Defending the 12th century since the 14th; blogging since the 21st.

Catholicism, Conservatism, the Middle Ages, Opera, and Historical and Literary Objets d'Art blogged by a suburban dad who teaches law and writes stuff.


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"Too modest" -- Elinor Dashwood

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Who was Cacciaguida? See Dante's PARADISO, Cantos XV, XVI, & XVII.


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These Eastern Orthodox, man -- there's no talking to them. All I did was say to this one Oriental Schismatic priest online -- and he was, like, totally patronizing me: assuming, since I had been writing candidly about weaknesses I perceived on my own side as well on his, that what I wanted most in the world was for some kindly O.S. priest with a twelve-foot beard to take me under his wing and explain the "problems" with the Filioque to me. He even suggested the Church should change its creed -- "again"!

Well I mean really. All I did was point out that we don't change our creeds to suit factious sectaries animated by the schismatic spirit of Photius and Cerularius -- we don't, right? -- and they start going all Rikios Rikardos on me! What can you do with such people?!

A few months ago I asked my spiritual director: who's doing for Eastern Orthodoxy what Catholic Answers, Envoy, et al are doing for Protestant Fundamentalism? He said -- no one is, b/c we're cultivating good relations with the E.Os.

That won't do. Yes, I know there are high-level ecumenical talks and events, and even the occasional minor breakthrough. But at street level, Easterners -- many of whom are Protestant Fundamentists, only now they've got a few icons in their pockets (seriously: an ex-Prot E.O. I once met, a blazing anti-Catholic bigot, told me he liked Orthodoxy b/c it's "Fundamentalism with pictures") -- are out there sheep-stealing just as hard as Jack Chick, Christians Evangelizing Catholics, and all the other folks that Karl Keating et al, God bless them, have done so much to teach us about and arm us against.

So we need an Eastern-directed Catholic Answers. "Envoy to Constantinople." "Focus on the Photius." "Sail Beyond the Sunset." "When You Care Enough to Send the Very West." "1204 'n' More." I don't now, you pick the name. But somebody's got to do it.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:37 AM