Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
	When Pope Pius XII died in 1958, there was the usual buzz of speculation about likely successors. Cardinal Agajanian, Patriarch of the Armenians, was highly thought of as a likely choice. This took many Catholics by surprise, since he had never celebrated the same liturgy as Pope Pius, but followed ancient Armenian customs according to the Eastern Church, which veils the Eucharisic liturgy from sight by a series of curtains, and in which the priest kneels while the people stand for Communion.
	In the years that followed, the Second Vatican Council would affirm the dignity and independence of the Eastern Churches, in complete union with Rome, yet different in patterns of life and worship. We have the same faith, the same sacraments, and the same pope. Yet everywhere in the world our separate Churches are combined into families held together by the ministry of bishops. All of this serves as warning: If you ever say, “But we’ve always done it this way,” you are on very thin ice indeed!
—James Field