Tag: Christianity

    

The We Won’t Accept Blind ObedienceNun Maria (Valle), the sister superior of the Bethany monastic community (Palestinian Autonomy) and the Director of the Bethany School and Orphanage for Girls, talks about the school, joy and challenges of her work as its director, the relations with the local Moslem community and the Palestinian government’s education offices, as well as about the ultimate priorities of teaching the Moslem girls in the Orthodox school.

“>Russian Orthodox school for Arab girls in Bethany now seems to be a small island of hope and relative calm in the midst of the war storming the Middle East. The girls, many of whom have relatives in the Gaza Strip, are still studying; and their teachers try to help them not only to survive this escalation of the ongoing conflict, but continue just to be children. How this is possible in under these dire conditions is what I asked Mother Maria (Wall), the principal and administrator of Bethany School, which is under the auspices of ROCORS’s St. Mary Magdalene Convent.   

Mother Maria (Wall) —Matushka, first of all, can you describe what is happening in and around the school?

—Spiritually, our sinfulness has found release and embodiment in what is going on around. It is a war, a spiritual war between good and evil.

—Are all of your students and teachers safe for now?

—You know, safety is a term that has greatly changed in meaning for me since I have been here in the Holy Land. Even before these events, we were in situations, or there were times when you had to figure out quite quickly that your only safety is God.

I’ve gotten good educational experience—I do not remember now even how long ago, but it was a conflict escalation between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel. There were bombings and rockets flying on that part of the country, up north. It was happening during the summertime, and we had one of our Christian boarding girls, about 12 or 13 years old, living there not far away from the border. She was in shelters most of the time.

This girl called me and described the situation, and asked if it was possible for her to come to the monastery. Of course, I wanted to go immediately to pick her up myself, but it was too dangerous. I was looking for other options and finally a Muslim taxi driver offered himself. He was about 60 years old and I knew that he had 8 to 10 children, a big family. I asked him: “Are you not afraid to take the risk? Do you understand it isn’t safe for you to go there either?”

I recall his reply in all the difficult situations. He said: “Listen, sister. If my name is on a rocket, it will find me even if I hide in the shelter. And if my name is not on it, even if I am on its way, it will make its way around me.”

This is what you learn in such situations. Because situations in the Holy Land change quite rapidly. You do not expect anything, you just go to your regular events, to the monastery, to the post office, or to the supermarket, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, fire breaks out. And you pray, and God calms the storm in the sea so that you can walk on the water.

    

—When we set up an interview, you said that the school is working, and that is already good. Does that mean that the situation is so serious?

—Yes, the situation is serious. It is not the first, and I am afraid it is not the last time. Yes, a working school, at least for our children, is a sign that there is normalcy in their daily life. Something that is normal and stable for them. It is a chance to continue their childhood, it is a chance to continuing their education.

The schools around us close for different reasons. Sometimes, it is because of safety. But right now, for instance, government schools do not have enough money to pay salaries, so most of them are online for that reason. And this is a reality as well.

  

—But your school continues working despite all of these things?

—We continue working, and we are face-to-face. As an administration, you have even more responsibilities. You have to watch the situation and judge when you are risking too much, because you have to make sure that parents are still able to pick up their children or the children are still able to reach their homes. You need to judge how serious or how dangerous it gets around you.

Right now, the situation around us in Bethany is more or less calm. However, our teachers come either from Jerusalem, which is Israel, or Bethlehem, which is West Bank, Palestine. They are the most vulnerable group, exposed to the most danger on their road to the workplace. Checkpoints are not safe, and the situation is unpredictable. You face difficulties where you would not want them to happen.

    

—Your students are girls from Palestine, and they are very young. What do they feel in relation to the current situation? What are they worried about now?

—First of all, we do not only have children from Palestine. What do they feel? What can children feel in the war zone? There many emotions in society altogether. Their parents are definitely watching too much news, and children are exposed to too much violence. We are trying to communicate this issue to the parents. We tell them, “Protect your children from this because it has an impact on them.” And this is what we are discussing with our teachers as well. This is one of the first things that I say: if because of this situation your time watching the news on mobile devices increases but your prayer time does not, then you are definitely moving in the wrong direction.

