Rod Dreher
Rod Dreher is an ex-Catholic who has converted to the Orthodox Church. He seems to have a love-hate relationship with the Church. He acts like our friend, but is often condescending and nasty. I think he let up for a brief period of time so that he could market The Benedict Option to us. Regardless of this, what has happened in the recent war of words have highlighted the flaw in Traditional Catholic circles.
I somewhat begrudgingly identify as a Traditional Catholic. It’s not that I’m on the fence when it comes to Catholic tradition; of that there is absolutely no doubt. The problem is that I don’t like the reputation that we carry around. We’re known to be nasty, grumpy, and always complaining.
Recently, Rod Dreher has been in one of his shootouts with Catholics. Dreher has a lot of problems but what Fr. Munkelt did will only drive him further away. Here is his open letter to Dreher:
https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/4246-enough-mr-dreher-an-open-letter-from-a-concerned-catholic-priest
This is exactly what I can’t stand about the Traditionalist movement. This raging letter will only push Dreher further away. It’s true that we can’t adopt an ultra-soft attitude like Dr. Michael Brown but Fr. Munkelt is too far in the other direction. Consider these quotes from the article:
As you put it: “I had never really considered Orthodoxy until my Roman Catholic faith had turned to dust.” This suggests that an irrational response then went in search of cognitive validation, rather than rational reexamination. While your initial revulsion and anger at the revelations of clerical misconduct are quite understandable (who couldn’t feel the same?), you lost all mental proportion and threw the Christ child out with the bath water.
Then, with your mind shot, there was nothing left but to create a fantasy of a religious paradise in the green pastures of Orthodoxy. Except you found, or rather others like me would find for you, that you had one foot in a cow pie and the other about to step in a second. With that, let’s discuss reality rather than fantasy.
Pertinent to this last point, you wrote a book called The Benedict Option and artfully curry favor with–and sales from–Catholics as well as Catholic communities and organizations, who in some cases have been foolish enough to throw you a party. Why didn’t you call it The Orthodox Option?
And now you proudly announce yourself practically immunized against any possible scandals in Orthodoxy by the device of downplaying the institution qua institution. Then why don’t you try that back in the Catholic Church? Or how ’bout the Eastern Catholic Church? There you’ve got nice liturgy and no schism. That is not an “impassioned plea” for your return to the Household of Faith, for which I make no pretense. I am merely writing to direct attention to your penchant for subterfuge.
May you face up someday to the fact that your profession is often intoxicated with the topical and sensational. Accordingly, you have no time for the spade work of authentic theological investigation, and above all you hate the ordinary, like the innumerable unacknowledged clergy, in the West and the East, who have faithfully and admirably fulfilled their duties over the centuries, even to the point of martyrdom. Shame on you for that and your extraordinary disservice to Christianity in an age when the work of Christ is beset by wolves from within and without the sheepfold.
And so I thank you for your honoring and self-depreciation. I must admit, therefore, that in the context of spiritual warfare you remind me of the soldier that General Patton slapped in World War II.
All things considered, I’ll take the Catholic Renaissance, its glory and misery, over the cuckoo clock and Eastern cultural torpor.
I say this not to idly offend the separated brethren, who should take no umbrage since I have simply set forth their own classical teaching, but rather to expose the arrogance of your theological ignorance and to show just how empty at each step your words are: “one of my greatest errors as a Catholic was to live primarily as an intellectual within the church.
I could go on but you get the idea. This letter is so damaging and to be honest, it’s not even that witty so there is nothing redeeming about it. All this will do is confirm Dreher’s choice in choosing Orthodoxy over Catholic Traditionalism. Shame on you Fr. Munkelt.
I recently wrote an article for OnePeterFive on bringing ex-Catholics into the fold. It wouldn’t apply to Dreher since it deals with friendly Evangelicals but at least one can see it’s not done the way Fr. Munkelt would like. That’s a good thing in case you’re wondering.
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