Nothing Christlike about it

My immersion in theology and biblical criticism has been one of the most intellectually thrilling events of my life. The reading has improved my faith, not weakened it. Faith has improved my life, crutch though it may be. So I am satisfied that my religious turn this year has been truly beneficial, and I have every intention to continue to explore and deepen my faith. That said, it should not have been surprising to me that in only 10 months I've become deeply disappointed in Catholicism as an institution. It appears that I've returned to the Church just in time to witness its inexorable movement to alienate/exclude all westerners who do not accept a subservience to a 17th-century institutional order. As it welcomes the ultra-conservatives of SSPX, it seeks to divide the anglicans by siphoning off its right wing unhappy about the women and gay clergy issues, and to slowly move to eviscerate the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council. It's as though the Church does not want anyone whose views would require some degree of flexibility on institutional as opposed to theological matters. Once agai it is proving that the Catholic Church is about itself, not the faith it proclaims. The term "anti-Chirst" is bandied about freely these days (mostly by Fox folks and the radio haters); somebody ought to consider literal application of the term to the Church's attitude about its relationship to its people and its God.