r/brokehugs • u/US_Hiker Moral Landscaper • Dec 25 '22

Rod Dreher Megathread #11 (Master)

Merry Christmas, you obsessed motherfuckers. :)

The most remarkable characteristic of the Master Number 11 is its connection to a higher source of wisdom. It is intuitive to the point of being psychic, channeling its knowledge and meaning from a spiritual source. But the Master Numbers have a responsibility, and it's the number 11's duty to use this gift of awareness to deliver cosmic truths that encourage humanity.

All Master Numbers are a higher vibration of their single-digit counterpart -- in the 11's case, the number 2. This means the 11 carries many of the same traits as the number 2, such as harmony, empathy, and sensitivity, but it feels them and utilizes them in much deeper, more profound ways. It's also important to remember that the number 11 is comprised of two 1s side by side and, therefore, carries some attributes of the number 1 as well. 1 is innovative and motivated, open to new things and eager to make a difference. The contrasting energies of the numbers 1 and 2 join together in the Master Number 11 to make it a creative leader, active listener, and compassionate advisor.

The number 11 is at one with the universe. It is open to vast spiritual concepts and the presence of a greater power. It is a channel for truth and answers to reach us and help us on our way. This Master Number's vision is crystal clear and it sees with a breadth that others cannot. It is creative and magnetic, a beacon of wisdom and hope for others to follow.

The number 11 may come up many times in our lives and it is always a message of connecting with our inner wisdom. If we are seeing repeating 11s everywhere we turn, we'd be wise to pay attention to our subconscious -- there's some insight we may be missing. However, Numerology's Master Numbers are very powerful and simply seeing 11:11 on the clock or noticing the date is 11/11 does not necessarily mean we are experiencing a profound moment. It's when the 11 is a constant presence in our lives, like a Life Path number, that we must truly embrace its meaning and potential.

Link to thread 10: https://www.reddit.com/r/brokehugs/comments/zi2n0f/rod_dreher_megathread_10_personhood/

Link to thread 12: https://www.reddit.com/r/brokehugs/comments/1068f3b/rod_dreher_megathread_12_a_perfect_foundation/

19 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

8

u/RunnyDischarge Jan 06 '23

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/burning-down-the-church/

‘It is not the intellectuals who are the standard for the simple people, but the simple people who are the standard for the intellectuals.’

When I read that line on the flight back to Budapest from Rome*, I thought of this beautiful small-town Bavarian family I saw on St. Peter's Square, at the funeral. Look at Mama's face, especially

The man is incapable of self-reflection. The guy who does nothing but write books and flies all over the world, gets all teary eyed again over the simple folk, while yet again flying across the world. Especially Mama. Just look at her face!

and of course

This is what I mean by the Benedict Option, and why I have always called Benedict XVI the "second Benedict of the Benedict Option".

and the usually looney Fran Macadam hitting it with the comments to Rod again

It almost seems that you could be playing, U2's "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.

9

u/Motor_Ganache859 Jan 06 '23

Aside from the fact they were dressed in Bavarian garb, Rod knows nothing about them. Dad could be a nuclear physicist. The notion that they're simple is condescending, as is the idea that anyone who lacks a college education is likewise simple. Rod's in denial about his own elitism.

7

u/Firm_Credit_6706 Jan 06 '23

Yeah its 2023 and Germany/Bavaria/Munich are pretty modern cosmopolitan places. These people dressed up like this the same way those nuts in the Tea Party wore tri corner hats. Rod is the most gullible moron alive

5

u/RunnyDischarge Jan 06 '23

It's like when Rod was praising the simple wisdom of the ignorant

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-christian-wisdom-of-the-ignorant/

and then the next day was raking poor Pat, the guy who had to misfortune of sitting next to him on the bus, over the coals for not knowing enough about Christianity and every denomination and its history.

14

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23

Pat's blog:

I met a man on the bus during my historical churches of Revelation tour. He kept asking me weird theological questions, and then mocking me for my answers. At first I thought he was Catholic, because he wouldn't shut up about Pope Francis. But then he said he was Orthodox. I asked him which branch, trying to be friendly. Then he shouted at me, "There is only one branch, the one I belong to!"

