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Dreher was more scandalized by the clerical abuse issue than most of us: he was researching it intensively and interviewing both those who were psychologically and spiritually battered by it, and some very highly-placed clerics who were more corrupt than you would believe. You and I were perhaps brushed by this foul stuff: Dreher was plunged into it.

For that reason I think it's true that the intellectual or doctrinal reasons for his conversion to Orthodoxy were sparse --- even he would admit that. But the fact that his conversion was "emotional" is not to be scoffed at. He was not just pursuing warm fuzzies; he was fleeing a horror and anger which was parlous for his soul.

I believe it is objectively wrong for a Catholic not to abide in the Catholic Church; but subjectively, he's doing what he sees as his duty to preserve faith (and hope and love) within his family. I pray for him, and frankly I am glad he is in an Orthodox parish where he and his loved ones can still be nourished by the Sacraments. May he (and we) receive a merciful judgment.

I still think it was just an excuse. No doubt Dreher did become too emotionally involved in the sex abuse scandal and if he was talking only to the alleged victims, he would end up getting a very one-sided picture of this. Some of the allegations of clerical sex abuse are false. Moreover, only a small percentage of priests have been accused of abuse. The rest of them faithfully carry out their ministry. To be so scandalized by the actions of a small number of priests while ignoring the good done by the rest of the clergy is wrong. It's an over-reaction born of self-righeousness. In other words, Dreher is blaming the whole Church for the actions of a small number of men. The Church is no longer "pure" enough for him and so he left. I can't condone his decision.