IrvingD

Four months have passed since my last posting. As I look back at the metaphor I have chosen to describe my present ecclesiastical situation, I wonder at how I should proceed. Last week I attended a traditional Latin Mass at the beautiful Church of Our Saviour in New York City. From time to time I have gone to Mass there and have grown to love the liturgy and the preaching of its illustrious pastor, Fr. George Rutler. As someone who takes history seriously, I have few doubts that the Roman Catholic Church truly dates back to the Apostles, or that its foundation in Rome is traceable to the ministry of Saints Peter and Paul. Nevertheless, my commitment to history demands that I give due recognition to the ancient Churches of the East whose beginnings also have their beginnings with the Apostles, including St. Paul who founded churches along the eastern Mediterranean in the first century, A.D. That same historical view cannot ignore the churches of the Reformation to the extent that those...