Michael,

change the title to what you really are after it will catch more flies.

Peace

Noel: I've not attended Maronite Masses overseas but have had the pleasure to do so in the US, where much is in English (or the American version, anyway). Is "very long" a good or bad thing? I suppose if you have children it leans more toward...perhaps "inconvenient" is a better word than "bad." I also attended a Russian Orthodox (admitedly not a Catholic Rite, though I would suspect somewhat similar to a Ukranian Rite) service some years ago at Easter (which began prior to sunset on Saturday) and found it to be beautiful. With no pews, however, it did become tiring after the first three hours. About sunrise the service ended. To my mind it seems that the different rites really demonstrate a unity in our diversity. Reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, belief in the power of Jesus to heal us both spiritually and physically, the joy of new life in Christ, and matrimonial union to Him or through Him are all shared, though expressed in different but equally beautiful ways. I love our Church. In Christ, Michael
"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried"

"The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." - GK Chesterton

Some rites do not partake in the Eucharist.  
There's an Greek Orthodox down the street, I attended through invitation.

Peace

they were part, and are still part from a different perspective; just not in agreement in human terms; there's this thing called the body of christ that only in christ do we see it.  the pope sees this way that is why he ever persistent.

on the surface it is not so, just as israel was dispersed as a nation to the four corners of the earth, the church has been torn, bitten off pieces here, pieces there; not sure about the four corners.

Peace