A reader writes

I have a topic that has been pressing more and more on my heart of late. While 99% of Catholic apologetics aimed at Christians takes on Protestant Christianity, very little is said about Eastern Orthodoxy. I have searched extensively and found very little on the Catholic view while there is much written by the Orthodox critiquing the Catholic position.

Dave Armstrong has a few articles, Jimmy Akin has a “Why I am Not Orthodox” article and James Likoudis has written about his encounter with Orthodoxy but that’s about it. And Orthodoxy’s counterpoints about development of Catholic doctrine, the Filioque and other issues are surprisingly strong.

It would appear that Orthodoxy sidesteps many of the issues surrounding modern Catholicism. I’m not swimming the Bosphorus (as my wife wittily asked me) but I’m a lifelong devout Catholic who feels sucker-punched by what I’m hearing about Orthodoxy. I guess I’m asking: Why are you a Catholic and not Orthodox? What drove you West instead of East?

Your prayers and thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Hmmm… Well, nothing *drove* me West. I just… never saw the problem with the Catholic position that the sundry Orthodoxies do. The argument for the papacy and the primacy of Peter seems fairly obvious to me, while the sundry complaints against post-Schism (and some pre-schism) developments of doctrine strike me more as political excuses than as bedrock principles. If, for instance, the filioque is really *that* big of a deal, it seems like waiting a couple of centuries from Charlemagne to the Schism to announce this is a crisis that must split the Church is rather odd–like California today suddenly announcing that it cannot abide the unconstitutional Louisiana Purchase and must secede. It looks very much like an ex post facto justification for a schism that was due more to cultural and political differences. That’s not to say the West didn’t make its fair share contributions to the split. We most certainly did. But theologically, I don’t really buy the case that Rome is somehow heretical. So I wasn’t so much driven there as I was just sort of naturally persuaded that there was no good reason *not* to be Catholic.

I have a high regard for the Orthodox and the folks I know in real life who are Orthodox have greatly impressed me. Online Orthodox, not so much. But I think that’s a function of the web. It seems to bring out the radical jingo in every group, including Catholics. So you wind up with webby Orthodox and webby Catholics refighting the sack of Constantinople and offering toothless excommunications of one another from bishop wannabes on both sides. That stuff wears me out. But actual normal Orthodox: gimme more!