When: Sunday, October 2nd, 2011.
Web: The church's website is here.
We attended the 11:00am divine liturgy at the only Maronite church within the district. The Maronite Church is in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Maronite divine liturgy has essentially the same structure and focus as the Roman Catholic standard rite, or so it seemed to us. A single priest led the liturgy, aided by two deacons and accompanied by several other (robed) servers that had prepared the altar before the liturgy's beginning. The priest began the service at the church's entrance - seemingly to welcome a baby's first visit to the church (we thought wrongly that there would be a baptism). He returned to the altar area, began a lengthy series of prayers (some in English, others in Syriac), aided by a wonderful choir.
This led to the readings - one from the New Testament (read by what we think was a lay person) and one from the Gospel (read by the priest). Deacons translated both readings into Syriac. The priest's homily asked us all not to be fearful of God's love - and to live life as if our Master could return at any moment. He gave several examples of how we let fear restrict us in our daily lives.
The Communion rite followed. Communion was by intincture - the priest and deacons dipped the bread into the wine as each person came up to receive (solely by mouth - we saw no one take it by hand).
The church was quite full - we estimate the congregation at about 125. The congregation appeared overwhelmingly Lebanese. There was a good mix of old and young, including several families with young children. We were very happy to experience worship in this unique and ancient branch of the Catholic Church.