A letter from Fr. Thomas J. Loya sent to Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan (Archbishop) William and others regarding the recent speech by Cardinal Sandri:
Archbishop William,
I take this opportunity
of your still being in Italy, and therefore, in or near Rome, to make a
formal request to you. My request is actually meant for all of the
Eastern Catholic Bishops from North America, but most particularly to
you as the ranking prelate of my own Church, the Ruthenian Byzantine
Catholic Metropolia of Pittsburgh.
The remarks by Cardinal Sandri in
his homily to the Eastern Catholic bishops of America have filtered
back and are reverberating through the clergy and laity of our Churches
in America, as well as the Orthodox Churches. In a similar way that the
Health and Human Services controversey in America finds the issue of
contraception itself being expressive of a deeper and fundamental issue
of religious liberty, so too the remarks by Cardinal Sandri for the
Eastern Catholic Churches to "embrace celibacy in respect to ecclesial
context" are reflective of a deeper and more fundamental attitude from
Rome and the Latin Rite that simply can no longer go unanswered by the
Eastern Catholic Churches.
In addition to being chillingly reminiscent of
the demeaning attitude of the Latin Rite bishops toward the Eastern
Catholic Churches during the beginning of the last century in America,
the Cardinal's remarks about celibacy seem to confirm what so many
Eastern Catholics in America have suspected for too long: Rome and the
Latin Rite see the Eastern Catholic Churches in America as essentially
inconsequential, perhaps even in the way of ecumenism between Rome and
the Orthodox Churches.
Essentially the
Cardinal's remarks send the message that the Latin Rite Church is the
'real' Church, superior to the Eastern Catholic Churches and therefore
the Eastern Catholic Churches could be ordered to compromise themselves
in deference to the Latin Rite Church, the 'real' Church. To us in
America the Cardinal's remarks reflected a paternalistic attitude toward
the Eastern Catholic Churches in America. Rome seems to see our
Churches in America as simply a diaspora having little value other than
ethnic customs and the degree to which we can support our Churches in
their homelands.
Archbishop William, my request to you,
as the ranking prelate of my Church and especially, if it is still
possible while you are in Italy at this time, to meet again with
Cardinal Sandri, on behalf of your Church back in America, regarding his
remarks and the reaction to his remarks reverberating through the
Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches in America at this time. Our
Ruthenian Church in particular needs to establish a better and more
consistent dialogue with Rome so as to present a more accurate picture
of the real gift and evangelical power of the Eastern Catholic Churches
in America. The Eastern Catholic Churches, and in particular the
Ruthenian Church, are actually in a position to indeed supply what is
lacking in the whole Church in America and to confront secular society
with type of vocabulary and spirituality that we alone can bring to the
war on secularism and moral relativism. It seems that Rome understands
none of this about us.
For the good of the whole Church and
for the good of souls, it is time for our Ruthenian Church in
particular stop acting like co-dependent children of Rome. It does not
really serve Rome, the whole Church or the people of God for the
Ruthenian Church (or any Eastern Catholic Church) to assume a position
of weakness and inferiority helplessly waiting for what to many of us is
essentially a 'phantom' indivdivual or department in Rome, with so
little understanding of our Churches, to singularly decide the fate of
our Churches in America. Surely we should have more pride in our
Church than this and more regard for the memory of our members who,
during Communist oppression, shed their blood out of loyalty to the Pope of Rome.
Thank you for consideration of my request,
--Fr. Thomas J. Loya, STB.,MA.
* In 1891, Roman Catholic Archbishop John Ireland refused to accept the credentials of Greek-Catholic priest Alexis Toth, citing the decree that married priests of the Eastern Catholic Churches were not permitted to function in the Catholic Church in the United States,[16] despite Toth being a widower. Ireland then forbade Toth to minister to his own parishioners,[17] despite the fact that Toth had jurisdiction from his own Bishop, and did not depend on Ireland. Ireland was also involved in efforts to expel all Eastern Catholic clergy from the United States of America.[18] Forced into an impasse, Toth went on to lead thousands of Greek-Catholics to leave the Catholic Church to join the Russian Orthodox Church.[19] Because of this, Archbishop Ireland is sometimes referred to, ironically, as "The Father of the Orthodox Church in America." Marvin R. O'Connell, author of a biography on Ireland, summarizes the situation by stating that "if Ireland's advocacy of the blacks displayed him at his best, his belligerence toward the Greek Catholics showed him at his bull-headed worst."[20] SOURCE: Wikipedia
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