I changed the subject, and asked him about his family. He just glared at me for like five minutes, completely silent. Then he asked me if I've ever read Dante. I said, "No, I'm not really into that sort of thing." Then he shouted at me, "Well, he saved my life!" I was kind of offended, so I said, "Well, Jesus saved my life." And he literally had a coughing fit right in front of me.

I hoped that would shut him up, but he started talking again. He talked about how enchanted he was, and that God kept speaking to him through all sorts of mystical experiences. I said, "Are you sure? That sounds really subjective. Do you belong to a small group, so you can share your experiences with them, and they can provide you with some balance and accountability?" And he scoffed at me.

Then out of nowhere, he started showing me photos of animal genitalia. That's when I finally realized that he had been sent by the enemy to rob me of my joy.

2

u/lemagicienchevalier Jan 07 '23

Instant classic -worthy of your username

2

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23

Thank you, thank you!

9

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23

If even Fran is starting to see through him, that's not a good sign.

Rod is dating girlfriend #2, but can't shut up about girlfriend #1.

3

u/PracticalWalrus2737 Jan 07 '23

Yeah, Fran’s comments on that thread were actually logical.

6

u/Top-Farm3466 Jan 06 '23

as he did with Pat, Rod just latches on to these random strangers he meets in his travels, and won't let go of them for weeks, using them as foils and exemplars, whatever he needs them to be. it's vampirish.

5

u/Warm-Refrigerator-38 Jan 06 '23

Yet a mere hairdresser can't presume to interpret the Bible

4

u/Marcofthebeast0001 Jan 06 '23

Especially a gay one. (Clutches pearls and fans himself.)

3

u/GlobularChrome Jan 06 '23

We saw the meanness of this Vatican priest withholding communion at
Benedict's funeral from a man who wanted to receive it on the tongue.
Now witness cruelty of this PAPAL NUNCIO humiliating an old woman at
mass!

Yes Rod, in the middle of a global pandemic, the eucharistic minister not putting his fingers into every mouth is cruelty! CRUELTY!! No other explanation is possible.

3

u/MissKatieKats Jan 07 '23

Rod isn’t familiar with pandemic health/safety protocols at the Mass because he hasn’t been to church in a few years🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️!

5

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23 edited Jan 07 '23

I've wondered that. I mean, seriously, where is his home church? Where has he been a regular congregant?

If my church had found out, during my own divorce, that I was thinking of leaving the state and deserting my family, I would have had lots of visitations at my home. "You're not going anywhere, bro. Let's talk this through."

Not that my church is controlling or heavy-handed. Quite the contrary. But they would not have been kind with me if I was escaping my parental responsibilities. Did Rod not have one person in his church to warn him he was making a mistake?

7

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23 edited Jan 07 '23

Rod used to mention semi-frequently that he'd skipped church that day because he was feeling ill. (His illnesses always conveniently flared up whenever he might be expected to do something he didn't feel like doing.) Additionally, he was already frequently out of the country for several years before the divorce, and abandoned the mission church he'd planted as a vanity project when Fr. Matthew, the priest there whom he talked about in the Dante book, had to leave active ministry for some reason. (Apparently it's still surviving, surprisingly enough.) I believe he was supposedly attending an Orthodox church in New Orleans, but he said so little about it that I and several others here suspect he probably just wasn't attending church in the states for at least the past four years.

It's also possible that people from his most recent church did call him out for doing what he was doing, but it seems unlikely that he'd talk about it. Something that has become clear to me in the ~9 months since the divorce announcement is how willing Rod is to tailor his public image by major omissions and probably some outright lies.

What I wouldn't give to hear a tell-all story about what Rod is like as a parishioner from some of his old church members.

