Ever since I was 14 and exhibited signs of mental illness, I've been reclusive and afraid of others. Group therapy has been helping a little, but I feel as though that as long as I fear others, I cant love them well.

As a result I pray for people a lot and I'm as friendly as I can be to others. But I don't trust them, as my brain gives me thoughts of paranoia that leads to distrust.

Please give me advice.

Thanks.

Luke 10:38-42 was about Martha (active - providing hospitality) and Mary (contemplative - listening to the teachings of Jesus)

At my Maronite parish the priest talked about one interpretation as being the necessity to be both. We need to first contemplate the WORD in order to properly put it into action.

Hi Everyone, and God be with you all!

I am a recently baptized member of the Greek Orthodox Church (come from a non-denominational background) and have felt very fine and normal, until recently. College has started up, and I've felt pretty isolated from my church community and from the Church itself. I love the format of the Liturgy, preservation of liturgical tradition, and many other things, but have been feeling kind've spiritually dead with the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Besides the vague background, I was also wondering if any of you have been in a similar boat, and I am wondering if there was a theological/spiritual/historical/off-topic reason/explanation as to why you became Catholic. I'm not a church expert in regards to Church history (especially with the Catholics), but I was just wondering if anyone could give some tips as to how I should proceed.

Much love!

I wanted to come on here and share that on the Sunday after the feast of the dormition I was recently chrismated into the Byzantine Catholic Church along with another adult who was baptized. It was through the eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto! I grew up non religious and became a Protestant a few years ago when I went off to university through a Baptist church. After searching the scriptures, church fathers, the councils, and visiting MANY churches I found an amazing EC parish not far from me and the rest is history. We are a small parish in an eparchy that was demoted from an exarchate thanks to immigration back to Europe and people leaving the faith. But we are now growing and have both new converts along with Roman Catholics joining the parish. Even our priest was an evangelical brethren who converted and became a priest many years ago. There were only two families attending a few year ago and now the Church is getting filled every Sunday!

Please pray for me and the other convert as we begin our journey in the Catholic faith and pray for continued growth in not only our parish, but our eparchy as a whole! Glory to God!

I noticed that during the liturgy they mentioned the Archbishop of NYC as their bishop. I take it they don’t have their own hierarchy?

Hi there,

My family and I go to a Byzantine Catholic parish for Sunday liturgy. During the week, we visit a Maronite and/or Roman Catholic church for weekday mass… I’m a revert to the Catholic faith as of 1 year ago (my family and I are all Roman Catholic on paper). I teach my children about each different rite currently at home and we keep track of each liturgical calendar

My son’s Godfather (an ex-seminarian of 9 years) let me know that I need to choose one rite to teach my kids and stick to only one

Is this true?… do I have to choose just one rite to practice at home, or can I continue to practice a bit of each one of them?

My husband and I love all three rites and agreed that we would not be able to pick one. How would we even decide on which one to pick?

Thanks in advance!

Slava Isusu Khrystu!

This post is addressed to the Roman Catholics who changed canonical status to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (but all commenters are welcomed 😇). If you were confirmed in the Latin rite, did you have to make a profession of faith or a public declaration to confirm your membership in addition to receiving the approval from both bishops? Was there a special liturgy celebrated to finalize the process? Did you go through a formal catechical program? How were you catechized?

Also, I noticed that some people waited several years to decide to make the transfer. How long did you wait to transfer and why? Thank you for sharing your experience.

God bless all who read (and respond). 🙏

Hello, I was just wondering what books your Churches use for the readings on the Lives of the Saints. Are any of these books published by Catholics? My Church, as well as at least one of the Ruthenian Churches that I have been to, uses the Prologue of Ohrid by St. Nikolai of Ohrid and Zhicha, which is published by the Serbian Orthodox.

An important figure in the Maronite church!

I’m a Latin-Rite Catholic, so I hope this is not an unwelcome intrusion into your community!

TLDR at the end.

I am an (admittedly still learning) Roman Catholic. So this all started a while ago, while I was meditating on John 17:22-23. I had a sudden realization which shook me to my core and left me in a bit of a daze. To sum it up for your convenience, the topic of my realization has a name already. "Theosis." I had discovered theosis through prayer, without really knowing about it earlier. Imagine my shock when I learned! Moved by this, I began reading and praying as much as a could on the subject. I also began reading the Church Fathers, since a lot of the stuff I was finding was siting them, and I fell in love almost immediately with everything I came across.

Learning about both theosis and patristics has put so much of the Gospel into place for me and I feel I can no longer comprehend the Gospel without them. It feels like I'm a fish that has discovered he lives in water. I want to continue down this way of thinking and understanding, and, more to the point, I want to be part of a community that focuses on these topics along with me, since both the topic of theosis and patristics seem to be tragically underplayed and obscured in the Latin Rite right now, my parish included. From what I can find, these things are more emphasized in Eastern Christianity, which I where I'm looking now.

