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Sunday

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Today is a very strange day for me. For the first time in the more than 2 years since I have been ordained, I am not celebrating the Divine Liturgy today. I am on a little vacation with my family in New Hampshire and I have been invited to participate in an ancient ceremony called the Kirking of the Tartans. This ceremony dates back to the time when the tartan was outlawed in Scotland and people would sneak a small piece into the church. At some point in the service, the minister would bless the small swatches. This is a very moving ceremony as it calls to mind a time when all was not free in Scotland. Although it has been many generations since my family lived in Scotland, it is still nice to keep up the old traditions.
Otherwise the time has been fun. Lots of rain yesterday but it did not dampen the excitement of the pipe bands, dancers, and others who have come from so far to participate in the activities of the weekend. It is also nice to be back at Loon Mountain. What a great place this is.
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Radio

Posted on by Fr. Peter
It would seem that your host and Fr. Greg might just be starting a radio ministry. The Council of Eastern Orthodox Churches here in Worcester has the ability to get some air time on a local station WCUW a public radio station. The time slot is 4:30-5:30 on Wednesday afternoons. This is hot and I think it will be great. We need to do some work on this so stay tuned for more information. Try and tune the station in 91.3 on FM. Post here if you can get it. Of course whatever we do we will make available on the web somewhere.
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Liturgy of St. James

Posted on by Fr. Peter
On Monday, October 23rd Fr. Greg and myself will celebrate the Liturgy of St. James. This rather involved liturgy is as old if not older than the present Divine Liturgy used in the Orthodox Church. The Liturgy of St. James is usually only celebrated on his feast day. Stay tuned for more information. If anyone has more information on the Liturgy, please feel free to post it here.
Blog

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Your Host is off for a little R&R; in New Hampshire. This weekend is the New Hampshire Highland Games at Loon Mountain in Lincoln, New Hampshire. Although the place I am staying advertises that is has wifi, we shall see. I might be able to post some pictures during the weekend if not, look for a complete report early next week.
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New Blog

Posted on by Fr. Peter

There is a new person in the world of blogging today. It would seem that Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston will begin to blog on his trip to Rome. A story in today’s Boston Globe speaks of the Cardinals desire to be in touch with people in Boston. O’Malley is off to Rome for meeting and to take possession of his titular church. No address was given for the site, but stay tuned. Welcome to blogging Your Eminence!

Blog

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I have begun research for a Ph.D. that I am pursuing in Romania. My area will be Church History, but more specifically American Church History. I have a theory that I would like to explore and see what comes of it. The theory is this. Communism affected the church in America both in it’s formation and in it’s decline. Continuing along this train of thought, some hold that during the time of communism, specifically during the 1970’s the Orthodox Church in America was very close to uniting in one cohesive group. Then the wall came down and more immigration began and we retreat back to our ethnic corners. So this is the theory. Communism slowed down immigration and the church started to become more indigenous, or more American, and with the fall of communism the church became more ethnic and less American. Not that any of those things are bad on their face, just a theory.
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Posted on by Fr. Peter
Things have been quiet around the old place. Not much is happening, but I think this is the calm before the storm. Wednesday night we had a liturgy for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. I like evening liturgies. The sun beginning to set and people singing. It’s nice. I wish more people would come to liturgy during the week, but we had a nice group there. Saturday will see some construction here at the church. We need to remove some short walls around the outside of the church to prevent water from coming in. I don’t understand all that stuff but the people who do say it needs to be done so off we go. Perhaps there should be a class or two in seminary about all this stuff.
I got myself involved in a little online snit. I belong to several yahoo groups about different things. One of them has to do with Eastern Orthodoxy. What I have found is this group seems to be full of people who want to be part of the orthodox church but for some reason have started their own branch. I am amazed at how many bishops there are out there. So I got into it with this guy, who claims to be a bishop. I guess I should not have, but I have been reading about American Orthodoxy and I just cannot understand why we can’t just all become one. I mean in this little town we have three Orthodox Churches. The town can barley support one and we have three, all different jurisdictions. I will never understand.
that’s my rant for the week.
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9/11

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Today is the 5th day of remembrance of the events of 9/11. I remember exactly where I was when I heard what happened. It was my first year in seminary as well. I would hope that we all pause from our busy schedule today and say thank you for the brave men and women of the fire, police, EMT’s ect. as well as your troops still serving in the Middle East. We owe them that much.

Two years ago I became a Fire Dept chaplain for many reasons. One of those reasons was the example of Fr. Mychal Judge. Fr. Judge, a Franciscan Priest, was the chaplain for Engine Company 1/Ladder Company 24 FDNY and was the first casualty. Fr. Judge ran to the be with his guys in their moment of need. Now I serve a small town, and we don’t have any large buildings like the World Trade Center, but my guys put their life on the line everyday to keep the citizens of our community safe. I would like to think that I would have the same sense of duty that Fr. Judge had and run to be with my guys in their moment of need. I wear a silver bracelet on my wrist engraved with the name of Fr. Mychal Judge and he is constantly in my thoughts as I hear to “tones” go off and I rush to be with my guys.

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Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Yesterday I gave the GPS system a work out and set my sites on Pittsfield, Massachusetts. This city is located 30 miles east of Albany New York. I set the little device to take me on the back roads and that it did. I think it took me more than two hours to get there, but I took the highway back and it was only an hour. Nice ride and a beautiful day. There is a little OCA parish there in the town St. Nicholas. Looks like a nice place. Might have to visit again.
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