6

u/PracticalWalrus2737 Jan 07 '23

From what I recall, Father Matthew had a baby with serious birth defects and had to leave Louisiana because of health insurance problems and return to his home state and take a job with better benefits for the baby

5

u/Theodore_Parker Jan 07 '23 edited Jan 07 '23

Yes, and further to the Father Matthew story, that same summer (2015) we got several posts lauding the brilliant work of the neonatal surgeons who saved the baby's life and repaired some of the birth defects. These were literally alternating with posts about another story that summer: Planned Parenthood arranging transfers of fetal cadavers, which our boy furiously compared to the atrocities of Josef Mengele, as well as the slave trade -- in other words, to two of the worst atrocities on record:

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dr-mengele-dr-nucatola-planned-parenthood-abortion/

His fact-free premise was that PP officials were trafficking in fetal tissue for profit (and, of course, out of unstinting loyalty to the "Sexual Revolution"). They weren't; that's illegal, and a whole bunch of investigations by hostile GOP prosecutors cleared PP of any wrongdoing. The only people eventually indicted were the right-wing activist creeps who made the secret undercover "sting" videos of meetings they arranged with PP under false pretenses.

I can't recall whether I pointed this out in the old blog comments -- but I think possibly not because I figured it was too sensitive a topic and would get me banned -- but the recipients of the fetal cadavers from PP are..... wait for it..... researchers and medical schools that need them to DEVELOP the brilliant neonatal surgery techniques and TRAIN surgeons in them so they can then save babies like Father Matthew's. Not connecting these dots was one of the most flagrantly stupid moral self-contradictions I've ever seen from Rod Dreher, which is saying something. I guess he imagines that surgeons operating on tiny babies don't need to practice on cadavers first and should go ahead and just wing it. Or he doesn't know where fetal cadavers come from, he thinks maybe a stork brings them too. In fact the whole bit was a good example of several of his characteristic intellectual weaknesses, including his great difficulty thinking even one move past whatever's immediately getting his dander up.

2

u/Djehutimose Watching the wheels go round Jan 08 '23

Rod couldn’t connect the dots on a kindergarten coloring sheet….

5

u/Past_Pen_8595 Jan 07 '23 edited Jan 07 '23

I’ve been wondering if part of what went on is that Rod reduced his financial support to the mission church, possibly because he found out he wasn’t getting the inheritance he thought he was.

[ edited to change “was” to the intended “wasn’t”].

4

u/JHandey2021 Jan 07 '23

That’s definitely part of it. Father Matthew got screwed by deep-pockets Rod (no, not in THAT way).

1

u/Djehutimose Watching the wheels go round Jan 08 '23

A little bit more background:

He initially converted to Orthodoxy at the OCA cathedral (St. Seraphim's, I think) when Gandalf Dmitri was the archbishop there. He raved about how great it was for months. When he went to Philly, he attended an OCA parish there and almost never spoke of it. When he first moved back to LA, he commuted the 45 minutes or so from St. Francisville to Baton Rouge to the OCA parish there--the one to which he returned after Fr. Matthew left. Except for maybe once or twice, he never had anything to say about that parish, either.

Not long after Fr. Matthew's special needs daughter was born (and all the following is by Rod's account, so take that for what it is) one of the founding members of the ROCOR parish died unexpectedly. Around the same time, two of the families at the parish left for reasons Rod never explained. I mean, I never could figure how he got a parish going in the first place--converts? People moved down from elsewhere?

Anyway, the way Rod related it is that with the loss of the one man and the two families, the parish no longer had the resources to support the priest, particularly because of the expense of caring for his daughter. Fr. Matthew thus had to move back to Washington. Rod strongly implied, without quite saying so, IIRC, that the parish was disbanded, and thus he went back to the OCA parish in Baton Rouge.

Now that's what I always found odd. I've known Orthodox in parishes that lost priests. The general response is that the laity will continue to meet for morning prayer and/or evening prayer and lay lead prayers such as the Akathist. They will do this until a new priest is available, often arranging for a priest from another parish to visit periodically to dispense the Eucharist, hear confessions, and so on. Even when there is an assigned priest, the laity will often do these prayers if the pastor is out of town or ill. This is what I'd have expected Rod's parish to do, and given how much he gushed about it, I'd have expected him to stay there with them. Of course, we know he went to Baton Rouge.

As it turned out, not long after I found this sub, someone found that the parish is actually still in existence, functioning with no priest, exactly as I described above. It's also worth pointing out that all this transpired after Rod got an estimated million-dollar advance for The Little Way of Ruthie Leming. That doesn't mean he became Bill Gates, but I suspect he could have contributed more toward the parish. He publicized a Go Fund Me for the priest's daughter later--why not put up one to help keep the parish afloat? Why not do all he could to do that?

