With a new mission, do True Orthodox use Catholic churches?

[Maria]

In world orthodoxy, it appears to be quite common for mission parishes to rent part of a Catholic or Protestant church or to share a chapel. For example, for a while, the Kona Hawaii OCA mission used a small historic Catholic Church for their services as that church was only used one Sunday a month by the Catholics. The priest would load all the icons and sacred items necessary for the Divine Liturgy in his car, transport them to the Catholic Church, set up the church for the Divine Liturgy, take it all down once the service was over, and then cart it all home.

I have never observed this sharing of facilities with Catholics/Protestants in the GOC as most missions are either started in a home, a rented and dedicated facility, or a chapel or church that they have built or purchased.

[joasia]

This isn't an example of a mission Church, but it gives an example of what needs to be done, for certain situations, even for True Orthodox.

When St. Nicholas Cathedral, in Montreal, was purposely burnt down (1998) by the enemy of Christ, we needed to scramble and find a place to worship. We didn't want to stop services. So, we rented a dining hall, at a Catholic Church. It was to the side of the Church which had a separate entrance. Vladika Vitaly, memory eternal, was there. We went there for several weeks. I don't remember how long. Then we had the opportunity, thanks be to God, to have services in another dining hall, converted into a Church, offered by the Bukavinians, in Lachine.

That's as close as we got to a Catholic Church. I doubt that Vladika would have accepted serving in the actual Church.

[Maria]

Thanks Joanne.

Yes, I would certainly feel uneasy participating in an Orthodox Divine Liturgy in a Catholic Church, whether it is a modernist one or a traditionalist one.