There are some parts of Roman Catholic dogma, including the infallibility of the Bishop of Rome, which would keep me, in good conscience, from becoming a Roman Catholic. Frankly, in some respects I would be more at home in the Greek Orthodox Church. But I certainly consider Catholics to be my brothers and sisters in Christ. Many of them may not feel the same about Orthodox and Protestant Christians, and I believe “their way or the highway” is a tenet Rome still teaches, but so be it. I would rather see us all united against the real enemy, in all his many faces and forms.
In addition, these Orthodox can't free themselves from the past and blame others for the Rape of Constantinople , 4th Crusade, the Great Schism of 1054 or some other historical catastrophe as if the perpetrators are still living and need to be punished. Their minds are trained to blame others and they feel comfortable as perpetual victims.
Perhaps it is better to worship God as a protestant than to experience this type of siege mentality.
Ditto.
The one strength that the Catholic side of the family has that is missing in the more experiential-focused Protestant communions is -- a focus on objective reality, and a conviction that the Christian faith applies to ALL of life, not just the "religious" part of life. The version of the dissertation I took before my committee had this conclusion:
Some protestants -- a faction that is, in God's great mercies inexorably losing its influence, its bearings, and its credibility (as well as its mind) -- has a brutally simple substitute for a world view. They simply write the whole world off, hysterically shriek that "All is lost! The End is upon us! Qui peut se sauvre!" We might call these the Prophecy pimps, the Rapturenauts, or, in one brother's elegant phrase, "Futurists who prefer Terror and Tarot rather than the Gospel to 'win souls'." It's the "sour grapes" approach. If you don't have a world view, just scream shrilly that the world that God so loved is not worth thinking about.
Sane, thoughtful, Christians find their way out of the hypnotic and addictive fun-house mirror world of experience-chasing, and start looking for other sane and thoughtful Christians to compare notes with. And frequently find such people on the wrong side of the Tiber.[1]
I was raised Catholic, and still process reality on deeply-embedded Catholic firmware. I still yearn to see things "according to the whole," and instinctively feel that a big-picture explanation makes sense of the immediate issues.
Providentially, the Catholics are not the only game in town. Reformed theology also addresses all of life, and challenges us to bring all we have to the game. Including our minds. My life, family, and vocation were transformed when a guy I'd evangelized ten years earlier turned me on to "Calvinism on steroids." There is a God, and I'm not Him. Neither, for that matter, are my religious experiences.
Actually, many groups do do that — however do note that the Catholic Church consider Orthodox in particular to be our sister Church, to be a True Church, part of the One Apostolic Catholic Church.
“... Many of them may not feel the same about Orthodox and Protestant Christians..”
They are our brethren in Christ. I’m married to a Methodist btw for almost 50 years, who is more Catholic than I at this point and just about to jump the Tiber.
“I believe “their way or the highway” is a tenet Rome still teaches,...”
This is the Church. I would no more expect you to change your church’s belief for ours or the Orthodox to adapt to Calvin or some 4SquareGospel group.
“I would rather see us all united against the real enemy, in all his many faces and forms.”
Agreed. All Christians face the same persecutions. In the Muslim sphere, China, Africa and Europe, its face is legion. We will face it in America too soon.
What is your understanding of papal infallibility?
Do you have ANY idea what “Infallibility” means??? The Pope is NOT infallible....only DOGMA is INFALLIBLE!!!