    

—All these emotions have a negative impacts on children’s mental and spiritual health. How is it possible to mitigate these destructive effects, which can remain with them for their whole life?

—These children already live in this situation. Right now, it is as if knocking on their doors, but it is not the first escalation. I was not here in the time of the Intifadas, but I was told that it was horrible as well. It is actually sad to say that it is just another escalation that will have an impact on these children. It is our responsibility, as adults, to protect them as much as possible and keep them in safe surroundings, and give them an opportunity to talk about what they feel, what they think, and what they experience in their homes. That is what we try to make sure to convey to their parents—to be protective of children. And an open school is a sign of normalcy—it is stability that is absolutely necessary for these children. There is still school, there is still homework, and there are still exams and responsibilities. You have to take care of your education, especially as there is still a tomorrow after today, and—hopefully—sunrise after all the darkness.

And of course, what is now being talked about much more is: When you feel vulnerable, so unprotected and exposed and surrounded by evil, help can only come from God. You must pray! You must establish your relationship with God, you must take a look at how spiritual your life is. We are all part of it, we all were not serious about our spiritual lives. That is why evil was able take over so easily.

—There are no pilgrims in Israel now, so there are no donations. How can all of us, who will read this story support your school? What help do you need, perhaps not only material but spiritual?

—Of course, first of all is a prayer—any prayers. If there are a lot of small prayers, they turn into a river. If many people pray all together, God has a much better chance to interfere, to get into this situation, and to turn it around. So, first of all, I would say we need spiritual support. All of us have to review our spiritual lives, all of us have to see what is going on in our relationship with God. Each of us has to see how much sin is easily accepted in our lives, and how much we are just adding to all this darkness with our personal sins. And all of us have to repent.

Concerning material support—yes, of course, we need it. The situation now, is little-by-little getting tough. On the other hand, with all years since I have been in Bethany, I still really wouldn’t be able to tell you how we actually have survived financially month after month. Miracles have happened. We’ve had a couple of larger donations that would come in in the most difficult times, but most people would send the smallest amounts, 10 or 15 dollars. However, because they are joining together, this has helped us survive literally month by month. This is how it works.

Vienna, November 27, 2023

Photo: austria-diocese.com     

The Moscow Patriarchate’s Diocese of Vienna and Austria was formed by decision of the Holy Synod on November 16, 1962.

Over the weekend, the diocese celebrated its 60th anniversary. Events began on Friday, November 24 with a concert of sacred music at the Vienna Cathedral of St. Nicholas, reports the Department for External Church Relations.

Before the concert, His Grace Bishop Alexei of Vienna and Austria greeted attendees, congratulated them with the anniversary, and spoke about the role of Orthodox churches in creating peace in the souls of people and maintaining unity between people of different nationalities.

The next evening, the All-Night Vigil for the 25th Sunday After Pentecost and in honor of the anniversary was celebrated in the same cathedral by His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, head of the Department for External Church Relations, together with His Eminence Metropolitan Mark of Ryazan and the local hierarch Bp. Alexei.

The same hierarchs again celebrated the Divine Liturgy the next morning, joined by His Eminence Metropolitan Nestor of Korsun and Western Europe.

Photo: austria-diocese.com     

At the end of the service, Met. Anthony warmly welcomed the concelebrating bishops and clergy as well as the faithful who had gathered for the celebration. In his homily, Met. Anthony also stressed the theme of unity, saying: “The Church unites people because Christ unites us all. We have one faith, one Baptism, one Eucharistic cup, in which we all find blessed unity. This is the great strength of our Church.”

