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Fr. Z fisks the essay:

:Dreher: “Pope Francis only confirms my decision to leave” the Catholic Church. A HARD look at where we are.

Posted on 30 September 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There is an intense piece by Rod Dreher over at TIME. The whole thing is worth a close look, but here are some longish samples.

NB: While I disagree with Dreher’s decision to leave the Catholic Church, I sure understand how he got to that point and I have to agree with a great deal of what he says about the squishy, formless pabulum Catholics have been fed for decades. Dreher, offering a salutary warning, also makes a connection between the destructive “spirit of Vatican II” and its potential replacement, a “spirit of Francis”.

There has been both lavish (nearly irrational) praise of Pope Francis and there has been harsh (nearly irrational) criticism of Pope Francis. I don’t agree with everything that Dreher wrote here (of course… I usually only agree entirely with myself), but I haven’t seen the points he makes put so eloquently.

While Dreher’s look at The Francis Effect™ may make you squirm a little, will any of you be willing to disagree with his vivisection of the American Church? When he talks about the effects of the “spirit of Vatican II”, doesn’t he hit the nail square on?

We need this kind of hard-nosed, cool introspection. ...

I don’t recall reading anything “hard-nosed and cool” by Rod Dreher, ever. I compared him to Peggy Noonan because his great sweeps of emotion as if they were researched and reasoned, rather than felt and projected.

This has nothing to do with how he feels about Pope Francis. It’s my opinion, as a reader, on everything I have read from Rod Dreher, from the early 1990s to today.

Yep. I came to traditionalism reluctantly...especially since I grew up in fairly good parishes.

Now our family drives 1 hour to get to a Latin Mass parish, and 1 hour back. Because of illnesses, I have in the last month or so had to fulfill my Sunday obligation at the local parish.

I seriously cannot stand going to the latter anymore. It makes me want to pull my hair out. Squishy formless pabulum is right...and what makes it all the more infuriating is that the average Catholic doesn’t even have any idea what we have lost.