Orthodox Catholic Ministries of the Holy Cross — Holy Cross Enid — is an open and affirming parish of the Orthodox Catholic Church of America. Our purpose is to fulfill Christ’s command, to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
What is Orthodox Catholic?
Orthodox Catholic Church of America is a small Orthodox tradition — small, but deeply and directly rooted in the oldest Christian traditions and communities. We are Orthodox in our theology and Catholic in being united to Christ’s Universal Church.
The Orthodox Catholic Church traces its roots to Antioch (in present day Turkey) — one of the five original bishops’ seats in Christianity, the first community to use the term ‘Christian’ to describe The Way of Christ, and the first seat in which St. Peter served as bishop (before Rome). From Antioch, the Church spread to Syria, and then to India, where it joined with the Christian community St. Thomas founded there in the First Century. Msgr. Rene Vilatte was consecrated a bishop by the Malankara (India) Syriac Orthodox Church in the late 19th Century and brought the Orthodox Catholic tradition to North America, where it has since grown to a small but thriving Orthodox tradition.
We are a faith practice rich with the earliest Christian theology and tradition. Our Faith Tradition is rooted in the ministry of Jesus and his teachings on peace, love, justice, and equality, and in the early Church. As a two thousand year-old church with Apostolic Succession, our tradition believes faith is dependent on our actions towards the care of the oppressed, disenfranchised, poor, and unwell.
Open. Affirming. Orthodox.
Holy Cross Enid is part of a broader Open and Affirming Church tradition. We believe all sexual orientations and gender identities are a beautiful reflection of God’s creative design. God loves you the way God made you, and so do we. All aspects of our Church, including lay leadership, ordination and marriage, are open to all God’s children, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
Services
Holy Cross serves both in a traditional church setting and on the street. We seek to serve those in need, where they are, when they need to be served. We have a regular service of Divine Liturgy (Mass) and Unction at 2 p.m. Sundays at the historic St. Stephen AME Church, 701 E. Park. If you would like to receive Communion or host a home service, please contact the Rev. Deacon James Neal at HolyCrossEnid@gmail.com.
Ministries
Holy Cross seeks to serve “the least of these,” wherever we may encounter them. Current ministries include Homeless/Street, Nursing Home, Prison and Bicycle ministries. For more information, visit our Ministries page.