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia sent congratulations to Bp. Alexei of Vienna on the occasion:

In the challenging post-war years, during the reconstruction of the Austrian state, the Moscow Patriarchate had to exert considerable efforts to restore Church life in this country. Today, we gratefully remember all the caring and devoted believers whose diligence and efforts, with God’s assistance, led to the accomplishment of this spiritually significant feat. I would like to particularly acknowledge the labors of Bishop Melchizedek (Lebedev) and Metropolitan Irenei (Zuzemylia). Under their archpastoral guidance, the activities of the diocese flourished, and the finest liturgical and parish traditions were preserved and passed down through many years.

The initiative undertaken six decades ago continues to bear good fruit, as convincingly evidenced by the contemporary life of the diocese. Today, through the combined efforts of the clergy and active laity, there is sustained excellence in parish, representational, interchurch, and cultural-enlightenment activities. For over a century, the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Vienna has welcomed pilgrims and visitors from different countries, remaining a place of prayer for a large multinational community and a visible symbol of the enduring beauty and truth of Orthodoxy.

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In 1923, a sign was placed in the hills above Los Angeles hoping to attract buyers to a new real estate development. Though the sign was only meant to be temporary, 100 years later it has become a symbol of both a bygone era and a representation of something that has endured through constantly changing times.

That was the Hollywood sign.

This year, many LA-area landmarks and institutions are turning 100: the Hollywood sign, the LA Memorial Coliseum, the Biltmore hotel, El Cholo restaurant.

Also 100 years ago: The then-Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego established 18 parishes — the most of any year before or since.

So what was happening in the Los Angeles area in the early 1920s that not only brought these historic landmarks, but also necessitated then-Bishop John Cantwell to establish a whopping 18 parishes?

In short, LA was growing by leaps and bounds.

In 1920, Los Angeles had overtaken San Francisco to be the most populated city in California. In 1916, there were 49,107 Catholics residing in the city, according to federal census data. By 1926, that number jumped 132% to 114,211 Catholics in Los Angeles alone, not counting surrounding areas.

There were two major reasons for this, according to Father Michael Engh, SJ, chancellor at Loyola Marymount University and a former history professor. The first was LA and its Chamber of Commerce were heavily promoting the area for its sunny weather, affordable land, and plentiful jobs.

Entire industries were flocking to the region or being created. Movies. Oil. Aerospace. With more jobs came more people. With more people came new construction. With new construction came more infrastructure.

“It’s the American dream,” Engh said. “Get a job, get a home, raise your families here. Great environment, great weather.”

The second reason was the Mexican Revolution. With strife, battles, and chaos waging south of the border, many Mexican citizens poured into LA dreaming of a better life of better-paying jobs, housing, and education for their children.

With anti-Catholic sentiment also raging in Mexico, streams of priests, nuns, and religious also fled to the U.S., with many ending up in Los Angeles.

So with an increasing Spanish-speaking population, and priests and nuns available to serve that community, that also required more churches.

“So economic growth, enormous influx of people, railroad transportation,” Engh said. “And then this great flood from Mexico coming up as well. So the diocese was growing by leaps and bounds along with Los Angeles and Southern California.”

Then Engh exclaimed, “I had forgotten just how dynamic the period actually was.”

Celebrating 100

For several of the 18 parishes celebrating their centennial this year, the festivities came in all manners and measures.

At Mother of Sorrows Church in South Los Angeles, the commemoration actually began last year, with a different celebration each month. Those events included a Mass with Archbishop José H. Gomez, a centennial logo contest, and raffles of religious articles.

For Father Brian Chung, the pastor at Mother of Sorrows, the blessings have come for a parish he said is poor financially, but rich in spirit.

“Despite all our struggles, in many ways we’re never shy about expressing our faith,” Chung said.

At St. Bernard Church in Bellflower, the parish didn’t know the exact date when it was established, so it set its big celebration for Aug. 20, the feast day for its namesake saint. The problem is that day turned out to be the exact time the historic Hurricane Hilary was set to touch down in Southern California.

Thankfully, the outdoor event went on windy and wet, but with canopies and hearts full of grace.

