Bishop Michael visits our Catechumen Class

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.

    

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 13^th.  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

 

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!