I can’t speak for Anna, but I have some definite feelings in my heart that cause me to not want to make a total commitment to either Catholicism OR Orthodoxy despite my appreciation for and deep respect for the Orthodox. I happen to think the Orthodox have done a splendid job of preserving their polity, avoiding heresies like the Reformation created, their liturgy hasn’t been watered-down, and their morality/theology is pretty consistent.
My problem, however, is this. For me to be a Catholic (and make no mistake, I’m very close to Catholicism in most of my views, I stress ‘most’) I would have to insist that the Orthodox are in schism and that they are illicitly existing without proper leadership in the papacy. They are sheep without a shepherd theoretically and they lack the fullness of the faith. I don’t buy that.
If I am to be Orthodox I have to disregard to HUGE accomplishments of Catholicism in Western Europe and in the New World. I have to see them as schismatics who have a perverted view of leadership with a pseudo-dictator who views himself supreme and universal over all the rest. I’d have to throw out a lot of Augustinian thinking, the Atonement views of Augustine and Ambrose and the gang, and I’d have to have a position that the Catholics are most likely not even validly consecrating the Eucharist OR/AND might not even be validly baptized! I’d have to look at the Catholics as incomplete and outside the True Church.
I’m not sure I like either of those pieces of thinking, with respect to all. I happen to be more Catholic in my thinking on the Atonement, heck, more Protestant even, in my views on that issue, not at all Orthodox. I also share the Catholic/Reformed views on Original Sin. I happen to share the Orthodox views on Church polity, liturgy, their views (negative ones) on indulgences and purgatory, etc. I share their views on being conciliar, the value of Eucharistic ecclesiology, how saints are determined, etc. I like the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ thinking the Orthodox have.
With Mary I’m fine with both. I like the devotion to Mary in the rosary. I like the Catholic devotions like the Stations and Rosary, etc.
I am more fascinated with Western history than eastern any day of the week so I have a touch of bias toward Catholicism, a Tolkien mentality I guess.
But I’m not willing to say Honorius just “failed to teach” and that he wasn’t a heretic. Boloney.
I am having severe difficulty buying infallibility, purgatory, Indulgences (!!!), the treasury of merit, etc. I’m fine with Marian dogmas but don’t see why they’re ‘essential’ for salvation?
So, like I think Anna is feeling, I adore elements of both sides but (just speaking for myself) have trouble with the anti-Catholic sentiments that the Orthodox are often prone to (not saying our Orthodox brothers on this thread like Nine, Harpazo, etc.!, very charitable men indeed), the idea that one or the other is invalid, etc.
That’s why I have caucused with the Anglicans for a while. I feel that they appreciate both sides and don’t see either as the “true” Church. I often wonder if both Orthodoxy and Catholicism are parts of a whole. They are broken and neither has the fullness until they rejoin with the Holy Spirit’s superglue? The East is lacking without the Pope, but the West is lacking without the other Patriarchates. They have lost so much in their separation, so much richness. It’s like two divorced parents both claiming they’re the complete parent, the whole puzzle put together, when the pieces are broken.
I digress. This is just how I’ve felt lately. I’m hesitant to give either side FULL credit and jump on board. I could be wrong, very wrong. I’m open to that.
Blessings to all…
