I really didn’t answer your question about the EO church and their doctrines being protected, but I’m going to do a second post on that because it will generate a whole new set of questions and issues.

Man, the process you went through wasn’t ideal at all. Someone knowledgeable should have spent as much time with you as you needed to answer your questions, even if it meant you didn’t become Catholic at that time.

And they should have told you that, you would stand up there and say; “I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church teaches and proclaims to be revealed by God.”

That said, realize that you don’t get much of a break if you become Orthodox. They also claim to be the true Church and claim their teachings are true, it’s just harder to pin down exactly what those teachings are due to their inability to pronounce something to be dogma for the past millennium or so. The canon of Scripture is just one example of that. I asked some (very very smart and knowledgeable) EO apologists what the OT canon was, and got three answers. Granted, there are only a handful of books that are uncertain, but that reveals the problem of EO Churches trying to state a dogma where one is needed.

Instead of the Assumption you get the Dormition. There’s little difference there. Instead of the Immaculate Conception you get Mary the All Holy. Instead of Purgatory you get EO prayers for the dead though why pray for them if Purgatory doesn’t exist? Etc.

(BTW I still plan to email you a response; this is not that response but I had a minute and since you mentioned my name I felt all honored and obliged to respond–hehe!)

Anyways, liturgical nonsense definitely goes on in many parishes, which runs contrary to the Church’s guidelines there. That’s sad. Also we still have these huge parishes while EOs are more like a small ghetto and have the benefit of being more family like. We need to improve that for sure but it will happen more likely after Catholics are pruned by persecution in this country. (Looks like we don’t have to wait much longer for that to come!)

God bless,
Devin