Meeting Father Martin

 Besides the rain clouds and the rain on the first night, one of the delightful twists of this first (second year in a row on the Fourth) was that I finally able to make a visit to the shrine of Mary Undoer of Knots, which is a tiny Byzantine Catholic compound hidden in the trees on the hillside opposite the hotel. The broadasting of the bells is a pleasant sound through the pines when one is at the lodge.

It has almost never been open, except by special appointment. This year was different. While waiting for the parade to start, I spotted, from our balcony, a man taking a seat in a folding chair on the opposite side of the main road. He had a long white beard and was wearing black robes. Instantly I knew he must be associated with the shrine, so I scurried down out of the hotel and crossed the street, approaching him as he was talking ato another man sitting beside him, who was wearing a military service cap.

I introduced myself (I can be quite social when I want to be) and asked if he was with the shrine. He said yes. His name was Father Martin. His companion introduced himself as "Gene, Husband of Katharine" although there was no woman present. I would later meet Katharine, and learn that the two of them are local residents who provide the secular organization of the shrine. Father Martin comes up part time. I told Father Martin how I'd been wanting to visit the shrine but was unable. He said that there was a chance the next afternoon for the Saturday afternoon Divine Liturgy. I believe this was the first time they had had the Liturgy there during any of my previous visits. It felt like the shrine was coming up in the world. I told Father Martin I would see him there, on the next day. I also conveyed to him that I was not Catholic. I had been to (western) Catholic masses, and to an Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy (most recently in Modesto last. year), but had never been to the Byzantine Catholic version of the Divine Liturgy. 

It's essentially the same liturgy as the one used by the Eastern Orthodox, deriving from one created by St. John Crysostom. The difference is the Byzantine Catholics are, in fact, fully ni communion with the Pope and part of the Catholic Church, but are allowed to contine to use the Eastern Rite. So they are sort of a hybrid missle ground between East and West. All this I knew. What was strange was to find such a parish in, of all places, the community of Summerhaven. To my knoweldge there were no other religious congregations on the mountain. You had to make the long drive down to Tuscon for any of that, juust like you do to fill up your gas tank and buy groceries beyond the general store essentials. Everyone worshipped down in the valley---except the Byzantine Catholics. All Catholics by the way are allowed to go the Byzantine version, and the next day I would meet some of them, as well as other tourists and looky lous like me.