“Everybody enjoyed it,” said St. Bernard pastor Father Toribio Gutierrez. “It was a lot of people out in the rain. We enjoyed a lot of food, music, and dance.”

As part of its 100th anniversary, St. Bernard is also planning a door-to-door ministry to welcome the neighborhood to the parish with an upcoming town hall in December.

“We are going to start going door to door for all the neighbors to come and to know our community and to let them know that we are here and all the ministries for serving them,” Gutierrez said.

As the only Catholic parish in Inglewood, St. John Chrysostom Church kept things simple by having one big reception following Mass with the archbishop, replete with mariachis, food, and a packed house with about 1,000 parishioners.

“To me, it was important to not only celebrate as a parish, but to celebrate as a parish community,” said Father Alexis Ibarra, administrator at St. John Chrysostom. “We had a whole ministry fair. We figured what better moment than our anniversary to invite more people to join the ministries and to serve the community in a larger sense.”

For Father Peter Irving III, who has been the pastor at Holy Innocents Church in Long Beach for 17 years, he knows a thing or two about longevity. So when it came time to celebrate Holy Innocents’ 100th anniversary, the parish tried to celebrate all the things that make it special.

First, they honored the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles — and especially its foundress, Venerable Maria Luisa Josefa, who escaped Mexico as part of the Cristero War and later taught at Holy Innocents — with several talks and book signings about the order’s history.

The parish also had several Eucharistic processions, including one that led to an abortion clinic, which falls in line with the church’s pro-life work. Since 2008, as part of its expectant mothers outreach and providing material and spiritual support, Irving estimated they’ve saved 1,603 babies.

Holy Innocents is taking its celebrations all the way to the absolute end of 2023, with a special Mass on its feast day, Dec. 28, followed by a grand gala on Dec. 29.

“I take zero credit for all of that because it’s all a gift,” Irving said. “Also, we have really good people. Very generous, wonderful people.”

At Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, its centennial celebration came with another piece of good news: The parish was designated as a historical landmark by the City Council. 

Along with a huge Mass and gala celebrated on Aug. 13 and attended by the mayor, police chief, council members and former California Gov. Gray Davis, parishioners received a commemorative book highlighting the parish’s rich history.

Good Shepherd’s pastor, Father Ed Benioff, said that while the parish has a history with entertainers and being located in a wealthy city, the church is for everyone.

“Our first 50 years, we had a lot of entertainers here so it was truly the parish of the entertainment stars,” Benioff said. “But I would say [in] the last 50 years, entertainment people now have multiple homes and they don’t necessarily live in Beverly Hills anymore. It’s kind of just more of the common person.

“I think the misconception would be just a bunch of rich well-dressed snobs. That’s not the case. People are very down to earth. Very warm and friendly.”

The next 100 years?

As celebrations for the 18 parishes come to a close, several of the pastors couldn’t help but think about what the next 100 years might bring, both for their parishes and the overall Church.

“I hope the parish will be alive and will also be useful,” said St. Bernard pastor Gutierrez. “Not just a parish to give the parishioners maintenance, but to make them disciples and send them out to talk about the good news to other people.”

Gutierrez is proud of the improvements made to his parish that he hopes will endure for another century.

“There are a lot of changes and improvements that the community considered to be needed in order to make the church look alive, not only to be alive,” Gutierrez said.

Father Chung, the pastor at Mother of Sorrows, pointed to his parish’s weekly food distribution and helping those less fortunate as where he’d like the Church to head going forward.

“We try to be something not just for ourselves, but for other people as well,” Chung said. 

“So hopefully in the next 100 years, we maintain who we are as Catholics, but yet reach out to our more vulnerable brothers and sisters so that we can be a place of hope and faith toward people.”

For Father Alexis Ibarra, administrator at St. John Chrysostom, it’s important to remember the individual moments of faith that have occurred at each parish over the past 100 years, and to focus on creating many more in the next century.

“We must leave it better than we found it,” Ibarra said. “We’re building on the first 100 years, so for the next 100 years to continue that tradition of Catholic values, family values, upholding the dignity of human life, and keep spreading the Gospel.

