checking out parish tomorrow morning

[pilgrim727]

Finally I am certain of the truth of Orthodoxy.  I am going to the local Antiochian parish tomorrow morning for Divine Liturgy.  I  visited Orthodox churches quite a while ago, and have been attending a Byzantine Catholic church, so am familiar with the liturgy and most of the customs.  This parish uses English for all services, has vespers and orthros every weekend.  The ROCOR church is closer, but is entirely in Slavonic with the sermon in Russian.  The OCA churches are too far away.  The Greek church is part-English, part-Greek;  the Serbian and Ukrainian are comprised mostly of retirees and have Dvine Liturgy only.

I have no idea how long I should attend before asking about the catechumenate process, and then if that will take a few months or a year.  Mostly what I have been working on lately is absorbing some of the concepts  --  for me it takes a while for some of the differences in approach to sink in and fit with other ideas.  The doctrines themselves are not a problem at all.

One thing I noticed about this parish when I stopped by to buy some materials one Sun. am was the good age mix, which is, imho, one sign of a healthy church.  

I would welcome comments/correspondence from anyone with any useful comments.

Porter

[Donna Rose]

Porter,

God be with you tomorrow morning! (and don't worry, He will be ) Re: the catechumenate, my advice would be to see if the priest seems/feels approachable for you (i.e. that from his sermon, etc. you feel comfortable enough to go up to him and introduce yourself), and then approach him after divine liturgy - not necessarily to ask to become a catechumen immediately, but rather to tell him a little about yourself, that you plan on attending liturgy there, and that you see the catechumenate in your future and that you are at a point where you have done all that you can without the guidance of a priest, the subtext being: please guide me! Another way to ask this is to ask if the parish offers Inquirer's Classes. For me, it became a matter of: I need someone with authority (i.e. a priest) whom I can ask any questions I have, and who will give me answers that will help me and not harm me (which at times are all that laypeople, though their intentions are always good, can provide). Furthermore, having someone who I am meant to obey is a wonderful relief, at least for this girl who second-guesses herself all the time! So I'd say, approach him at least to introduce yourself as a new person who will be attending liturgy, and then from there tell him as much as you feel comfortable, taking my suggestions or not. Let us know how it works out!

~*Donna Rose

[spartacus]

 I recommend scheduling a one-on-one meeting with the priest. Weekends and Sundays can be extremely busy for the Priest.......Perhaps you could telephone to arrange an appointment to discuss sucvh matters.

I doubt you will be his first convert....so meet with the priest one on one and take his learned advice and counsel.

[Donna Rose]

It is true, priests are very busy on the weekends, but if it is anything like my parish then the priest spends the hour and a half following liturgy mingling and socializing and being a friend to his parishoners (during coffee hour, etc.) and I found that during this time, the time the priest allots to his parishoners, is a good time to approach him with introductions...it worked for me, anyway. But Spartacus' idea is good too...

[David]

Indeed.  Why not do both, ie, introduce yourself to the priest and talk with him for a few brief minutes, and set up an appointment to meet with him later in the week.  

I hope all went well!

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