Why I've not been posting much lately

I'm now at something of a breathing spot, and can mention a few things that I could not before, which have been preventing me from posting.

1. I've recently started a new job, and this has been occupying a great deal of my time for the last two months. As it is my practice not to discuss my employment in my weblog, this will probably be my last post about my work.

2. I have recently, and officially, changed my rite from Roman Catholic to Melkite and Russian Catholic. This was surprisingly easier than I had at first thought: I had heard horror stories of it taking two to four years to accomplish. This would probably still be the case, if the Eastern Catholic Code of Canon Law had not been changed. But Canon 32 of that Code states as follows:

1. No one can validly transfer to another Church sui iuris without the consent of the Apostolic See.

2. In the case of Christian faithful of an eparchy of a certain Church sui iuris who petition to transfer to another Church sui iuris which has its own eparchy in the same territory, this consent of the Apostolic See is presumed, provided that the eparchial bishops of both eparchies consent to the transfer in writing.

As my parish priest is also the Director of Ecumenical Affairs for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, he was able to tell me how to go about obtaining consent from his Eminence, Roger Cardinal Mahony, and from His Grace, Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros of the Melkite Eparchy of Newton: I wrote what I thought was a polite letter to His Eminence, and within a week I received a very polite (and very kind) letter from His Eminence himself, granting my request and forwarding a letter with a copy of his consent to His Grace, Archbishop Cyril.

Within another week or so, and before I could write the letter to His Grace, Archbishop Cyril had already written to my priest, Fr. Alexei, granting my request. I was told that the change of rite would be effective when I acknowleged the change before two witnesses. And so, last Sunday, during the apodosis of the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, and the Feast of the Holy Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora at Nicomedia, with Deacon Irenaeus Dionne, and my good friend and choir director, Gabriel Meyer, as witnesses, and with my wife Elizabeth and my friend Mary Macdonald present, I became a member of the Melkite Eastern Catholic Church.

3. I've been looking into obtaining an appropriate theological education, and while I am looking with interest at both the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute(and its Formation Theologique par Correspondance) as well as the Pavel Florensky School of Theology and Ministry of Euclid University, I have presently applied to and have been accepted into the St. Stephen's Program of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, with an eye towards perhaps going on to their Master's and Doctorate programs at Balamand University.

In short, it's been somewhat busy around here. More later.