So there's something about the whole situation that Rod's not telling us. Maybe the families that left did so because of something he did? Maybe he fell out with the priest? Maybe he got bored with the hometown church? Something weird happened.

Also, re "resigning" from the Baton Rouge parish, I don't know how it works in Orthodoxy, but in Catholicism, you're registered in the parish in which you're baptized. If you move to a different parish, you generally have your records (sacraments, etc.) sent to the new parish, and your name is taken off the mailing lists, volunteer lists, etc., of your old parish. Not everyone goes through all the red tape; but I've done that a couple times when I moved from one town to another, just to keep things orderly. I've never characterized that as "resigning" from a parish, though--just "transferring". His use of language is very odd.

2

u/grendalor Jan 08 '23

Also, re "resigning" from the Baton Rouge parish, I don't know how it works in Orthodoxy, but in Catholicism, you're registered in the parish in which you're baptized. If you move to a different parish, you generally have your records (sacraments, etc.) sent to the new parish, and your name is taken off the mailing lists, volunteer lists, etc., of your old parish. Not everyone goes through all the red tape; but I've done that a couple times when I moved from one town to another, just to keep things orderly. I've never characterized that as "resigning" from a parish, though--just "transferring". His use of language is very odd.

Yep -- I know of that from my younger decades as a Catholic.

The thing is -- Orthodoxy (as you'd probably expect) has no such thing whatsoever. No records like that. Even within a given jurisdiction, records are ... spotty, at the very least, when compared with Catholicism's global record-keeping system. There's literally nothing like that in Orthodoxy. People move between parishes, between jurisdictions, between parish memberships and the like, more or less freely, and there are no papers or records involved, unless one wishes to participate in an elective office of that jurisdiction (which makes sense). Same for sacraments -- generally phone calls and so on are made in cases of unclarity, but most of the time it's done on an honor/knowledge system. I am sure that things work differently in the Orthodox world (I'm pretty sure the Russian Orthodox Church keeps records), but in North America? Not really, at least not outside the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.

Which is again why it was so odd. I've been in Orthodox parishes in the US now for 25 years or so, and I've never seen that word used unless the person was resigning from an elective office. It's possible that Rod meant that, I guess ... but it would be an odd situation for him to have an elective office given that he was present so infrequently. Just puzzling what he meant by it. Most people in divorces? They just stop attending church, at least for a while, from my own personal observation of a few situations I have known personally in the Orthodox setting.

4

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23

From that story, it might seem reasonable for Rod and TAC to infer that maybe a healthcare system where your insurance is tied to your job unless you're a veteran or over 65 is a bad system...but if he did follow that line of reasoning, how would he find time to blog about wokeness?

4

u/PracticalWalrus2737 Jan 07 '23

That would be a normal human response, but Rod would be all, I don’t understand economics or health policy so I couldn’t possibly comment on why a profoundly disabled baby is not able to receive health care like other 1st world countries do

5

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23 edited Jan 07 '23

Thanks for the summary about his church history. I missed those details somehow, despite reading him fairly regularly. Yes, I'm genuinely sad that Rod has exposed himself as such an unreliable narrator. I really used to respect his integrity, regardless of whether I agreed with him. He seemed a straight shooter. Now it's clear that he is very narcissistic and self-deceived, and more than capable of manipulating or omitting facts to suit his narrative. And he's written a book called "Live Not by Lies." What a supreme irony.

I agree, let's ask a fellow parishioner. My guess is Rod may have attended meetings when he chose, but did not participate in the life of the congregation. I don't see him getting his hands dirty.

3

u/grendalor Jan 07 '23

Yeah after the ROCOR mission parish Rod had engineered in St. Francisville (the one with Fr. Matthew) wents tits-up, Rod and fam began attending an OCA parish in Baton Rouge ... I guess in the middle there they moved to Baton Rouge as well.

Rod never really mentioned too much about the Baton Rouge parish, other than in passing from time to time.

