[AnAmericanMother]

I respect his opinion, some people are more comfortable swimming the Bosporus rather than the Tiber, but he sets up a straw man at the very beginning.

There are loony Catholic parishes and they seem to get all the press, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Our parish is profoundly orthodox (little 'o').

I'm sure if I hunted around I could find some goofy Orthodox congregations . . . but I wouldn't judge the entire church by them . . .

[jecIIny]

"There are loony Catholic parishes and they seem to get all the press, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Our parish is profoundly orthodox (little 'o').

I'm sure if I hunted around I could find some goofy Orthodox congregations . . . but I wouldn't judge the entire church by them . . ."

It's possible there are some goofy Orthodox parishes. But I have never found one. Coming from Catholicism I would have to say that your odds of finding an orthodox (small 'o') parish will vary from diocese to diocese. I have stumbled on more than my share of radical liberalism in the Catholic Church. I have of course also found very conservative and good parishes. But in some diocese they are the minority. Thats not the case in Orthodoxy. The terms liberal and conservative are relative terms here. A "liberal" Orthodox jurisdiction is one where the priests might wear a Roman collar with a black suit and (horror!) might even be clean shaven. I think the most scandalous thing I have heard of in an Orthodox parish is that a very few Greek parishes have allowed organs in them. By contrast conservative jurisdictions or diocese will discourage wearing western clerical attire, not permit smoking by the clergy, and some parishes will not have western style pews (one of my pet peeves).

The theological nuttiness that is fairly common in the Latin Church generally does not exist in the Orthodox Church. This is not to say we have less sinning going on. A quick glance at the divorce and abortion rates for Greece and Russia will put a quick end to that theory. But we don't have people running around saying women should be ordained as priests or gay people should be allowed to marry in the Church. There are no "Orthodox Christians for Abortion Rights" groups. It's not impossible that there are some people raised in the Orthodox Church who might subscribe to those views. But those that do tend to either leave the faith or keep their opinions to themselves. If anything its more likely you would stumble onto some weird ultra-conservative old calendarist sect that claims to be the "True Orthodox Church" or some such nonsense. They have as much standing with us as sede vecantists do in the Roman Catholic Church.

[sitetest]

Dear AnAmericanMother,

It's also interesting that some of the looneys that the author names - Rembert Weakland, Richard O'Brien, etc. - are folks who are already passing from the scene.

I have a friend who is a professor at the Catholic University of America, in philosophy. He tells me that the heretical old guard is still doing their best to hang on. However, they've mostly lost their grip in the philosophy department, and their hold in the theology department is beginning to slip, as well. The movement to orthodoxy is already set in place, as the large bulk of the younger faculty are charter memberes of the Ratzinger Fan Club.


sitetest