My name is Patrick, and I am glad you found your way here.
When I was young — a long time ago — I spent summers at a Nobertine Catholic seminary. I loved the taste of monastic life: the quiet, the prayer, the ordered hours, and the sense that ordinary days could be offered to God. There was something steady and serious about it, something that made the rest of life feel less scattered. That early experience stayed with me long after those summers ended.
Then came the years after Vatican II. The changes began slowly and seemed to keep coming. For someone formed in a pre–Vatican II Catholic world, it eventually became too much. The ground under my feet no longer felt familiar. I joined the Navy, and my work required me to be around certain materials. One day during Mass, the priest said it was the Church’s view that those who worked with such materials would not see the gates of Heaven. Being the stubborn person I was, I never returned to that church.
I remained Catholic in identity, but the Church around me continued to change, and I drifted. Looking back, I can see how easy it is for a person to stay loosely attached to the name of a faith while growing farther from its center. That was true of me for a long time.
In 2006 I moved and met a priest who changed my life. We spent hours talking about the Orthodox Church — about history, worship, prayer, and the living continuity of the faith. He did not pressure me. He simply opened a door and let the truth speak for itself. After about a year, my family and I found our home in Orthodoxy.
Even coming from a related tradition, learning the differences was overwhelming at first. There was so much that was familiar, and so much that was deeper, older, and more demanding than I expected. At fifty years old I became Orthodox. That was twenty years ago.
I am not a perfect Orthodox Christian. On many days I am a poor one. I still struggle, still forget, still fall short of the life I know I am called to live. This website is proof enough of that: I acquired the domain about fifteen years ago, and only now has Simply Orthodox finally taken shape. Slow as that may be, it was born from a simple hope — to offer a place where Orthodoxy can be approached without unnecessary confusion.
I know what it feels like to stand at the edge of something beautiful and feel unsure where to begin. That is part of why this site exists. Not to say everything, and not to replace a parish, a priest, or the life of the Church, but to offer a clear and steady starting place.
If you are new, or returning, or simply looking for something explained a little more simply, you are welcome here. If there is a subject you would like to see treated more clearly, use the contact form and I will do my best.
Thank you for visiting.
Welcome.
— Patrick