“Archbishop says to imagine how many baptisms and how many first Communions, how many first reconciliations, how many confirmations, weddings, how many funerals, how many people have received the Eucharist week after week, day after day in those 100 years, and then those to come. That to me is not only historic, but that’s the grace, that’s the blessing.”

Centennial celebrations

Here are the 18 parishes celebrating their 100th anniversary in 2023:

Ascension Church in South Los Angeles

Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills

Holy Innocents Church in Long Beach

Mother of Sorrows Church in South Los Angeles

Nativity Church in El Monte

Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Northeast LA

Our Lady of Guadalupe (Hammel) in East Los Angeles

Our Lady of Mount Lebanon in Los Angeles

Precious Blood Church in Los Angeles

Resurrection Church in Boyle Heights

Santa Teresita Church in Northeast LA

St. Agatha Church in Jefferson Park

St. Bernard Church in Bellflower

St. Gregory Nazianzen Church in Koreatown

St. John Chrysostom Church in Inglewood

St. Kevin Church in Los Angeles

St. Mark Church in Venice

Church of the Transfiguration in Leimert Park

Berlin, November 27, 2023

Photo: orthodoxe-fernschule.de     

A distance learning Orthodox theological school within the Russian Church’s Diocese of Berlin and Germany, with classes for both Orthodox Christians and inquirers, began operating this fall.

The opening of the school was approved by the Diocesan Council on October 2 and has the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Tikhon of Ruza.

A new theological school is needed due to the growing number of people who are interested in the Orthodox faith or are preparing for Baptism, or those who have already become Orthodox without receiving sufficient catechesis, reports the Berlin Diocese.

There is also a growing demand with the diocese for Sunday School teachers and catechists who could teach the Orthodox faith in German.

The school will offer two courses:

1. Introduction to Orthodoxy: A one-year course designed for adults who want to become Orthodox or acquire basic knowledge about the Orthodox faith. The course covers Church doctrine, the practical side of Church life, worship, and the Church year. No prior knowledge of theology needed.

2. Immersion in the Orthodox Faith: A three-year course providing in-depth and systematic knowledge for people who want to work as Sunday School teachers, catechists, readers, etc., or simply deepen their understanding of Orthodoxy. The course covers the sacred history of the Old and New Testaments, dogmatic theology, liturgics, Church history, foundational theology, comparative theology, asceticism, and Patrology. Basic knowledge is required and is checked in an introductory interview.

Graduates of the theological course receive a Church certificate.

Classes are taught in German and open to students from any diocese. They are held once a week, for 90 minutes. An exam is held at the end of each academic year.

58 students enrolled in the theological course this year, and 56 in the introductory course. Enrollment for next academic year will begin June 5.

See the school website for more information.

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St. James Intercisus was a soldier and courtier in Persia in the early fifth century. Although he was a Christian, James renounced his faith when King Yezdigerd I launched a persecution against Christians.

While James denied his beliefs, his family remained faithful. When the king had died, and the persecution ended, they reached out to him and chastised him for giving up on the King of Heaven to serve the king of Persia.

His family’s rebuke struck James’ conscience, and he re-converted, professing his love and commitment to God. As part of his conversion, he told the new king, Bahram, of his faith. Bahram sentenced him to death.

James was hung from a beam and slowly cut in 28 pieces, from his fingers and toes to his hands and finally to his head. He received the name ‘Intercisus’ because it means ‘hacked to pieces.’

The crowd watching, even the Christians, urged him to renounce his faith again and end his suffering, but James refused to deny his beliefs, instead offering each cut as a sacrifice to God.

St. James is the patron saint of lost vocations and victims of torture.

St. Leonard was born Paul Jerome Casanova on Dec. 20, 1676, in Porto Maurizio, Italy. His father was a sea captain, and when Paul was 13, his parents sent him to live with his uncle Agostino, and study to become a physician. Paul didn’t want to study medicine, so his uncle disowned him. 

