I have since asked my father about my aunt's journey through Catholicism. Here's what I learned:
According to him, our family were Ukrainian members of the Catholic Church at the time of the schism. This means they chose the Pope over the Patriarch of Constantinople. This made them practicing Roman Catholics, with a dispensation to conduct Byzantine Rites; members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
My Grandfather was a member of St. George's in NYC. (You can see from the website, that the church continues to worship and communicate primarily in Ukrainian.) The Ukrainian language was presumed.
My father (and my aunt) attended St. George's parochial school & services-- while not being fluent. As second generation Americans, they never learned Ukrainian. This caused them both considerable angst, as their peers were recent immigrants, or 1st generation Ukrainians-- all of whom spoke Ukrainian as their primary language, if not being bi-lingual.
My Aunt changed churches (but not communions) when she moved upstate, choosing a mainline Roman Catholic church, where her interest in the Eastern Rite (due to our family heritage) saw the introduction of Eastern Iconography to her parish, which had many parishioners of Eastern European ancestry.
I have a catholic bias and want you to join us of course. And I have a bias towards the older more traditional stuff. So I think your Aunt might have been onto something. But yeah, I encourage you to keep doing your due diligence as you described and will pray for you.
Catholicism has been a pillar of the Western Tradition. I find it hard to argue with the faith of Tolkien and the 'men of the West.' Philosophically, even though Descartes drove me up the wall, I find myself forced to re-examine and duplicate his process. For, as Pascal suggested, there's nothing to lose and eternity to gain.
Again-- (as ever) I have to judge the tree by its fruits.
Which eastern rite out of curiosity?
I have since asked my father about my aunt's journey through Catholicism. Here's what I learned:
According to him, our family were Ukrainian members of the Catholic Church at the time of the schism. This means they chose the Pope over the Patriarch of Constantinople. This made them practicing Roman Catholics, with a dispensation to conduct Byzantine Rites; members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
My Grandfather was a member of St. George's in NYC. (You can see from the website, that the church continues to worship and communicate primarily in Ukrainian.) The Ukrainian language was presumed.
My father (and my aunt) attended St. George's parochial school & services-- while not being fluent. As second generation Americans, they never learned Ukrainian. This caused them both considerable angst, as their peers were recent immigrants, or 1st generation Ukrainians-- all of whom spoke Ukrainian as their primary language, if not being bi-lingual.
My Aunt changed churches (but not communions) when she moved upstate, choosing a mainline Roman Catholic church, where her interest in the Eastern Rite (due to our family heritage) saw the introduction of Eastern Iconography to her parish, which had many parishioners of Eastern European ancestry.
Hey, thanks for sharing.
I have a catholic bias and want you to join us of course. And I have a bias towards the older more traditional stuff. So I think your Aunt might have been onto something. But yeah, I encourage you to keep doing your due diligence as you described and will pray for you.
Thanks.
Catholicism has been a pillar of the Western Tradition. I find it hard to argue with the faith of Tolkien and the 'men of the West.' Philosophically, even though Descartes drove me up the wall, I find myself forced to re-examine and duplicate his process. For, as Pascal suggested, there's nothing to lose and eternity to gain.
Again-- (as ever) I have to judge the tree by its fruits.
Ukrainian. The family in the old country were Catholics, as far as I know.