To compromise or not to compromise

Pope Francis may not be a liberal at all.  Certainly not based on American media definitions.  The world, believe it or not, is not divided between Red State and Blue State.  Trying to see Pope Francis through such lenses - one way or another - is likely an exercise in pointlessness at best.

Much of the speculation and flat out fist fights over the Real Pope Francis is due to the clear and obvious fact that Catholicism has changed quite a bit over the last century.  On almost every level, a Catholic dropped into the Church 200 years ago would be stunned by the differences.  Some are necessary.  Electricity happens.  So does indoor plumbing.  Some accepted sins and problems are dealt with.

But changing to fit with the times can be like eating peanuts.  Once you start, you just can't stop. Ask any one of a hundred variations on Protestantism in our world today.  Some are barely Christian, if at all.  So as the Catholic Church struggles to find a middle ground between the Modern Way and the Traditional Christian Way, it has created not a few reactions from various groups and individuals.

Some are mighty unhappy, and have been for some time.  Others are more than thrilled.  Some are OK, but want more change and accommodation.  Others seem to be overly defensive, as if they can't bring themselves to admit what is patently obvious.  

In any event, I stumbled across an interesting article yesterday.  It's from a member of the Orthodox Church.  As insulting as this is to some Protestant denominations who fancy themselves as modern incarnations of the first century church, and as shocking as it might be for Catholics who imagine otherwise, the Church closest to the most ancient approach we have to living Christianity is the Orthodox.  As a history professor I had once said, if you want a Church that hasn't changed much in 1500 years, you could do worse than going to an Orthodox church.

Not to say the Orthodox aren't without their skeletons, or their modern splits.  Some appear to be following the ways of the post-Christian Left just like Catholics and Protestants.  Still, they can only do what others who want to follow the Modern Way do and reject outright the teachings of their faith and demand change.  But for a Church that smells, sounds and acts like its forefathers centuries ago (with the possible exceptions of electricity and indoor plumbing), there seems to be a willingness on those resisting the Change to do so outright, without need to find some middle ground.

Hence this little article.  Pretty straight forward. As I've said, it should be obvious to any but the most weak minded or willing minded that there is no compromise with this new revolutionary heresy.  What this fellow might be saying is that we should never have assumed there was in the first place.