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| Bishop Michael visits our Catechumen Class |
When the
Bishop visits a Catechumen class, it’s a big deal. Fr. Bodhan made sure that as
many as possible would attend that class by constantly reminding us, both by
email and in person, that we should be there. We even had pizza which is not
the norm in our catechumen class 😊Bishop
Michael is an excellent speaker, humble yet obviously well-educated so our “Question
and Answer” session was very beneficial.
We were
all sitting down when the Bishop entered the room. We all immediately stood up
and Bishop Michael said, “You don’t have
to stand” and he went around shaking everyone’s hand. I wish I had done the whole “Master, Bless”
thing with the cupped hand, kissing his right hand but I was taken off guard
and shook his hand like the Orthodox armature I am. Some of the more advanced,
did it the proper way but most of us catechumens just shook hands. We sat down, after a prayer for the food, and
began with the Pizza and the questions.
There were
questions about the Soul (i.e., what is it?), questions about the Trinity and
there was even a question about Toll houses (which seemed to scare the hell out
of the questioner - Bishop Michael said the Toll Houses were not to be taken
literally but we are to learn that the demons do not want us in Paradise.)
There were questions about Confession. Basically, It was Orthodoxy, A to Z and
Bishop Michael handled it well. He even promised reading materials about both
the Trinity and Toll houses to the questioners.
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| One of the questions was about "Toll Houses" but I don't think it was about the cookies |
I myself
asked a question about the Western Rite. I asked if the OCA ever considered
adopting it, like the Antiochians did.
My reason for asking this is I believe my wife would be more amendable
to the Western Rite than the Eastern Rite.
Bishop Michael gave a very good response saying the Western Rite was
“contrived” and not organic. And there is really no ONE Western Rite, but they
are all different, kind of a hodgepodge of different rites. He even went into
the history of OCA citing how the Uniate Church was forced out of the Latin
Church -St. Alexis Toth is one of my heroes -so it is understandable how a
Western Rite wouldn’t be well received. What
he said made sense, although I still would like to visit a Western Rite Parish
sometime. Reader Andrew made an interesting comment on how the ROCOR Church
requires that their Western Rite Parishes be on the Old Callender which seems kinda
anti-western, don’t you think?
I wrote an
email to Bishop Michael expressing my gratitude for both the visit to the class
and for his prayers. In the email, I mention how I actually have met him before
back in the summer of 2015. (You can read about that in my blog post Orthodoxy or Bust!: Visit 182 ~ Vespers with a Bishop!) Here is what I said
in the email:
Archbishop Michael,
Master, Bless!
I wanted to thank you for taking the time
out of your busy schedule to visit our Catechumen class at the Annunciation
Parish in Brick, NJ on Monday, July 13th. Your humility
and eagerness to connect with both catechumens and inquirers is inspirational.
The class was not the first time we ever
spoke together. Fr. Gary actually introduced me to you, when I was just an
inquirer, back in the summer of 2015 and we had a brief
conversation. Fr. Gary explained how I wanted to convert but my wife
was very opposed (since she was a convinced Protestant) and you asked me her
name, which I gave. You then said you would pray for us. Well, those prayers
worked and I thank you. My wife, through a series of podcasts, felt led to
become a Roman Catholic. When I told her I could not in good conscience do
that, she insisted that I become Orthodox so that I would not miss out on the
Eucharist. So here I am in as a Catechumen!
I certainly would love your continued
prayers for me and my wife Karen. Please know that you are in my prayers.
Thanks, again.
With Respect,
James Vivanco
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| Bishop MIchael |
Bishop Michael
wrote me back right away which happily surprised me. I know he is very busy but
being the kind shepherd that he is, he made time for one of his newer sheep. I will not publish what he said here but I
will say that he promised to keep me and my wife in his prayers, saying he
would add us to his prayer list. Glory
to God!
The whole
night went for about two and a half hours whereas normally Catechumen class goes just
a little over an hour. None of us
complained. Bishop Michael made a joke, towards the end of the night, on how
Father Bodhan seemed antsy and wanted to end for the evening so we wrapped it
up in prayer and we all went home refreshed, renewed in our love for our Lord, His
Church, our Bishop and for Holy Orthodoxy!
Glory to
God!