Paul began studying at the Jesuit College in Rome, and in October of 1697, he joined the Franciscans of the Strict Observance, taking the name Brother Leonard. In 1703, he was ordained, and began teaching. Although he planned to travel to China and work as a missionary, he suffered from a bleeding ulcer, and was forced to spend several years recuperating in his hometown. 

In 1709, Leonard went to Florence to preach. He was a great speaker, and was often invited to neighboring parishes to preach. Leonard was extremely devoted to the Blessed Sacrament, Sacred Heart, Immaculate Conception, and the Stations of the Cross, encouraging everyone to increase their own devotions. He set up Stations of the Cross in over 500 different locations, including the Colosseum in Rome. 

Pope Benedict XIV sent Leonard to Corsica in 1744 to work as a missionary, and to bring order to the Franciscans there. He had little luck in Corsica, coming up against the local political leaders often. Leonard returned to Rome, where he spent the rest of his life. He died on Nov. 26, 1751, at the monastery of St. Bonaventure. 

Dominican friars in Dublin say they are praying for all involved after a stabbing incident at a nearby Catholic school in the bustling city center of Ireland’s capital.

An eyewitness described to state broadcaster RTÉ a scene of terror after three children and their teacher, a woman in her 30s, were stabbed near the school Nov. 23.

The attack occurred shortly after 1 p.m. near Parnell Square, just off the city’s main boulevard O’Connell Street.

The three children, who were lining up in front of their crèche prior to the incident, have been taken to hospital. A 5-year-old girl is in a critical condition at Temple Street Children’s Hospital. Her teacher is also in a serious condition.

In total five people have been hospitalized, including a 50-year-old male suspect who has been arrested. Irish media reported the police ruled out a terror motive.

The Catholic school is an Irish language-speaking school called Cólaiste Mhuire, which means St. Mary’s College. It is just 1,300 feet from the nearby Dominican priory of St. Saviour’s.

Dominican Father Conor McDonough, who is based at the priory which serves as the student house of formation for the Irish province of the Order of Preachers, told OSV News of the community’s shock.

“These events took place very near the Dominican church of St. Saviour’s in the north inner city. The whole community here are praying for all involved,” Father McDonough said.

The eyewitness told RTÉ that the kids were out walking: “All of a sudden one of them fell to the ground, then another fell to the ground, then another falls to the ground.”

“Then this guy started running past,” the eyewitness said.

The alleged assailant was armed with a knife and fell to the ground whereupon “a load of people jumped on him,” the eyewitness recalled.

Siobhan Kearney who was on the scene told RTÉ, “People were trying to attack the man. So me and an American lady formed a ring around him saying we’d wait on the Garda,” referring to the national police, An Garda Síochána.

The witness said, “The police were on the scene pretty quickly. An undercover garda came running up and intervened.”

The Irish prime minister, known as the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, issued a statement shortly after the alleged attack.

“We are all shocked by the incident which has taken place in Parnell Square,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“A number of people have been injured, some of them children. Our thoughts and our prayers go out to them and their families,” he said.

According to RTÉ, Ireland’s Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the attack in Dublin city center is “an attack on innocence itself.”

McEntee said she had spoken to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and the police are not looking for anyone else in relation to the attack.

McEntee said her thoughts are with the “the children, their carer, their families and the wider school community.”

Not much is known about the life of St. Catherine of Alexandria, due to the popularity of her devotions and the legends that she inspired. Many accounts say she was a member of a noble family, a convert to Christianity, a virgin by choice, and a martyr for the faith. 

Catherine is said to have been born and educated in Alexandria, which was a center of learning in the ancient world. 

It is said that Catherine received a vision of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, which led her to convert, and to become a virginal “spouse of Christ.” 

During Catherine’s lifetime, the Emperor Maxentius ruled Egypt, and launched a persecution against Christians. Catherine came before him to protest his brutal campaign. Maxentius originally tried to persuade her to renounce her faith, but in a debate, Catherine’s skillful apologetics converted a number of pagan philosophers. 

