I have to admit, I had to look up the words. I have never heard of an Orthodox priest wearing a biretta, and fiddleback just doesn't yield anything religious in my search. Maybe you can enlighten me.
Whatever changes are needed, I hope the Catholics do what the Orthodox do when faced with such dilemma: look back! We always revert to patristic teahcings and traditions. Pope Benedict XVI seems to be one such Christian who seeks solutions in patristic traditions.
My personal impression is that somehow the Vatican II promoted changes that at least externally approached the Protestants, perhaps to make Catholicism appear more agreeable to them.
"I have to admit, I had to look up the words. I have never heard of an Orthodox priest wearing a biretta, and fiddleback just doesn't yield anything religious in my search. Maybe you can enlighten me."
Perhaps I was unclear, I should have written "I knew I would never see an EO priest wear a biretta or fiddleback."
The fiddleback is a nickname for the Roman Chasuble, one of the three types of Chasubles worn by Latin priests. Here is a nice spread of pictures, courtesy of Fr Tucker of Dappled Things: http://dappledphotos.blogspot.com/2005/03/fiddleback-chasuble-sightings.html
"Whatever changes are needed, I hope the Catholics do what the Orthodox do when faced with such dilemma: look back! We always revert to patristic teahcings and traditions. Pope Benedict XVI seems to be one such Christian who seeks solutions in patristic traditions."
In his VII declaration on the Eastern Catholic Churches (I know it's a very touchy subject with the Orthodox, but I'll leave it at that) Paul VI gave exactly that advice to them: Go back, rediscover the beauty of your traditions! It's a wonder the West wasn't given that same advice.
"My personal impression is that somehow the Vatican II promoted changes that at least externally approached the Protestants, perhaps to make Catholicism appear more agreeable to them."
Yes, I have to say that I agree with that. You probably missed it, but sometime last week or the week before that, a FReeper posted a meta-analysis, where a liturgically right wing priest criticized the commentary of a liturgically horrible priest who was criticizing a beautifully done Solemn Novus Ordo Mass on EWTN. In this one Mass they broke out the incense and bells and Latin, etc.; the left wing priest criticized it, saying it would alienate our Protestant brethren.