"My name is great among the Gentiles. Saith the Lord of hosts"

“For from the rising of the sun, even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles. Saith the Lord of hosts”. (Malachi, aka Malachias, 1:11). I start this article with these words, for a reason. On Sunday, I met a lady at church, who had commented about how, at her church, they did not use Palms for Palm Sunday (she had noticed the palms in the vestibule, which we burn for Ash Wednesday ashes). Anyway, I got talking to her, and found that she is a Byzantine Catholic (Ruthenian), and I asked if she was familiar with Abbott Damian (who is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest). And she said she wasn’t, but, I had mentioned to her that he was at St. Ignatios for a while (it was before he was Abbott, anyway, he was the “in-house” iconographer for the local Melkite church), and this is how I knew about “Pussy willow Sunday”. As he had mentioned that, in his Church, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, they don’t use palms because they don’t grow in Ukraine (well, there are some in Crimea, but I don’t think they’re native, and yes, to the vatniki, Crimea IS Ukraine). Anyway, we got to talking. I told her one of the issues I had with Eastern Orthodoxy is how it’s ALL Byzantine. Even so-called “Western rite” Orthodoxy, is just a variation on the Byzantine tradition. It can’t really claim to be the original Church, if it doesn’t embrace the Church’s universality. (I’m not talking about Ethno-Phyletism, The 1872 Council of Constantinople and Phyletism) The Catholic Church has a place for Syriac liturgy, Byzantine liturgy, Latin liturgy, etc, etc. We are truly a universal Church. (That said, I am not fond of the Latinization I see in Eastern Catholic churches. You have your own beautiful traditions, you don’t need mine! I’m not against Eastern Catholics say, praying the rosary, but, if your church has beautiful Morning Prayer before the liturgy, traditionally, please use it!) She had mentioned that she was on a parish council once, and they tried to have her removed because she’s a Byzantine Catholic. Okay, but that’s still Catholic. She mentioned that the guy that kept her on, said, “She’s more Catholic than you”! To those who tried to remove her. I don’t even know the lady’s name, but she gave me an idea for this article. And let’s face it, in North America, where I live, Eastern Catholics have not always had it good. I blame this on Bishop Ireland. (Fr. Alexis Toth, Bishop John Ireland, and the Grace of Reconciliation) He caused great schism in the Body of Christ, simply because he refused to acknowledge that, yes, Greek Catholics, are in fact, Catholic. I am not defending Fr. Toth on that. Schism is, objectively, a mortal sin. But, the fact Ireland couldn’t seem to understand that Latin doesn’t equal Catholic seems inexcusable for a Bishop. That said, I do not think it correct that some Orthodox venerate Toth as a Saint, either. I don’t judge Toth’s soul. I do, however, judge Ireland’s action. I consider him just as responsible for Toth’s schism (if not more so). Ireland caused a schism, without being the author of it. So now, Eastern Catholics are in a precarious situation. On the one hand, they have to constantly justify union with Rome to Eastern Orthodox interlocutors (From personal experience, a lot of these interlocutors seem to be ROCOR, for more on that, see here: Truth matters). On the other hand, they have to fight off Latinizations that manykeep Eastern Catholics have just accepted as being part of being united with the Pope of Rome. But, make no mistake, they are Catholic. She actually said something to me that made me feel kind of bad. She said, it was “nice to talk to someone that didn’t treat me like an idiot”. And she wasn’t! She’d probably be a very interesting person to talk to about the differences of emphasis between the Eastern Church and the Western Church in terms of theology. But, if the Church is EVER going to end, say, the schism with the Eastern Orthodox, we need to understand their traditions. And Eastern Catholics need to be able to live as witnesses to those tradition. The Church is universal, her mission is universal, and, of course, you’ve heard the phrase “Embrace diversity” from leftist nonsense that doesn’t care about actual diversity (try “diversity of opinion”, to these people, they won’t like it). But, with regards to the Church, we DO need to embrace diversity, that of worship. Because the Church being Catholic, is for all people, at all times, and in all places. “And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: ‘All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all thing whatsoever I have commanded you; and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.’” (Matthew 28:17-20) The Church MUST embrace diversity of liturgical traditions, or she has no right to call herself Catholic.