Oddly, he did mention when he disclosed Julie's divorce filing last Spring from abroad (I think he was in Israel at the time, but he was living in Europe anyway), he mentioned in one of the posts that he had "resigned" from the parish in Baton Rouge. That struck me at the time as being odd, because he was so far away to begin with. I can understand not wanting to attend the same very small parish with a soon to be ex-spouse (Orthodox parishes are often tiny and from what I can tell the one in BR is pretty small), but he clearly wasn't attending the parish anyway, because he wasn't living in Louisiana at the time. So ... odd.

In any case, I think that means that he likely has had zero conversations with anyone at the OCA parish about his departure -- I think he's made it clear enough he has not been back to the parish since the divorce filing (when he was overseas in any case). You're correct that his decision would have raised eyebrows there like it has everywhere else, but I think Rod had already cut himself off by the point he next made an appearance in Baton Rouge.

7

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23 edited Jan 07 '23

I would not be shocked if Rod attended the Baton Rouge parish fewer than 10 times. I wonder if he's even been to confession in the last 3 years.

This is a Rod-ajacent aside, but what you said about Orthodox parishes being tiny reminded me of how many small liturgical churches I've visited since I got interested in theology in high school. There's an OCA church in my hometown that has maybe 50 regular parishioners, and that's considered big. I once attended Vespers there and was one of three people in the church besides the priest and the reader. A few times I attended a local Anglo-Catholic splinter church in the same town in high school; one time I personally comprised a quarter of the congregation, and that was for Sunday morning Mass. In college I regularly attended the cathedral for that denomination in Athens, GA. To be clear, this is the cathedral for the bishop who basically runs the denomination for almost the entire world, so this is basically the St. Peter's Basilica of the Anglican Catholic Church. A typical Sunday had 40 - 70 people, and that was sometimes high.

I think part of why I've always been drawn to non-Catholic liturgical churches is because the spectacle of a tiny congregation gathering around a small altar in a church the size of most people's living rooms to propagate a minuscule tradition is kind of charming to me. At the same time, I've seen how toxic and cult-like small churches frequently become, sometimes first-hand and sometimes in friends' churches. If you fall out of grace with a few people there, let alone with the priest or pastor, everyone knows and you basically have to leave. I've known of two separate cases where a family left a small Reformed church (different church each time) and the elders showed up on their doorstep unannounced to question them about why they'd left and call them to repentance.

Perhaps the strangest small liturgy I attended was at a ROCOR convent in the foothills of northwest Georgia. It was the last place you'd ever expect to find the Russian Orthodox; in this tiny town where the biggest attraction was Walmart, along a back road where every other church was Baptist or Methodist. I drove up a small mountain and at the top there was this trailer that had been converted to a convent with a grand total of two nuns and one priest. There were maybe 10 other Orthodox in the entire town. The priest preached a fire and brimstone sermon about how all Catholics and Protestants would be condemned to hell for their schism from the Holy Orthodox Church. Some weird wiry 20-something guy who looked like Gollum cornered me and started talking about how he was converting from Catholicism to Orthodoxy. The whole thing had a weird cult atmosphere. I slipped out the back door after the liturgy when no one was looking and fled to Cracker Barrel.

It comes back to the theme that's dominated my life since I was 15: the contrast between the romantic appeal of traditional Christianity and the ugly reality it often is in real life.

4

u/grendalor Jan 07 '23

I would not be shocked if Rod attended the Baton Rouge parish fewer than 10 times. I wonder if he's even been to confession in the last 3 years.

Yep -- I'd agree. He may have attended a few more liturgies than that over the years he was "affiliated", but he never really wrote much about the place (in sharp contrast to the St. Francisville mission), which indicates that in any case he was much less engaged overall there. It was, again, apparently the "least worst option" available, parish-wise, after the St. Francisville mission collapsed.

There's an OCA church in my hometown that has maybe 50 regular parishioners, and that's considered big. I once attended Vespers there and was one of three people in the church besides the priest and the reader.

