Ups & downs, as usual!

Back up again on Saturday, but only by 0.8 pound - so I'm at 209.

Not too unexpected, given that I consumed almost an ENTIRE BOX of the Breyer's Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, which we'd bought for the 4th of July! (Sigh!)

Oh well, "ups" in my weight and "downs" at church - had a big dustup in the choir loft Sunday morning. I won't go into detail - let me just say this: "Musicians! Ptooey!" (And since I'm a musician too, I definitely include myself in that "ptooey"!)

And as for the other issue - no, still no visit from "Aunt Flo"! Curiouser and curiouser ...

Well, since I've already brought up "church stuff" I may as well bring up some more. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I've become interested in Eastern Orthodoxy. Saturday evening my husband took me to a local Antiochian Orthodox church for Vespers. To be honest, I didn't really care much for their style - almost everything was either spoken (rather than chanted) or chanted in a kind of Arabic "ululating" way that I couldn't follow.

I don't count that against the Orthodox, though; it's more of a personal opinion than a criticism. I've been to another Orthodox Church in the area which uses a more Russian style of chant - much closer to our Byzantine (Catholic) style - and I am very comfortable there. So I won't be making any decisions for/against Orthodoxy based on my aesthetic preferences.

But - I have been reading a LOT of books lately about Orthodoxy - mostly "pro" (apologetics). I agree with a lot of what they say: I definitely think the Roman Catholic church bears AT LEAST 50% responsibility for the "Great Schism". I definitely think the office of the papacy has been expanded far beyond what it was originally envisaged to be. I understand and agree with the problems with the "filioque" ("and the Son") in the Creed.

The only thing I'm not 100% in agreement with is the rejection of the doctrines of "Immaculate Conception" and "original sin"; and the idea that there can't ever be "development of doctrine" - I've read too much Newman (and Knox, and Chesterton, and Belloc!) to fall comfortably into line on that one.

So for the foreseeable future, I'll have to remain perched on that fence called "Eastern Catholicism", ready to jump to either side if necessary but willing to keep sittin' as long as I can.

P.S. - found this really good blog posting listing 10 Reasons to Become Byzantine Catholic - definitely worth reading!