[GSlob]

Dead wrong: he goes for '"a family", collectivism [thus Orthodoxy]. A "church of one" mentioned in your post is a place for extreme individualists only.

[Kolokotronis]

"personal take: for me it'd be absurd to join, say, the Russian Orthodox church without being Russian"

This blogger is a real pip, NYer!

And how about this line:

"He joined a societally irrelevant, small church."

The Russian Orthodox Church? You know, it really is a shame that there are so many, especially American, Catholics who are so abysmally ignorant of The Faith. I wonder why +JPII wasted and +BXVI wastes time with such a "... societally irrelevant, small church."

"So he left the Church because of the scandals...and his own dissent - let's not overlook that part."

This is sophistry. The man didn't leave because of the scandals, but the scandals prompted him to investigate the Eastern Church. His conversion was on account of what he found there. Final point, in my experience it is quite rare for Roman Catholics to become Orthodox. They seem to come with a fair degree of regularity, but they almost never come more than twice. From what I hear, they are at sea with the Liturgy; its not a matter of theology. Its a different story with the Episcopalians, who take to Orthodoxy pretty readily as do many evangelical Protestants.

[Pennswood]

There's no excuse for leaving the Church but I believe every bishop will suffer for driving Catholics away from their home.

[NYer]

PS - if anyone can find Dreher's editorial on the Dallas priest and post it to this thread, I would be most appreciative.

[kosta50]

personal take: for me it'd be absurd to join, say, the Russian Orthodox church without being Russian

That's about as far as I was willing to read. It's liek an Orthodox saying "personal take: for me it'd be absurd to join, say, the Latin Church without being Latin." What a block head.

[Fast Ed97]

The liturgy was breathtakingly beautiful. The preaching orthodox.

Should have at least tried the SSPX before going over to schism.

[redhead]

It sounds like he needs to read more stories like THIS. Apparently, Dreher's "faith" is faux. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it "Cheap Grace." God rest the soul of this priest.

[Twinkie]

I am personally pretty sick and tired of organized "religion" all the way around. Christ said to "come unto Him". So, I have finally settled down and "come unto Him" as He commanded, the best I know how. I have bounced from Big Church Baptist, to Non-Denominational, Unstable, Name It & Claim It & Get Rich Quick With Jesus, to American Orthodox (that quickly became more and more Greek every time the bishop came to visit from headquarters), then to Small Church Baptist where the preacher and his wife seemed to be frustrated control freaks who made my life a misery (my husband was a deacon, and it's a long story), and now to a very small country church in my community loosely connected to "headquarters" of any kind. I didn't make a final move to a truly non-headquarters type church, mainly because I'm just tired of looking, but if the tentacles of the organization get too strangulating where I am; I'll go where I can have peace; because after all, it is the Gospel of Peace, Not the Gospel of Strife.

[Old_Mil]

So he left the Church because of the scandals...and his own dissent - let's not overlook that part. Luther complained about scandals...and dissented. One can only hope his small church doesn't have a scandal, where'd he hop to next?

Luther left the church because of doctrine as much as scandal.

He joined a societally irrelevant, small church. No wonder they all agree. Small size, smaller problems. It's similar to running off to the SSPX - hey, it's 50 of us and we're all USDA Prime orthodox, baby! In the end, the logical consequence would be to start a "church of one". No one else around, no one to disagree with! It's a lot more courageous to stay with a huge Church.

To tell you the truth, I've given this some thought through the years. What if American Catholicism ended up in the same place that Episcopalianism has ended up? Certainly, it is true in our diocese (of Davenport) with a diocese in bankruptcy paying out damages on behalf of radical homosexual priests who preyed on the flock and a bishop's resignation.

I'm tried of a heirarchy that tiptoes around trying not to offend rainbow warriors as the stern of the titanic slips beneath the waves. Will there be any Catholics left in America in 50 years? I don't know.

Regarding family, I have gone to the same parish for mass for the better part of two years and the only words I've exchanged with my fellow parishoners are "peace be with you." I don't know their names, they don't know mine, and we go about our lives in quiet futility.

New testament, it is not.

[denydenydeny]

with zero cultural influence in America,

The feeling I got reading this is, Here's someone who has unconditionally surrendered in the cultural wars. Full-on liberalism isn't far away.

[MarMema]

Many Years, Rod. Welcome!

[kawaii]

Well this is certainly in the spirit of dialog, understanding, and basic Christian attitudes... (/sarc)

[Tax-chick]

Bless his heart. Whatever works for him.

[steadfastconservative]

Dreher's story doesn't ring true. He says that he was scandalized by the clerical sex abuse scandal (who wasn't?) and, therefore, decided to try out an Orthodox parish. After being smitten with the solemnity and beauty of the Orthodox liturgy, he decided that the Catholic Church's teachings on papal primacy and papal infallibility must be wrong.

Dreher is clearly using his newfound "discovery" that the Orthodox are right about the papacy to justify his decision to leave the Catholic Church. He had to find some intellectual reason that would allow him to indulge the warm and fuzzy feelings he was getting by going to this Orthodox parish.

Dreher writes that if the doctrine of papal infallibility falls, then "it all falls." Hence, he is duty-bound to leave the Catholic Church. But why stop at Orthodoxy? After all, Orthodoxy shares many beliefs with the Catholic Church. But if the Catholic Church is wrong about papal infallibility, then couldn't it also be wrong about the Trinity, or the Resurrection, the sacraments, or any other doctrine that it holds in common with the Orthodox? Dreher is not being logical here. But, then again, his decision to leave the Catholic Church was not logical. Nor was it right.

[FormerLib]

"...personal take: for me it'd be absurd to join, say, the Russian Orthodox church without being Russian..."

As an American of Serbian heritage currently attending an OCA parish with Russian roots, the nicest thing that I can say about this statement is that it reveals a woefully limited intellect.

[ElPatriota]

"If you keep going down this path, you are going to go to places darker than you can imagine." I thought I understood what he meant, but I didn't. Even if I had, by then, I couldn't have stopped. What brought me in touch with Fr. Doyle was my having stumbled upon a cell of clerical molesters at a Carmelite parish in the Bronx. They had preyed on a teenage immigrant boy who was troubled, and whose father was back in Nicaragua. His mother sent him to the priests for counseling, thinking that maybe being around some men of God would do the boy some good. The priests ended up molesting him. When the boy's father arrived in the States and found out what had happened, he went to the Archdiocese of New York to tell them what happened. They offered to cut him a check if he'd sign a paper agreeing to let the Archdiocese's attorneys handle the matter...

How incredible and sad at the same time... but more incredible is the fact that many so called "Catholics," already accept the concept of homosexualism and pedophilia as being ok in the church... of course, JUST KEEP IT QUIET!... Don't talk about it...just look the other way and everything will be fine.

I have learned to my surprise that there seem to be a large group of pro-homosexuals here in FR!... and I would not be surprised if the same group is trying to make the CC more "progressive."

If there is one thing in all these culture arguments the that CC stands out for..is their SILENCE.

ok, I am ready.. let me have it :)

[ichabod1]

If I had to jump I'd go to the Maronite Catholics or one of the other Rites before I'd leave Catholicism entirely.

[rwfromkansas]

At least the Orthodox have a correct theological understanding that Christ is the head of the church and that councils decide issues, not one man.

I visited one before, and it was an incredibly beautiful service.