I liked that you provided some much needed attention to St. Michael’s Russian Catholic Church, but I am puzzled by your use of the term “apostolate” to describe it. “Apostolate” implies a mission to a particular region or people, or, within the context of a religious order, a particular task, skill or expertise (teaching, preaching, healing, etc.). St. Michael’s is none of those–it is a parish, plain and simple.

One could also get the impression that St. Mchael’s is under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York; it is not. St. Michaels is a parish of the Russian Catholic Church, one of the 21 Eastern Catholic Churches that comprise the Catholic communion. As one of the smaller Eastern Catholic Churches, the Russian Catholic Church does not have its own hierarchy, but is placed in the pastoral care of the local ordinary while retaining its discrete ecclesial identity. St. Michael’s is not a “Roman Catholic Church”.

Moreover, as Father Roman and many of the other parishoners interviewed indicated, St. Michael’s is not an ethnic parish. They worship in the Russian Orthodox Tradition, but only a relatively small minority of the people are actually Russian, or even Slavs; most are either current or former members of the Latin Church, or converts from various Protestant denominations. St. Michael’s “apostolate”, if it has one, is not limited to the Russian community (which is very well served by dozens of Russian Orthodox parishes in New York City), but to all those attracted to the glories of the Russian liturgical and spiritual patrimony and who wish to live in that way.