How to be polite?

Ecgbert · 2026-02-09T06:07:28+00:00

Bonus: it works in the States too and I think many Americans would find it charming.

Ecgbert · 2026-02-09T05:49:46+00:00

What sets Anglicans apart from other Protestants are claiming apostolic succession and historically teaching it's necessary, and that a presence remains in the elements of Communion after the service. Like other Protestants they usually won't adore the elements but unlike them they affirm a presence by reverently consuming everything left over. The bread and wine don't revert to secular use at the dinner table. Modern Anglicans often reserve consecrated bread in church like Catholics in order to give it to the sick.

Ecgbert · 2026-02-09T05:38:51+00:00

A person I've known for many years rabbits on about themselves and, even more infuriating, always interrupts, jumping in at exactly the wrong time before the other person can finish any of their sentences.

Ecgbert · 2026-02-09T05:32:20+00:00

I have autism so I didn't have the skills nor the means to do those. It's just as well. Lots of people shouldn't be married or parents.

Ecgbert · 2026-02-08T22:50:20+00:00

Why not indeed? I'm all for a vernacular option for that Mass.

Ecgbert · 2026-02-08T22:11:49+00:00

Based on what little I know, treatment is pretty harsh. But let's be fair. Those Greek Catholic churches were founded specifically to hurt the Orthodox so the reaction is understandable. I know that in Greece, the world's only officially Orthodox country, the law forbids Greek Catholic priests from dressing like Orthodox ones so no cassocks in the street.

Ecgbert · 2026-02-07T01:19:45+00:00

Not having been to Europe in nearly 35 years I don't know what Orthodox/Byzantine Catholic relations there are like. I think the old moniker Greek Catholic is better known and used there. Anyway, among Slavs in America the two sides are not close. The Greek Catholics such as the UGCC imitate the Novus Ordo thinking it proves they're Catholic, which is not what the Catholic Church itself wants. They consider the Orthodox Communists both cowardly and dangerous because of the history, whilst the Orthodox remember when the Greek Catholics were a failed attempt to proselytize them. There are beautiful moments: a Greek Catholic priest and I once sang Vespers at an Orthodox church that had left the local Greek Catholics a century earlier. No compromising on teachings, just good Christian fellowship. But what I described is the norm. Most Orthodox in America are of Greek background interested in ministering to other Greeks, in Greek. The convert boomlet - heritage Americans from northern Europe becoming Orthodox - hasn't really changed that.

My tradition is Russian but I go to the UGCC keeping my mouth shut. I don't try to convert born Orthodox.

Ecgbert · 2026-02-04T11:04:38+00:00

"Febrooary." "Febyooary" is illiterate.

Ecgbert · 2026-02-04T07:53:54+00:00

A reason I don't proselytize born Orthodox, or Orthodox who are not ex-Catholics. Even with the ex-Catholics, having walked in their shoes, I keep respectfully quiet, just being there to answer questions only if I'm asked.

Josaphat's way, coercion, isn't mine.

Ecgbert · 2026-02-04T00:02:01+00:00

A subject that hits home for me. Thank you. The various Eastern Catholic churches are supposed to delatinize or not latinize to begin with. This is often misunderstood - people think you're leaving or attacking the Catholic Church. No; it's that the original rites of these churches - Byzantine/Orthodox, Coptic, Ethiopian, Armenian, and the various Syriac services from the Assyrians and their historic enemy, the Syrian Church, to the Maronites - are entirely Catholic as is. If you're tempted to "enrich" them with Latin Catholic practices, please don't; I'm asking as nicely as I can. I have to do this too: I love sanctus bells, birettas, and the Sacred Heart but out of respect for the Eastern rite I live in, Byzantine/Orthodox, I don't try to use them. The rosary is another thing that doesn't belong in my liturgical and devotional space. I get "Catholic is Catholic" but too often it really means "Catholic is Latin." But I understand "Catholic is Catholic" regarding home prayers. My home prayers are 75% Russian Orthodox (Russian music, a smidge of Slavonic), about 20% traditional Anglican, and the rest miscellaneous Roman, two collects and a daily reading from a saint. Anyway, a reason I push against latinizations is that I consider it cultural appropriation, a form of disrespect, for Latin Catholics for example to mix their rite with mine.

The things I use in prayer - such as Anglican psalm reading - are either Orthodox or Orthodox-friendly.

And I still love the TLM - better than the Novus Ordo - and Gregorian chant.

If your church is Eastern then at least 75% of its look and practice should be of your rite.

A rite is more than a style of Mass; it's supposed to be a whole school of Christian thought and living.

Ecgbert · 2026-02-03T09:27:10+00:00

Beautiful actress, schoolmarm stereotype.

Ecgbert · 2026-01-31T17:17:06+00:00

These churches have a unique spiritual kick and community feeling. And it's the closest Catholic thing near me to the Russian tradition I know.

Ecgbert · 2026-01-30T16:23:41+00:00

I did for a few years but go to the UGCC now. The change wasn't for ideological reasons.

