Roamin’ Catholic: A priest explains why he decided to become a Maronite

When I visited and preached at a Byzantine Catholic church several weeks ago, I was struck by how many people I met—including the pastor—were raised Roman Catholic. What made them switch?

This offers one explanation of the attraction of Eastern Catholicism, from a priest:

Awe, majesty, wonder and humility before Divine Mercy—these are notions expressed in all the Catholic traditions. While they all radiate out in beauty from the One Incarnate Word, Our Lord Jesus Christ, they are expressed in different nuances in each of the traditions, rites and spirituality found in the Catholic Church. At the risk of oversimplification, one could say that Rome glories in the Precious Blood of the Lamb of God on Calvary, Who graciously acts in the Sacraments from His glorious place eternally at the Right Hand of the Father, and that the Byzantine Churches worship before the eternal High Priest as He acts in Mystery among His members.

The Byzantines are often thought of as the Eastern Church, but there are other traditions that trace their history to the ancient See of Antioch. In these Churches, the baptized turn in adoration and awe before the Hidden One as they await the Day of Judgement—the Day of the Lord.

I have served as a priest in the Latin Church for 28 years, but by God’s Providence I have found myself traveling, spiritually, to Antioch. I already had a love for the Eastern traditions when I visited Damascus, Syria, in 2007. But a chance meeting with a Maronite archbishop at his cathedral there led eventually to my being a Maronite priest.

A spirituality of “light,” expressed liturgically by veiled transformative communications in the radiant light of the “Bright-One-Who-cannot-be-Clouded,” is especially present in the Syriac traditions, and this drew me easily toward the Maronite Church. It also seemed an appropriate time in history to show solidarity with our persecuted brothers and sisters in the ancient cradle of Christianity. Indeed, the Damascus cathedral and residence of the archbishop who invited me to serve in the Maronite Church were bombed four times in early November. A neighboring hostel the Church built for university students was also hit. One student was killed and 15 wounded.

The Syro-Maronites, having been formed around an ascetic/monastic movement initiated by Saint Maron (d. 410), have taken from both the Western and Eastern Aramaic traditions, and—post-Crusades—there’s been an influence also from Rome.

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