by Fr. Josiah Trenham
Given the tenor of our society, and the direction which heterodox Christianity is sliding rapidly, I thought this would offer some unexpected solace and encouragement to some of our readers. This excellent, well balanced, and thoroughly Orthodox lecture is called: An Orthodox Perspective on Roman Catholicism and was given by Fr. Josiah Trenham and he is the Senior Pastor of of Saint Andrew Orthodox Church, Riverside, CA and the author of “Marriage and Virginity in St John Chrysostom.”
Well done, Fr. Josiah!
I listened to Fr. Josiah Trenham’s talk from beginning to end, and it is well done and worth the time spent listening to its entirety! As a former traditionalist Roman Catholic now an Orthodox Christian, by the grace of God go I, almost everything that Fr. Trenham resonates with me. It wasn’t until I became Orthodox that I could never understand the dichotomy between the Catholicism prior to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and that which is today’s Catholicism after the said Council. In my opinion, it seems that Catholicism’s ultimate weakness is its papal-centric ecclesiology; without being pejorative yet also confessing “Papism” for what it really is in all intellectual honesty.
To this day, I still maintain a deep friendship with a traditionalist Roman Catholic friend of mine whom I’ve known for well over to a decade now. We often discuss all the sorrows and woes of today’s Roman Catholicism along with the bantering back-and-forth about the issues that separate Catholicism from Orthodoxy among other things. Although he acknowledges that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council are what brought Catholicism to its present state, he is extremely reluctant to acknowledge Rome’s tendency to self-justify its novelties ranging from the Filioque clause to the undeniable institution of the Novus Ordo Missae promulgated by Pope Paul VI along with Rome’s consistent breaking away with its own past.
Lastly, all I can say is that it is really hard for Catholics to transition from their Catholicism to Orthodoxy. As one person opined rather comically, yet with a hint of seriousness, “Catholicism is a powerful delusion!” Ironically, I became an Orthodox catechumen while Pope Benedict XVI was pope. When I realized that tradition essentially has no objective value or authority other than what the pope says it to be or to have, then I realized that the real “danger” inflicting Catholicism with its current crisis of faith and loss of identity is none other than the Popes themselves. Even after my conversion to Orthodoxy, I had a great deal of papal baggage, if you will, that needed shedding. I’ve come a long way since then. Again, all I can say is that I’m glad to be Orthodox. God is truly gracious and merciful to all!
I am a Catholic. Though I have not decided yet to join Orthodoxy, I do think that Father gave a good talk and was very fair about the problems in Catholicism.
Pray for me.