Here's the problem. 1, I do not want to leave Catholicism, since I feel I'd be losing something of massive importance if I do. (If I did want to leave though, there would be no problems, so I felt the need to mention this one.) 2, There is ONE Eastern Catholic parish in my state (a small Maronite parish, and trust me, I checked multiple times) and, for personal reasons I do not want to get into, I don't want to be part this one. (Nothing against the Maronites in particular though, no worries. Sorry for being vague on this.)

In short, there are no parishes I'm willing to be a part of in my state that are Eastern Catholic, but I really want to be part of one for the sake of my prayer life and studies. So, what should I do? Is there anything you guys would recommend for me or advice I should hear?

TL:DR: Theosis and Patristics are great boons for me, and I want more of it in my life and worship, but there's so few options for me parish wise I'm feeling a little lost.

"Sing with joy and pray together, Come to Uniontown, Where we celebrate as pilgrims on this mount renowned. After your Dormition, you reign as Queen for All: 'Come to me now, all my children, hear my loving call.'"

The 91st Pilgramage to Mt. St. Macrina.

Hello my dear brethren, I wanted to say that for souls that are ascetically minded, in the Syriac Tradition within India, there is a unique fast from September 1 to 7 in preparation for the Nativity of the Theotokos. It’s not an obligatory fast (as far as I know for them) but highly valued amongst both the West and East Syriacs. How beautiful is Syriac Christianity!

So if I got to a Roman Catholic mass and altar serve, and then go to Divine Liturgy after Mass, should I hold the Byzantine rules now since I’m making it a weekly or more thing, or are they only for if you strictly only go to Byzantine services

Latin here.

I was just wondering if there is a strong tradition of devotion to Saint Joseph in the Eastern Churches, and in what form? Would love to hear your perspectives, too.

Lord have mercy on your servants!

Hey can anyone tell me anything about this flag specifically?

https://ebay.us/m/1nI3J4

Thanks in advance

Thoughts on hyperpapalism?

Just wanted to share pictures from this beautiful Greek Catholic Church that I found on internet

Thought you’d all love to see this. The See of Alexandria, led by Pope Ibrahim, in all her glory!

I had an interesting thought the other day that I can’t seem to find an answer to. If a priest has proper faculties to celebrate a liturgy of a particular rite different from his own, can he celebrate it while commemorating his canonical bishop?

For example, say a Latin priest has faculties to celebrate Byzantine liturgy. Normally, he would do so in the context of a Byzantine church under a Byzantine bishop. However, could he decide to celebrate a Divine Liturgy in his capacity as a priest of his Latin diocese instead of his capacity as having faculties in a Byzantine jurisdiction? Practically, this should only change the bishop who is commemorated but it’s an interesting proposition.

I should note that this is distinct from situations like canonically Russian priests who commemorate Latin bishops because they are under care of the Latin hierarchy. However, that’s what prompted the thought

Just want to get a pulse on what other Eastern Catholics think about modern ascetic practices like Exodus 90.

My own take, as a Byzantine, is that if we feel a draw to things like Exodus 90, it's a signal that we're not engaging with our own Eastern ascetic traditions meaningfully, nevermind the fact that it puts us at odds with our calendar, fasting when we should rightfully be feasting in some cases.

By no means do I want to cast shade on the program and the good fruit it bears in the lives of some, I just want to hear what others think on the topic.

The basic idea is to create a rosary that is “oriental” in form but largely modeled on the Western Dominican rosary. I spoke to some Latin-rite Catholics about this, and they were upset, saying that the rosary should be prayed exactly as it was given- I assume they were the more traditional-minded Latins.

What I’m envisioning is, for example, incorporating certain Oriental Marian prayers instead of the Salve Regina, or adding prayers at the beginning such as the Trisagion. Another idea could be creating a new mystery; for instance, in the East Syriac rite, we have a season called "Elijah-Holy Cross-Moses" in September–October and meditating on that mystery would align with the liturgical season of the Church.

Ultimately, the goal is to pray the rosary (Our Father, Hail Mary's) but adapt the prayers and structure to reflect the character and traditions of an Oriental rite. Does this make sense, and would it be permissible to do?

Hi everyone! Greek convert to Latin Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy here and I have a few questions on eastern Catholicism (aside from "Do eastern Catholics believe x dogma") and i thought this would be an appropriate place to ask them

1. Are eastern Catholics allowed to venerate Latin saints? For example, can an eastern Catholic venerate saint Francis of Assisi? Also can Latin catholics venerate eastern saints?
2. Are eastern catholics allowed to pray the latin rosary?

I’m a roman catholic, can someone explaine me schema monk

Edit : and who created this ?