As a tradition-minded Roman Catholic (Lord, have mercy!), I was a frequent reader of a blog (called WDTPRS, standing for “What Does the Prayer Really Say?”) written by a traditional Catholic priest (“Fr. Z”) from the United States. Though I have since renounced my loyalty to Rome and have come into communion with the Orthodox Church, I have continued (out of habit) to read it (albeit, less frequently). I very much so enjoyed reading his commentary on not only liturgical issues, but, as Fr. Z advertises, “life in general”-up until last night, that is, when I made a personal (and huge) realization about its content and Western Christian thought in general.
(WARNING: Sorry for the run-on sentences. May God have mercy on me!)
May we not be like Judas and give unto Christ a kiss of betrayal, but rather be
received by the Son of God with hearts of authentic humility and love.
Instead of focusing on spiritual issues (as you’d hope a priest would do, because, well, the obvious), Fr. Z instead has become a part of the religious right’s political machine, promoting firearms and advancing the conservative “Christian” line of thought that has less concern for people and more concern for evil dressed in the robes of patriotism (you can find his blog here). Unfortunately, the position of Fr. Z is not unique to him alone-it is endemic to the leadership (and, in most cases, laity) of Western Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism and Evangelical Protestantism. There are exceptions to these cases (I think especially of Pope Francis and his crusade against the reign of unbridled free-market capitalism, which led to a serious amount of harsh criticism by previously-loyal conservative pundits and “Christians”), but until Western Christianity begins to orients itself pastorally (which means caring less about agenda and more about PEOPLE created as icons of the loving God) it is doomed to exist only as a tool used for the advancement of a greed-centered agenda, thus alienating the rest of the world and turning it away from the God who is love.
To this same God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be all glory, honor, praise, and dominion, both now and ever, and unto the ages of age. Amen.
Truth Revealed in Beauty 