What is the Zoghby Initiative? w/ Fr. Dcn. Anthony Dragani

Great Episode Micheal

God bless

Thank you,God grant you many years🙏

Great video Michael! I recently visited a byzantine catholic parish near me and had an awesome chat with the father there for about two hours. It's the closest one to me and it's 50 minutes away. I was very thankful he took the time to talk to me and explain some things from an eastern set of mind. One off putting thing was that he pretty much blatantly admitted to not believing in the filioque and believed it was an error.

We spoke about many things, one of which was broader eastern catholicism and its attention, or lack thereof, that it receives from Rome. In the back of my mind I wondered if it was this "lack" of attention that could possibly allow certain priests in an eastern tradition to dissent from the magisterium on the filioque. In all honesty this father was very down, kind hearted, and soft spoken and I was under the impression that maybe even he was unaware of exactly what "Western" theological inserts he is bound to or needs to believe. There was a big beautiful picture of Francis in the entry room and it was great to see that in an eastern context, but the discussion about the filioque definitely raised an eyebrow for me because it seems to be on of those things where at the very least, an easterner would draw themselves to in order to affirm communion with Rome.

I really would love to see Eastern Catholicism thrive in my area and I know SO MANY people in the western Latin rite that would love to attend because the divine liturgy is calling them. This could obviously be a point of contention when attending a byzantine church where the priest himself does not affirm the filioque and to some it may turn them away. Obviously the filioque has been a point of contention between east and west for a millennium but when it's even present within the context of catholicism it's even more devastating. Keep in mind this is just one father that I've talked to and I am by no means attributing this disregard of the filioque to all eastern catholic clergy and/or laity.

Very informative video. Learning a lot about Eastern Catholic History.
Praying for the EO to reunite with the One Holy Catholic Church. ❤ ❤ ❤

It was a Syro Malabar Church. I remember hearing about it from Church Militant.

Thank you Michael and Father Deacon Anthony for such a great video! Myself I am a Melkite Priest with a wife and two daughters, and experientially I found more acceptance upon my visiting Orthodox Churches and other Eastern Catholic Churches in contrast to the Roman Catholic Church. Even with Ecclesiastical Letters of Good Standing in my hands my daughters have been denied Holy Communion at the Roman Mass on many occassions, and most frustrating is the Roman Priests asking "Are you Catholic?" I have even experienced the tragic comment from Roman Priests "You can't be Catholic because you follow your Patriarch and we follow the Pope!" I would really encourage a Better Catequesis needing to be done by our Fellow Roman Catholics in understanding what actually the Catholic Church is and that it is not synonymous with being Roman solely. Blessings to you both!

Father Sergio

What an interesting and informed speaker Fr Anthony is.
Seems like a true Christian, unlike so many in SM that are merely merchants.
I am going to explorer his channel, if he has one!

Would be helpful if this channels share their guests links, is the minimum they could do for their guests generosity of time.

As the resident Melkite who had fallen away, but was brought back, I’m glad this was brought up today. I’m a bit more liberal and have a more laid back view on some things where there is wiggle room.

what about saying the councils after the seventh are universally authoritative by nature of papal ratification but solely for the reason of promoting unity dont use the term ecumenical
i think this is along the lines of what Pope Paul VI was saying

This is my favorite type of R&T content

Imagine being lucky enough to live in the time when Catholics and Orthodox reunited. I pray for that day.

@FrJohnBrownSJ – I saw that many folks gave you some specific examples of Latinization in externals: i.e. the wholesale adoption of the rosary (worse is public recitation of the rosary in place of the Divine Office prior to the Liturgy, in my opinion), Eucharistic Adoration, veneration of Western saints, etc. The worse problem, however, is a Latinization of the mind. This began when many Eastern seminarians began going to Rome for their seminary formation. They were formed in the scholastic theology of Rome and ended up viewing that (along with the scholastic saints and theologians) as superior to their church's own traditional theological approach. This has morphed over the centuries and has become more of an issue where the Eastern laity in general are more familiar and comfortable with the theology and spirituality of the West. I remember one Maronite young adults group I attended – where some Melkites were also present – and in the discussion I heard references to the Divine Mercy Diary, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Teresa of Avila, etc., but never once heard a reference to Syriac Fathers like St. Ephrem (the Syrian) of Nisibis, St. Isaac (the Syrian) of Nineveh, St. Jacob of Sarug, or even more commonly known Greek Fathers like St. John Chrysostom or St. Gregory of Nyssa. The average Eastern Catholic is more comfortable in the Latin mindset than they are in their own tradition.

Thank you so much for doing this interview. As someone that has struggled so much going back-and-forth between the Melkite Church and Antiochian Orthodox Church mainly because of these issues, to get the context of everything really helps settle things. God bless you both. ☦️

I wonder how the Eastern Catholic Bishops and Orthodox Bishops would blend, if union would happen. Would they share authority or would one become something like an Archbishop. You came very close to this a few times, but never addressed it.

Watch Theologizing as an Eastern Catholic: a talk from Andriy Chirovsky; and Patriarch Sviatoslav cited the UGCC as an Orthodox Church in communion as understood during the First Millenium.

Wonderful educational video by the two of you -- as always! Thank you both!!

What if the Orthodox were allowed to see the Pope strictly as Bishop of Rome and not the end all authority over all of Christendom?