Maxentius next tried to make her his mistress, but she rebuffed him, and allegedly convinced his wife to convert to Christianity. The emperor was enraged, and tortured Catherine on a spiked wheel. According to tradition, Catherine was miraculously freed, either before or during torture, and was finally beheaded. 

Young women in many Western European countries were once known to seek the intercession of St. Catherine in finding their husbands. She also inspired the nickname for the device on which she was tortured, the “Catherine wheel.”

Photo: artdoc.media     

The Holy Archipelago, a Russian documentary about the famous Mystical SolovkiWe have chosen for this photogallery on the feast of the Synaxis of Solovki Saints a selection from works by photographers and artists featured on the Solovki Monastery’s website.

“>Solovki Monastery, was recently named Best Film and won several other prizes at the Great Lakes Christian Film Festival. Why did the organizers decide to include the Russian film despite geopolitical tensions between the two countries? What did the American audience understand from it? I posed these and other questions to the festival’s Executive Director, Shawn Patrick Greene.

Shawn Patrick Greene and a festival participant     

—Mr. Greene, why did you decide to choose this Russian documentary as the winner of your festival?

—All the technical aspects of the film were superior. Of course, we gave an award for best cinematography, best sound design, and music composition. For the subject matter. It was the story of the monastery. And I understand that worldwide, some countries with many churches, monasteries, and other religious facilities might get a bad reputation based on which countries are for or against them. So, I did not consider what has been going on with Ukraine and Russia, because politics does not determine church culture.

So, anyway, the film itself was just superior, and all of its production value, presentation, and subject matter are well put together. You know, it has what I consider the “wow factor”. You have a lot of nice stories; there are narratives and even other documentaries. But in this one there is such incredible quality, putting it together atop the subject matter. It just surpassed all expectations in just about every category.

—What did everyday Americans, your audience, learn about Russia and spiritual life in Russia from this documentary? What was their reaction?

—Those people who are from the Orthodox community already have an understanding of certain struggles that certain churches and fellowships have worldwide. So, their perspective is pretty much wide-open, and they do have good communication within their community as to what is going on worldwide.

As to Christians as a whole, especially in the US, there is not much information given. The mainstream media in the US do not cover stories that put things into light during moments of darkness, if you will.

So, I would say that many people who have seen this documentary understand there is a different perspective. I would say that intelligent people are more in tune with what is going on and are not swallowing or allowing the mainstream media to spoon-feed them information about some countries. And I would say Russia is no different.

—Given the current geopolitical circumstances, was it difficult to invite the Russian documentary and the Russian delegation to the festival? If yes, what barriers did you have to overcome?

—The Holy Archipelago’s team was not present at the festival. But we do not have barriers against allowing films to come in. There are some countries like, for instance, Iran, where we may have Christian contacts and they want to come to our festival, but they cannot pay for their submission fees. Then there are sanctions that do not allow them to come. But as for Russia, there were no sanctions that prevented them from submitting their film to us.

But with this one, there was not any major issue. If anything, it would be more communications from our social media, especially when you have, I would say, something like a hard key; for example, the Russian online presence has been banned or blocked from US social media platforms, so we did not get any information from Russian media.

So, that is one barrier.

—Did anyone say to you, “Are you crazy, inviting a Russian film in the midst of the current situation?”

—I did not hear that, no. But in fact, if anything, it was an opportunity to open people’s eyes to something in Russia that is not talked about in mainstream media, because that media only covers things that are happening in the Kremlin or the office of Vladimir Putin, in the politics and the military. But nobody wants to talk about everyday life situations in the country.

    

—What did you personally learn about Russia and Orthodox Christianity from this film?

—I have been a Christian for most of my life. One of my cousins is married to an Orthodox priest in Niagara Falls, NY. I have seen him develop and have talked with him one-on-one about his embrace of Eastern Orthodoxy. I have insight from him and my own research as well. But the film just reaffirmed to me the importance of Orthodoxy in Russia, and the people that adhere to it.