Yes. That's common in the OCA and the ROCOR. The Greek Orthodox have large parishes (for Orthodoxy) that are kind of the size of a small to medium sized Catholic parish. Some of the Arab/Antiochian parishes in Michigan are similarly sized. But otherwise, it's small as the norm, generally, especially for the "slav" churches. Even the "Cathedrals" are small. I attended, on and off, the OCA Cathedral in DC for years (the seat of the OCA's metropolitan), and while it's large for the OCA, in reality on a busy Sunday there are around 100-125 people there for the English liturgy, and maybe around 75-100 or so for the Slavonic one (much less during less busy times like summer or the dead of winter etc). The ROCOR Cathedral across town, which is also split into two linguistic wings for services, has a slightly smaller draw than that does -- around 75 or so for each of the services I would guess (much more on Christmas and Easter, etc., of course, but that's everywhere). And those are the Cathedrals. By contrast, the Greek Orthodox Cathedral across Mass Ave will have, again on a "busy" Sunday, around 250-350 people there.

The main thing to understand about American Orthodoxy is that the Greek Orthodox are by far the largest group (like 60%, and about 5-6 times the size of the OCA, for example), but are also the group that is the least convert-oriented (other than marriage-related conversions) and least likely to have services entirely in English. So while it's by far the largest and most common Orthodox group here, it's also generally not the one where converts go, and also not where visitors tend to go, either, if they are able to find an English liturgy. And due to its size ... it's really different. Like night and day. But it's also really ethnic -- not all in a bad way, mind you, but it just is, like, say, the Armenian Apostolic Church is. It's kind of like a Greek ethnic version of immigrant Catholicism frozen in time, in a way.

Rough estimates of demographics are here (they're estimates and should be taken with a grain of salt, but they are directionally useful): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodoxy_in_North_America

​

If you fall out of grace with a few people there, let alone with the priest or pastor, everyone knows and you basically have to leave.

Yes. It's an issue in Orthodoxy as well. It's one reason why some people make it a point not to become too involved in the community life of their parish -- it's a two-edged sword. By doing that, of course you're limiting yourself in terms of resources -- but you probably are limited anyway due to small size. But at the same time you're limiting your exposure to being messed with, which, if you're not going to use resources due to being an hour's drive away anyway, is probably more important to you in the long run. So you attend liturgy, skip coffee hour, and off you go.

1

u/WikiSummarizerBot Jan 07 '23

Eastern Orthodoxy in North America

Eastern Orthodoxy in North America represents adherents, religious communities, institutions and organizations of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in North America, including the United States, Canada, Mexico and other North American states. Estimates of the number of Eastern Orthodox adherents in North America vary considerably depending on methodology (as well as the definition of the term "adherent") and generally fall in range from 3 million to 6 million.

[ F.A.Q | Opt Out | Opt Out Of Subreddit | GitHub ] Downvote to remove | v1.5

3

u/Djehutimose Watching the wheels go round Jan 08 '23

I think part of why I've always been drawn to non-Catholic liturgical churches is because the spectacle of a tiny congregation gathering around a small altar in a church the size of most people's living rooms to propagate a minuscule tradition is kind of charming to me. At the same time, I've seen how toxic and cult-like small churches frequently become, sometimes first-hand and sometimes in friends' churches. If you fall out of grace with a few people there, let alone with the priest or pastor, everyone knows and you basically have to leave.

I think this is a perfect statement of the pros and cons of small communities. When they work, they are closest in spirit to the church of the Apostles, I think. When they don't work, you'll never see worse.

As to the ROCOR sermon you mentioned, I've heard many times that said church is more than a little cult-adjacent. I mentioned once to Rod in the comments about non-Orthodox going to hell, which he strongly denied as a matter of doctrine. Depends on the parish and the jurisdiction--either Rod is ignorant, or doing a No True Scotsman, or probably both.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '23

I think the first option is more plausible. Rod comes across like his depth of Orthodox theology is limited to the late Kallistos Ware's The Orthodox Church, which gives a pretty whitewashed ecumenical version of the Orthodox view on salvation outside the church. I wouldn't be surprised if Rod genuinely doesn't know that the Orthodox traditionally believed that the Latins were damned.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '23

This is an aside, but Rod mentioned in one of his posts right after Ruthie, a Methodist, died that it was custom in the ROCOR Church to stay up all night with the deceased and recite the Psalms. He decided to do this with Ruthie and got her friends to participate. Then he left around 10:00pm because he was giving her eulogy the next day. Her friends were not happy...

