and prayer.”
The commission was welcomed in the prefecture by the Prefect, Her Excellency Floriana De Sanctis, who expressed the hope that “the desire for dialogue, to understand and to be understood, which characterizes the Joint Commission might be a sign copied by all of us in our daily lives”. Also present at this meeting were the mayor of the city, the president of the region and the president of the province, together with other civil authorities.
The commission has been working on the theme of “The Ecclesiological and Canonical Consequences of the Sacramental Nature of the Church: Ecclesial Communion, Conciliarity and Authority in the Church.” This study had already begun in the previous session in Belgrade, from Sept. 18-25, 2006, on the basis of a draft elaborated by the Joint Coordinating Committee in Moscow in 1990, but which had not yet been discussed in plenary session. At this meeting this study has been completed and an agreed common document was approved. The document offers a solid basis for the future work of the commission.
On the first day of the meeting, as is customary in this commission, the Roman Catholic and Orthodox members met separately to coordinate their work. At the Orthodox meeting, the delegate of the Moscow Patriarchate presented a decision of that Church to withdraw from the meeting because of the presence of delegates from the Church of Estonia, declared “autonomous” by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a status not recognized by the Patriarchate of Moscow, and in spite of the fact that the Ecumenical Patriarchate with the agreement of all the Orthodox members offered a compromise that would have acknowledged the Moscow Patriarchate’s non-recognition of the Autonomous Church of Estonia.
The theme for the next plenary session will be: “The role of the Bishop of Rome in the communion of the Church in the first millennium.”
The place and time for the next Coordinating Committee will be decided at a later date.
The 10th plenary session ended with prayer. On Saturday, Oct. 13, the Catholic members celebrated the Eucharist in the Cathedral of Ravenna, in the presence of the Orthodox members. On Sunday, Oct. 14, the Orthodox members celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Basilica of St. Vitalis, in the presence of the Catholic members. On both of these occasions the Archbishop of Ravenna and members of the clergy and laity of Ravenna attended.
The meeting of the Joint Commission was marked by a spirit of friendship and trustful collaboration. The members of the commission greatly appreciated the generous hospitality of the Archdiocese of Ravenna, and they strongly commend the continuing work of the dialogue to the prayers of the faithful.
Ravenna, Italy, Oct. 14, 2007

Philadelphia

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Well we arrived safe and sound late last night in the City of Brotherly love. We are meeting in about 5 minutes for some breakfast then off to the church for a round of meetings. We are here for the Deanery Assembly of the Eastern Deanery of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese. A time to catch up with the other churches and the Archbishop and a time for fellowship. We are supposed to be on the road by 3:30 so figure about five hours to get home. I am sure I will be exhausted tomorrow. More latter…

Podcast News

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Well some news from the Podcast front. The Shepherd of the Souls podcast as well as the Facing East Podcast have been picked up by the Orthodox Christian Network to be aired on their stations the Ark and the Rudder. Not sure when the broadcast will start and the shows will still be available on iTunes and the blogs but this is exciting. You can find both internet radio stations here. In a related story one of my homilies has been selected to be included in the”theologically thinking” segment on both stations as well. You can hear it starting the week of the 26th of October. I have begun two groups on Facebook for the shows so you can join and keep in touch with all that is going on.
There are not many Orthodox Podcasters out there and we need to change that. Podcasting is easy to do and is not a large investment in equipment. We need to claim the internet for good and begin to use this medium for evangelization. Let us make the effort to Blog more and perhaps start one or two more podcasts.

Sunday Homily

Posted on by Fr. Peter
No homily to post this week. I have a guest preacher today so I get the week off. Today is National Fallen Firefighter Memorial Sunday and I am hosting the fire departments from the Towns of Southbridge and Dudley, Massachusetts. The chaplain from Southbridge will be preaching.
As a way of remembrance I thought I would post the firefighters prayer.

When I am called to duty, God, whenever flames may rage;
Give me strength to save some life, whatever be its age.
Help me embrace a little child before it is too late
Or save and older person from the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert and hear the weakest shout,
And quickly and efficiently to put the fire out.
I want to fill my calling and to give the best in me,
To guard my every neighbor and to protect his property.
And if, according to my fate, I am to loose my life;
Please bless with your protecting hand my children and my wife.

The Rosary

Posted on by Fr. Peter
As a convert to Orthodoxy I still hold to some of the “old” catholic practices of my youth. Well not really of my youth but of mu younger days. I am speaking of the Rosary. A few weeks ago I began a search for how the Rosary figured in the history of the Orthodox Church. It seems that the Rosary is some for or another has been part of Orthodoxy for many many decades. So I have begun researching this and will be writing an article in the near future.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a talk given by Greg Willits of the Rosary Army Podcast in Tiverton, Rhode Island. Greg and his wife Jennifer have been running this apostolate out of thier home for a few years and they make knotted twine rosaries very much like our Orthodox prayer rope. They are faithful Catholic Christians raising a family in this crazy world. If you get a chance take a listen to their podcast. It was not long ago that we rejoiced in the news that Jennifer was pregnant with another child. In their last episode they announced it appears that the child did not survive and Jennifer had a miscarriage. Please pray for them as they come to grips with this news.
The talk was hosted by Fr. Jay Finelli another podcaster. As I begin to Podcast I start to listen to others to see what they are up to and it is nice to meet the folks from behind the microphone. We are all trying to convert the world and maybe bring a little sanity to this crazy world. Orthodox, Catholic it does not matter we are all in this together.

Busy Day

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Yesterday morning I was about to write a post about how busy the day was going to be when the door bell rang at 8:15am and the day began. We had a contractor come by to start the process of assessing the needs of the church heating system. I hope this will not be a long process as I am sure one of these days it will get cold here but for now we are all set.
Our problem is we have an old building with little or no insulation and a dome on the roof that is maybe two stories high. As well all remember from science class, heat rises, so I bet if I could get seats up in the dome it would be nice and warm up there. So we have the people who know what they are doing come and give us some help. So far things have been great. Watch for more information on that.
On Friday’s I usually head off to the Fire House for some lunch. I did my usual with a brief stop at town hall to pick up a permit for the function we have here at the church tonight. I spent a few hours with the guys talking about work place stress and then I returned back to the office to clean off my desk. I don’t know why I say that as it never gets cleaned off. I seem to just the pile from one side of the desk to the other, but it makes me feel like I am doing something.
Got to bed early as today promises to be busy and as is the usual case at 11:30pm we caught a three alarm fire. So I was off again. Back in bed by 2am but could not get to sleep so I read for a little bit then dozed off.
Today I am off to a talk in Tiverton, Rhode Island and some laundry. Must produce the bulletin for tomorrow’s Liturgy and prepare for that. Tomorrow is National Fallen Fire Fighters Sunday and the chaplain from the town and I are hosting our two departments here for Liturgy and some grub after. Please remember your Fire Fighter’s and other Public Safety folks tomorrow and everyday.
Oh by the way, the Red Sox lead the series 2-0 over the Angels. They are off to the West Coast now to finish the job. The Tribe in Cleveland is doing their best to get rid of the Yankees for us so all looks well. I do not follow the other side but it sounds like the Rockies are burning up the field.
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