—Russia is an Orthodox Christian country. How important was it for you to understand the Russian faith, and why?

—I think that if we focus on a country’s identity based only on politics, we are going to miss out on other aspects of a country. And I think religion is often overlooked when it comes to politics. But world religions are also valid in different countries. And it is good to let people know that Jesus Christ is well-represented in Russia. To me, this was very important.

—Do you have plans to invite Russian movies for future festivals?

—We have actually had some films from Russia submitted to our festival before. Not all of them are Orthodox, but there were different stories. This was our ninth festival, and we had many different types of Russian films. So, yes, we plan to invite them in the future.

Tensions between Rome and the majority of German bishops are again intensifying with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, informing the German bishops in an official note that the ordination of men to the priesthood and the church’s teaching on homosexuality are non-negotiable, the Catholic weekly newspaper Die Tagespost reported Nov. 24.

The spokesman for the German bishops’ conference, Matthias Kopp, confirmed that the bishops had the letter at their Permanent Council at the beginning of the week.

In the letter dated Oct. 23 and addressed to the general secretary of the bishops’ conference, Beate Gilles, Cardinal Parolin drew red lines for ongoing dialogue with the German bishops.

He emphasized that the Vatican did not consider it possible to negotiate on the church’s teaching on homosexuality or the 1994 document “Ordinatio Sacerdotalis,” in which St. John Paul II reaffirmed the exclusion of women from ordination to the priesthood.

In July, several heads of Vatican dicasteries met German bishops to discuss the Synodal Path, the reform project of the Catholic church in Germany. At the end of October, the German participants in the Synod on Synodality, including the president of the bishops’ conference, bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, and general secretary Gilles held a further meeting with several heads of dicasteries. These talks are to be continued in 2024.

According to Die Tagespost, the heads of the dicasteries for doctrine, ecumenical relations, bishops, liturgy and sacraments and for legal texts want to meet representatives of the German bishops in January, April and June 2024 to discuss what is unchangeable in the church’s doctrine and discipline and what can be altered.

The themes to be discussed include ecclesiology, anthropology, moral teaching and liturgy and the relevant texts of the Synodal Path.

The latest letter from Rome also pointed out that a synodal process was currently underway at a global level. “It is therefore necessary to respect this path of the Universal Church and to avoid the impression that parallel initiatives are underway that are indifferent to the endeavor to ‘journey together.’”

The Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) has reacted calmly to the latest document from Rome on planned church reforms in Germany.

ZdK President Irme Stetter-Karp said on Nov. 24 in Berlin that there had been movement on reform in the Vatican — within the curia and also between the curia and the pope.

She said that even before the Synod on Synodality in the Vatican, Cardinal Parolin had said it was impossible to give women voting rights in the synod because that would contradict canon law. “And what did our pope do? Suddenly it was legal and was put into practice,” Stetter-Karp told KNA.

Thomas Soeding, a member of the ZdK’s presidium, said there were repeated attempts to “pass off partial truths taken out of context as definitive statements by Rome.” The ZdK would not let itself be intimidated by this, he said. On the contrary, it was positive “that there is and should be a dialogue process between Germany and Rome.”

Pope Francis recently expressed his concern about concrete initiatives individual dioceses and the Catholic Church in Germany as a whole are taking, including the establishment of a synodal council, which, he said, threaten to steer it away from the universal church.

“Instead of looking for ‘salvation’ in always-new committees and always discussing the same issues with a certain self-referentiality,” Catholics need to turn to prayer, penance and adoration as well as reach out to the marginalized and abandoned, the pope wrote in a recent letter.

The papal letter was a response to four German laywomen who had written the pope Nov. 6 expressing their “doubts and fears” about the outcomes of the Synodal Path, which began in December 2019 and concluded in March 2023.

“I am convinced (it is) there the Lord will show us the way,” he wrote in the letter dated Nov. 10. Typewritten in German and signed by the pope, the letter was published in full by the German newspaper Die Welt Nov. 21.