Wow. Rod Dreher almost convinced me to become Eastern Orthodox in his latest article about how great Eastern Orthodoxy is. Then I saw the picture...
...and I could not believe my eyes. Orthodoxy has completely sold out and become suburban American as evidenced by that big powder-blue Tupperware pitcher used to fill the baptismal font. Plus that book the deacon is reading from is a paperback. It's like Pizza Hut with an iconostasis. Obviously Eastern Orthodoxy has become just as hokey as Catholicism, and all hope for civilization and transcendent beauty is now lost.
Ya know, it's funny, I just went to Rome and after about 6 days I had had my fill of 16th century churches. It ain't all that. At worst it becomes oppressive, at best you stop caring. But I suppose if one relies on his surroundings to find some remnant of one's spiritual identity, and/or "masculinity" (since Dreher seems to conflate the two), the trappings becomes essential.
ReplyDelete"True, it is possible to find dreary parish life in American Orthodoxy, often among the ethnically-oriented older parishes that see themselves as little more than the tribe at prayer."
ReplyDeleteLOL! Has Dreher lost his copy of "How to Make Friends and Influence People"? I'm guessing he won't be invited for souvlaki or borscht anytime soon.
gee, I wonder if we'll be hearing from old friends..?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Dreher's winning personality, I just found this comment over at Erin Manning's blog:
ReplyDeleteHector, I really can't say much about my situation, except that my blog wasn't shut down for political reasons. Dr. Templeton, the Foundation president, strongly believed that the things I blogged about did not reflect the priorities of his late father or the Foundation, and was therefore not something he wanted the Foundation to sponsor. This had nothing to do with politics.
We continued to publish BQO columnists (e.g., Shermer) these past few months because we had contracts with them to fulfill, but we have not commissioned new pieces. We are going to begin soon publishing a few new things on the site, but we will not have blogs.
While I have had at least two offers to restart my blog elsewhere, the terms of my employment here that I cannot write outside the Foundation without prior approval. It is impossible to write a blog under that condition, obviously. So, I am blogless for now.
I thank you for your kind thoughts and continued support.
You know, if this is true, the Templeton Foundation would sign freaking Tom Brady and say "OK--you're the punter now." I mean, didn't they know Dreher was a content provider? Hence we see the inter-generational Peter principle at work with Junior Templeton.
I wonder... since the WaPo Saint Paddies day opinion piece was approved beforehand by the waspy Templeton Foundation, does that mean they read it and knew that it contained bitch slaps at American Catholics and ethnic, non-converted Orthodox? Unclear.
. . . since the WaPo Saint Paddies day opinion piece was approved beforehand by the waspy Templeton Foundation, does that mean they read it and knew that it contained bitch slaps at American Catholics. . .
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking that Dreher's chestnuts from five years ago were grandfathered in under his Templeton contract.
Either that, or it's just the same old Rod as before despite more priceless afternoons with Dame Gillian Beer and the gang.
You're kidding! Dreher is at it again? Even after Templeton told him to cool it? (BTW, remind me NEVER to donate one red cent to Templeton as long as they keep this anti-Catholic creep on their payroll.)
ReplyDeleteAn interesting aside: Rod is a staunch defender of Metropolitan Jonah (who won his lofty office by delivering ONE [count 'em, 1] stirring speech -- how's that for thorough vetting?).
Well, turns out Met. Jonah is not the savior in shining armor Rod naively assumed him to be. Among other things, Jonah continues to cover up unsavory secrets associated with the big OCA scandal of a few years ago. Amid persistent rumors that the previous leadership used church members' charitable donations to cover up sex-abuse cases and pay off abuse victims, Met. Jonah refuses to open the records or conduct an investigation. So much for Orthodox "transparency." Today's Catholic Church is roughly a million times more transparent than the OCA (or GOA or AOCNA, et al.). No comparison! Hey, gotta LOVE that Dreherian double standard. :o
Moreover, it seems Met. Jonah has turned into a tin-pot dictator, who (over his church's objections) is trying to align the "autocephalous" OCA closer to Moscow.
Jonah has also reinstalled members of the corrupt old regime and fired those who protest.
Result: His own hierarchs have demanded that he take a leave of absence.
And this is the guy Rod fawns over.
It's all a big stinkin' mess, but you'd never know that from reading Dreher, apparently.
OCAnews.org has details. Haven't visited there in a while, but last time I checked, they were hoppin'.
(LOL, can't wait for the Usual Suspects to show up. :D)