The church is given to the Orthodox, but the priest does not know it
by Andrea Zambrano (Aug. 1, 2011)
He entered the church where he has celebrated Mass for 40 years, and he found an Orthodox priest who was dismantling the statues of the saints. Asked for explanations, the Romanian religious could do no other than open his arms and invite him to go to the [diocesan] chancery. It happened at Reggio Emilia [Emilia-Romagna], in Christ Church, a small shrine where every morning, for the past 40 years, the rector, Father Luigi Veratti, celebrates mass at 9.30, in front of a considerable group of faithful, around 50.
The church was handed over to the Orthodox on July 7, according to the principle recommended by the CEI [Italian Episcopal Conference] of granting the use of religious buildings to other Christian confessions. But someone in the chancery clearly forgot to mention it to the rector of the shrine and, above all, to explain to the people of God the reasons for the change and the available alternatives. The numerous Romanian religious community in Reggio was already a guest in that church for the Sunday Divine Liturgy. "Our saints and their saints were all together, there had never been a problem in sharing," the priest said. ... "The fact is that I had to ask the [Orthodox] priest permission to celebrate the last mass and to thus warn the faithful that the celebration had been suppressed," the priest told Il Giornale di Reggio, visibly moved by the way he was treated by his superiors.
Well, at least now the liturgy will be always versus Deum in the Chiesa del Cristo - it was surely designed for this purpose.
