What is the Byzantine Catholic Church?

In this video, Father Christopher Zugger from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish explains what the Byzantine Catholic Church is.

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God bless!

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[VoiceOfReason_]

Glory to Jesus Christ now and forever!

[pinesap]

God bless you Father! I love seeing Eastern Catholicism get the recognition it deserves

[MrX_]

I am currently a Protestant. Several months ago, I felt a strong urge to get down on my knees and pray to God. I asked Him, "Lord, please show me the church you want me to go to. What is the true church you want me to belong to?" I was expecting the Lord to guide me to a Protestant church. I never thought I would find myself seriously considering the Catholic Church.

It all started with an intense interest in learning about the early church. As I delved deeper, Orthodox Christianity began to call out to me in a profound way. It's hard to explain, but it felt like a push from deep within my heart and soul towards the church.

At the same time, I continued to pray in the personal, Protestant manner I was accustomed to. Within me, I started to feel the need for a prayer that had deeper meaning, or at least a prayer that connected me not just to Protestants, but to all my brothers and sisters in Christ. So, I began saying the Our Father every morning, along with a personal prayer. Then, I added the Apostle's Creed to my daily routine. I also began reading one psalm each day, followed by prayer.

Eventually, I discovered the Jesus Prayer. This introduced a conflict in my mind because, as a Protestant, I was taught not to do repetitive prayers. However, I thought, if other Christians are doing it, maybe there's something I don't fully understand. So, I decided to start saying the Jesus Prayer. I bought a 10-bead prayer rope from a Catholic store to help me with this practice.

To my surprise, after incorporating the Jesus Prayer into my routine, I felt much closer and stronger in my faith and in my relationship with God. This was unexpected. I also started saying the Glory Be prayer ten times a day. Through these practices, I began to realize that there might be more to our faith—perhaps there's more in the original tradition of Christianity that our Protestant churches might not fully capture.

It's a long story how I initially became a Christian, but I encountered another conflict that made me hesitant about joining the Orthodox or Catholic Church. This conflict centered around Mary, the Mother of God. I didn't understand what I know now, and I still feel some reluctance to ask for her intercession. However, a couple of significant things happened.

I had a dream where I found myself in a dark place. It wasn't a room, but rather a desolate land shrouded in darkness. I was trying to hide from menacing figures—dark shadows that wanted to harm me. Initially, I was brave, but fear took over when I realized they sensed my fear. Suddenly, everything turned white, with light shining everywhere. A woman appeared in the distance, standing silently and not looking at me, but at them.

The shadows stopped and said, "Do you see who that is? Don't touch him." Another one asked, "What is she doing here?" And another replied, "It's the God-bearer, the Mother of God." They ran away. She never said a word; she just looked at them, and then she left. I woke up.

I was so conflicted in the following days, even for several weeks. I didn't know what to make of it. It wasn't something I could easily discuss with my Protestant friends or a Protestant pastor.

When I was younger, I used to pray to God for help, simply saying, "God, help me with this" or "God, help me with that." One night, when we couldn't find my father, I prayed, "God, please help us find our dad." Suddenly, it was like a switch flipped in my mind. I remembered that every time I prayed in the name of Jesus, things actually happened, but not when I prayed just to God.

This realization stayed with me for years. I wondered, "Father God, why is it that things happen only when I pray in Jesus' name?" Years later, I understood that He was pointing me to His Son. If He hadn't taught me that, I might not have become a Christian. I knew then that He had guided me to Jesus. We did end up finding my father. He actually reached out to me the morning after the night I prayed to Jesus for help.

Now, after asking the Lord to help me find the true church, I feel like He is pointing me to His mother to guide me further. When I was searching for an Orthodox church to visit, I felt discouraged because many of them seemed very nationalistic—one was Russian, another was Romanian, and so on. I felt I wouldn't be accepted if I wasn't part of that culture, so I didn't end up going to any of them.