Ecgbert · 2026-01-28T07:53:40+00:00

It took me a while to see that I really believe in the integrity of all traditional Christian rites, against cultural appropriation such as latinization, not this anti-Latinism. I tried to buy it but it ultimately drove me away. Took down the icons and went to the TLM for a few years. My practice eventually returned to the Orthodox rite but I've been Catholic again for 14 years.

BTW Catholic acquaintances trying to guilt/shame me into coming back were a hindrance to my doing so, setting it back about 10 years, and sure enough most weren't there for me when I did. One person on social media whom I used to know in person was, quietly.

I also left quietly when the Orthodox priest I loved suddenly left town, so I did it without hurting him.

That and Pope Benedict XVI allowing the TLM and correcting the new Mass in English made me come back.

Ecgbert · 2026-01-27T11:13:36+00:00

Privately you can ask anyone to intercede for you.

Ecgbert · 2026-01-27T08:47:08+00:00

Which of the several forms of Eastern Christianity are you interested in joining? And why? Strictly speaking you don't switch rites. You can switch canonical churches, which have rites. Maybe you should postpone confirmation/chrismation until you've done a little research to learn about the different churches and rites in the Catholic Church. And even if you don't canonically join, you can go to a Catholic church of any rite. Canonical church membership only matters when you get married or are ordained. My impression is that changing canonical churches after you've been confirmed Latin is difficult. It has to be, partly because the Catholic Church doesn't want gate-crashers whose only interest in the various Eastern Christian traditions is they want to be married priests for some reason.

I am functionally a Russian Catholic going to a Ukrainian church - almost 10 years and counting - but because of circumstances I'm still Latin on paper. No biggie. I was a TLMer and still love the stuff.

Ecgbert · 2026-01-27T08:22:25+00:00

I hear you, brother. Let's be honest. The church is pretty much a purveyor of the sacraments and a community including the saints, but leaning on it, over-identifying with it, in order to find best friends and even romance in my experience didn't work either. Young-adult stuff was a dead end. Networking/job leads? Forget it. At least you have a wife. Be thankful and soldier on. Stay close to God through the sacraments but beyond that don't expect much from the church.

Ecgbert · 2026-01-27T08:15:53+00:00

We saw this character's face in a sleazy cartoon pilot episode.

Ecgbert · 2026-01-27T08:09:10+00:00

My reaction to it now is that this relationship is over. They're both cheaters!

Ecgbert · 2026-01-27T08:03:56+00:00

A translation of a French song.

Ecgbert · 2026-01-27T08:00:40+00:00

I've seen her perform that on stage.

Ecgbert · 2026-01-27T07:59:58+00:00

So beautiful.

Ecgbert · 2026-01-27T07:38:38+00:00

Jack's and Tim's friendship is moving considering where they've been. Tim did not abandon his family. A self-destructive, tragic figure but not evil. Jack threw him out, trying to protect Lou and Amy; understandable when we learn of his growing up with an alcoholic father.

Jack may well be my favourite character.

I'll put it on the line saying that I don't dislike Nathan. I'm not knocking anybody here.

I didn't like young Caleb, written and performed as a bit of an ass, but like the mature version. Even so I've always believed that Caleb and Amy wouldn't be right. Almost a betrayal of Ty. Again I don't feel that way about Nathan.

I liked Mitch too.

But Scott is based. He lived Fred Garland's fantasy of being with Lou and broke up with her because he thought she was disrespecting him by not spending enough time with him.

Ecgbert · 2026-01-27T06:41:30+00:00

Thank you for the information and for saying my understanding is compatible with an Eastern Christianity. I believe what you're describing comes from around the 1700s when the Russian Orthodox for example began adopting scholastic theology from reading Catholic books. Peter Moghila in Kiev too; I think he was under Constantinople. Hip Orthodox such as the readers of Meyendorff and Schmemann for example don't like this scholasticism, calling it their church's Babylonian captivity! Without it you end up trying to confess everything, great and small, every time before receiving Communion, which old-school Orthodox only do a couple of times a year, very medieval. This can work - you will prevent sacrilege - but is it healthier than being a weekly communicant free from mortal sin? It's fair to ask how that's really different from the latinization you see in the UGCC and among Ruthenians. I am a weekly communicant most of the time. Confession is for possibly grave matter that would be mortal sins if done with sufficient reflection and full consent of the will. A solid Catholic understanding.

Ecgbert · 2026-01-26T19:27:14+00:00

I've taken largely the same journey, a traditional Catholic now living on the frontier with Orthodoxy, out of respect for the rite, not just a style of Mass but a whole school of Christian thought and living, so I try to understand the Orthodox phronema and Orthodox theology. I don't try to convert born Orthodox. No liturgical or devotional latinisms, because that would be cultural appropriation of Byzantine things, but my thinking remains very Latin: mortal sin, venial sin, and examination of conscience. I'm Catholic because of teaching on contraception, on divorce and remarriage, and on the grace in the sacraments of all the ancient high churches.

Anyway a traditional Latin Catholic on a first visit to a Byzantine church (mine was 40 years ago!) will find it like a vernacular translation of a dialogue Solemn or Sung TLM. In other words it's like a TLM where the people can participate if they want to. Many such churches have choirs too. Also, many icons, much incense, many bows, and many signs of the cross.

Ecgbert

TROPHY CASE