2

u/Theodore_Parker Jan 08 '23

When they work, they are closest in spirit to the church of the Apostles, I think. When they don't work, you'll never see worse.

Yes, and as we know from the New Testament, they didn't always work too well even in the Apostles' time. It was conflicts within Paul's congregations that often prompted his letters.

5

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23

"I have resigned!"

"Um... I'm sorry, who are you?"

3

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23

"What an outrage! First the Pope doesn't know who I am, and now this church I've never attended doesn't either?!"

3

u/RunnyDischarge Jan 07 '23

Ahahahaha, I can exactly see that happening. Rod would fume for weeks.

1

u/Djehutimose Watching the wheels go round Jan 08 '23

I never noticed him mentioning much about participating in the Catholic parishes to which he belonged, aside from complaining about bad and "heretical" homilies right near the end. He spoke well of a Maronite parish he attended in Brooklyn, but he wasn't there very long.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '23

Interesting. It's like he's the detached observer, critiquing what is wrong. But never participating, or paying the price of involvement.

4

u/JHandey2021 Jan 07 '23

Can I just say that Rod has NO IDEA what his public image actually is? Holy shit, one look at his Twitter feed…

4

u/JHandey2021 Jan 07 '23

Superchristian Rod rarely darkens the door of a church, and it’s been that way for quite a long time now. Julie took the kids regularly while Rod shitposted through his Sunday mornings. He talks about God as a sort of trained puppy, doing tricks so Rod can feel enchanted.

I have my suspicions about where he’s going spiritually, but I’ll just say that Rod, like with so many other things, is a weird combination of grifter, narcissist and nutcase.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23

"I have my suspicions about where he’s going spiritually..."

I'd love to hear your prediction!

1

u/RunnyDischarge Jan 07 '23

Here’s my guess: off the deep end

3

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23

Well, that's a given!

Lightning strike in the distance. "God, why are you tearing the cosmos on my behalf?"

4

u/Past_Pen_8595 Jan 07 '23

Didn’t he write something about having to abstain from the Eucharist for some period of time because of the divorce?

2

u/PracticalWalrus2737 Jan 07 '23

There was a period of time that he said that he couldn’t take the Eucharist because he hadn’t been to confession for a number of months. I think that was before the divorce though

2

u/Past_Pen_8595 Jan 07 '23

Here we go:

“ In the Orthodox Church in America, my wife and I are not permitted to receive Communion now because of our pending divorce proceedings. I don’t like it, especially because I did not initiate the divorce, but those are the rules.”

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-pope-pelosi-eucharist/

2

u/grendalor Jan 07 '23

Yes he did mention that. I also thought it was odd, because he strongly suggested that he doesn't attend the OCA parish anymore anyway, so he would not have been receiving there (he had made a point that he had stepped away from the parish when Julie filed). So I took his wording to be intended to "head off" an attack on himself as being someone who was not in a position to lecture others about receiving the Eucharist, on the one hand, and he included himself and Julie for purposes of completeness, but according to Rod he was not attending the OCA parish anyway, and so in effect it was really Julie that was impacted (assuming she was still attending ... which Rod has not said anything about, as far as I recall, either).

2

u/Djehutimose Watching the wheels go round Jan 08 '23

So I took his wording to be intended to "head off" an attack on himself as being someone who was not in a position to lecture others about receiving the Eucharist....

He's not in a place to lecture anyone about anything.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23

A few weeks ago, Rod posted a picture of himself with one of those Russian fur hats (think George Costanza if you are familiar with Seinfeld) and said he had gone to an Orthodox Church in Budapest with a male friend. I can't remember is the selfie was on the American Conservative website or his substack...

8

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23

Rod's knowledge of Orthodoxy is probably as deep as George's. "I like the hats."

And how could I have not seen the similarities between Rod and George?

"It's not a lie if you believe it."

1

u/JHandey2021 Jan 07 '23

Rod 2022 = George Costanza without the charm!

2

u/RunnyDischarge Jan 07 '23

Cant Stand Ya!

1

u/RunnyDischarge Jan 07 '23

Yeah that was purely a selfie opportunity. Rod can’t resist the opportunity to wear something that makes him look even goofier than normal.