I thought maybe there's an American one, so I started looking and found the Orthodox Church in America. I planned to go, but something always came up, and I didn't end up going. I was still considering it, but then I started to look into why Orthodox Christians and Catholics are not united. I discovered the main issue is the Pope. This question became crucial: if the Pope is supposed to be the leader of the Church, then the Catholic Church is the true Church. But if not, and the church is supposed to be broken up into independent districts, then I was back to square one, questioning why I should listen to bishops from other countries and cultures.

The idea of apostolic succession also intrigued me. However, I found out that even among Orthodox Christians, there is conflict. The two Ukrainian Orthodox churches are in conflict with each other, and there are disputes between Ukrainian, Russian, and Greek Orthodox churches. They claim to be united, but in reality, they are not. I didn't want to join a church divided by national lines—that's not how it should be.

So, I started looking more into the arguments for and against the Pope from both Orthodox and Catholic perspectives. I concluded that the Pope is supposed to be the leader of the Church. I also learned about the Byzantine Rite and felt that I had found a place I want to go to.

That's my story. I'm still going through this journey, and I ask everyone who reads my story to please pray for me. Ever since I've figured this out, I've been under more intense spiritual attack than ever before. God bless, and all glory to our Lord Jesus Christ ✝️❤️‍🔥☦️

[jdjefferson]

Hey this is my priest. Let's pray for this guy, he's great!

[sometimesIcook]

Syriac Catholic here. Thanks for talking about Eastern catholics.

[CommonSenseChrist]

For me, the Byzantine Rite represents a shining example of the unity of East and West as Jesus intended. That is why it means so much to me. Glory to Jesus Christ!

[markaxleumayam]

Watching from the Philippines, wishing there are more Eastern Catholic churches here in my country. 🙏

[vladodobleja]

As a Eastern Orthodox Christian from România I think that the Byzantine Ryte Catholics are Orthodox Christians in communion with Rome!

[zZjakZz]

I just recently learned there are 23 churches outside of the Roman Latin rite in communion with Rome and the Pope. I’d love to see even more videos on all the parts of what makes this rite unique, history, etc!

[jmdionishow]

Beautiful! As a catholic, one of my earthly dream is to experience all the 23 churches' liturgy!

Group hug! Or should I say Church hug?! 🎉✝️

[brianraftery]

Greetings from Saint Thomas Byzantine Catholic Church in New Jersey — great video.

[dawntrudeau]

Watching from Ontario Canada. I too wish there were more Eastern Catholic Churches.

[dimetra]

As an orthodox christian, seeing this gives me hope that there will be reunification in our future

[MicheleMay-lz]

Glory to Jesus Christ. I am a parishioner at St John’s Byzantine Cathedral Munhall Pa

[Rehabed]

I go to TLM, but with all the talk of restrictions, I’ve reached out to our local byzantine Church. I want to experience the Divine Liturgy.

[Catmonks]

Christ is Risen. Indeed, He is Risen. I love our holy apostolic catholic church both east and west 🙏⛪️🇻🇦✝️🇺🇸🦅🫡❤️

[ChristGivesLife]

Dear beloved Catholic brothers and sisters, God carried me through one of the darkest times a soul could ever go through in life as a father. It was during this time that I had such intimate and sweet communion with Jesus and our Heavenly Father! I had nothing visible to look at. Just a closet really, where I sat and prayed, pouring out my heart to God. Honestly, it was such a traumatic event in life that the only thing that brought me any comfort was the Holy Scriptures and communing with the Father and the Son. I discovered the beauty and power of reading the Bible, not to get knowledge, but to spend that time with God. I do understand the idea of the art/icons, but in that valley, God had something so much more powerful, His living presence, in my heart, in my room, watching over my life and communicating back to me! What a wonderful Savior we have. Look to Jesus my family, He will never disappoint!

[deporthem]

Thank you Father, I really enjoyed this video and learning more about our faith.

God bless you and all the persecuted Christian’s around the world, especially in Syria and Afghanistan.

[b.malnit]

Thank you very much for the great explanation of our faith. God bless ALL our Catholic friends in Christ.

[NickyMetropolis]

I love the videos and as a Roman Catholic I love to hear about other rites.