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Recent content by PatrickShane

  1. PatrickShane

    Bittersweet

    Thank you my brothers and sisters for all the encouragement. I really appreciate it. I appreciate all of you sharing your stories with me. :) I don't mean to be insensitive to anyone else, but it's not just the people that I'm sad about leaving, but the Orthodox people. It was different...
  2. PatrickShane

    Orthodox to Catholic conversion...

    I listened to the whole show. It was a pretty fair assessment of the situation, although a bit dry and scholastic and Likoudis really plays up the caesaropapism in the East, it's good to see some discussion though. One of the callers called Eastern Catholics "Uniates" :doh: But a pretty good...
  3. PatrickShane

    Bittersweet

    I am blessed by God and it is a great mercy of His that I am on my way to becoming Russian Catholic. However, last night I was at my Orthodox Parish for Great Vespers, I was reminded how much I will miss my Orthodox brothers and sisters in this parish every Sunday. I hadn't been in a few weeks...
  4. PatrickShane

    Rite of Continuing Conversion

    Truly God's blessings my brother. I hope all is well for you. Please forgive me.
  5. PatrickShane

    Dogma on Purgatory?

    Thanks Marcia. That has been my understanding coming into the Russian Catholic Church. It IS a Dogma of the Church, but I probably don't express my belief in Purgatory in the same way most Latins do and that's ok. I hold to the belief that we pass through of some sort of Toll-Houses, as many...
  6. PatrickShane

    Eastern Rite Catholics

    Indeed. I should also point out that in the East, Marriage for a Priest or Deacon is normal. There are celibate Priests though. In fact in Russia there is a cutom that the Married Priest wear a white cassock and the Priest-Monk or celibate Priest a black cassock. I've been trying to figure...
  7. PatrickShane

    Eastern Rite Catholics

    I also should add that in the Byzantine Church collegiality and the direct guidance of the Spiritual Father tends to be emphasized as opposed to in the West, where the direct shepherdic duties of the Pope of Rome tend to be emphasized. Both are true approaches, but the approaches are different.
  8. PatrickShane

    Eastern Rite Catholics

    Well I agree with you partially, but I think you're oversimplifying. For instance the Eastern practice of Hesychasm (complete silence of the heart) is quite different from most Western styles of meditation, such as when praying the Rosary. The Byzantines and Coptics ( I cannot speak for...
  9. PatrickShane

    St Patricks day and meat

    Yeah last year my Father Confessor told me it would be fine to go out and have a beer and some fish and chips, seeing as it is my namesday. I will probably end up doing the same this year. It is a matter of oikonomia. That is to say "spiritual housekeeping", and my Father Confessor thought it...
  10. PatrickShane

    Satan, I renounce you!

    Well we spit on him when we're Baptized/Chrismated in the Byzantine Church. That's all I'm going to add to this conversation.
  11. PatrickShane

    Fr. Benedict Groeschel Fan Club!!

    I love Father Groeschel and his loving attitude toward all Eastern Christians has really meant a lot to me in my journey to the Catholic Church. In fact last Sunday when I went to a Russian Catholic Church for the first time and told a good Roman Catholic friend that I was interested in...
  12. PatrickShane

    Silly question

    Brother, myself being someone who tries, in God's will, not to eat sweet things during Lent, let me give you some advice. Let your conscience be your guide, and another poster is right when saying that if you are asking it probably means you shouldn't eat it. Some things may be obvious like a...
  13. PatrickShane

    Depicting the Father

    You are absolutely right, Christ is the true Ikon, therefore we can depict him. Different topic, but interesting. In the East, unless it is a specific event being depicted you will not traditionally find the Theotokos depicted without Christ.
  14. PatrickShane

    Depicting the Father

    I don't think it's a sin to depict the Father, but I'm more comfortable it not be done. It's not traditional in the East to depict the Father.
  15. PatrickShane

    What is a "Saturday Vigil"

    Please remember also that the term Vigil is used in the Byzantine Catholic Church, especially in the Russian Tradition. The Vigil, though, does not include Holy Communion. It is a combination of two "prayer Liturgies" in preparation for Divine Liturgy on Sunday, Great Vespers and Matins. It is...