Catholic and Enjoying It! |
|
 Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again! Tips are deeply appreciated! Yes! I do take Credit Cards! Atom RSS Feed         Franciscan Friars of the Assumption Province - Religious Vocations for Men   Little Way Web Store  Hard to find holy cards and photographs of St. Therese imported directly from her store in Lisieux. We specialize in carmelite spirituality and offer a wide selection of books and gifts about carmelite spirituality. This is the website you have been waiting for. Gethsemane Garden Stones  Stations of the Cross Garden Stepping Stones transform your garden into a Prayer Garden Check Out "Rock Solid"  Mark Shea's Podcast                   
ARCHIVES
My Site (Mark-Shea.com)04/01/2002 - 05/01/2002 05/01/2002 - 06/01/2002 06/01/2002 - 07/01/2002 07/01/2002 - 08/01/2002 08/01/2002 - 09/01/2002 09/01/2002 - 10/01/2002 10/01/2002 - 11/01/2002 11/01/2002 - 12/01/2002 12/01/2002 - 01/01/2003 01/01/2003 - 02/01/2003 02/01/2003 - 03/01/2003 03/01/2003 - 04/01/2003 04/01/2003 - 05/01/2003 05/01/2003 - 06/01/2003 06/01/2003 - 07/01/2003 07/01/2003 - 08/01/2003 08/01/2003 - 09/01/2003 09/01/2003 - 10/01/2003 10/01/2003 - 11/01/2003 11/01/2003 - 12/01/2003 12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004 01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004 02/01/2004 - 03/01/2004 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005 12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006 01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006 02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006 03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006 04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006 06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006 09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006 10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006 12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007 01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007 02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007 03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007 04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007 05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007 07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007 08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007 09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007 10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007 11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007 12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008 02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008 03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008 04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008 05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008 Act One: Writing for Hollywood AirMaria American Chesterton Society Ave Maria Singles Catherine of Siena Institute Catholic Educator's Resource Center Catholic Exchange Crossroads Initiative Decent Films Drudge Report Exceptional Marriages Gilbert Magazine MercatorNet Peter Kreeft Mars Hill Review St. Austin Review St. Blog's Prayer Network Star of the Sea: Catholic Resources from Paul Thigpen David Alexander's Man with Black Hat: Zydeco Catholic Mike Aquilina's Fathers of the Church Rod Bennett: Tremendous Trifles Domenico Bettinelli: Very Sensible Guy Nancy Brown: Flying Stars Elliot Bougis: Fides, Cogitatio, Actio Chris Burgwald's Veritas Cacciaguida: Defending the 12th Century Since the 14th Catholic World News - Off the Record Cosmos Liturgy Sex: That About Covers it All Disputations: Dedicated to Arguing Ross Douthat: The Atlantic's Most Sensible Writer Michael Dubruiel's Annunciations: Sanity in Cyberspace Envoy's Blog: A Banana Republic for Catholic Apologists Dawn Eden: The Dawn Patrol Get Religion: The Smartest Blog on the Web about Religion and Media Dave Hartline: The Catholic Report Heart, Mind and Strength: The Weblog of Exceptional Marriages and Other Fun Stuff Intentional Disciples: The Group Blog of the St. Catherine of Siena Institute Fr. Rob Johansen: Thrownback Christopher Johnson: Midwest Conservative Journal Daniel Larison: Eunomia Fr. Dwight Longenecker: Standing on My Head White Around the Collar Mary's Aggies: Aggies for Mary Mere Comments: Touchstone's blog Mommentary: Elinor Dashwood's Sensible Blog Barbara Nicolosi's Church of the Masses On the Square: The First Things Blog James Preece: Catholic and Loving it! (Not to be confused with another site of a similar name) Dale Price: Dyspeptic Mutterings Scott P. Richert is All About Catholicism Scrappleface: As Funny as the Onion The Shrine of the Holy Whapping: Fun Lovin' Catholic Nerds from Notre Dame Southern Appeal: The Law with 11 Catholic Herbs and Spices Andrew Sullivan: The 800 Pound Gorilla of the Blogosphere Who is Hopelessly Fuddled about Catholicism and Sex Mark Sullivan: Irish Elk Amy Welborn's Charlotte Was Both What's Wrong with the World: Sane People in Insane Times Eve Tushnet: Wide Ranging Mind Daniel Vitz: Committed to an Institute Vox Nova Blog: An Interest Catholic Group Blog Zippy Catholic: Committed to Catholic Common Sense etc
|
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
Presbyterians Grooming Replacement for Bp. Spong Why should Episcopalians have all the fun of laughing at an ecclesial twit? Meet Rev. Dirk Ficca. (Thanks to Evan Donovan for finding this.) Monday, March 03, 2003
Mike Dubruiel on Fr. Groeschel I pretty much agree with him. I think Fr. Groeschel's worst failing has been his tendency toward over-the-top "blame the press" rhetoric. If it weren't for the press, the Scandal would not have come to light. Period. He needs to quit talking as though this is primarily the press' fault. That said, I also hasten to add that if it weren't for the Assyrians, Israel would not have been punished for their sins. This does not, however, transform the Assyrians into saints and they did indeed have their own judgement to face. Israel survived its judgement. Assyria did not. In short, it's obvious to me that Groeschel is right that the press *is* profoundly hostile to the faith. So it's silly to talk as though one must pick between two truths: the hostility of the press to Catholic Faith vs. the corruption of the Church. Both are true. As Dom Bettinelli and Mike Dubruiel both showed, the Dallas Morning News' attempted hatchet job was a typical case of the former truth at work. "Mansion" indeed. The man lives in half a garage. And today's DMN is another example, to my mind. And a worrisome one for what it portends for the Church's doctrine of redemption and mercy. Frs. John Hardon and Groeschel are, in essence, tried and found guilty because they were "willing to help anyone, including abusers, and believed deeply in rehabilitation." Dear Heaven, as pastors and healers, they actually took seriously the mercy of Christ? What further evidence do we need? Off with their heads! Call me crazy, but from what I can see, these men did the legitimate work of Christian healers in giving the guy his dignity the best they could and finding some way he could live out his vocation in a way that was not a danger to anybody. They were not his bishops. It was not their task to give him his walking papers. Caesar had, from what I can see, already decided to take a pass on the guy. So it was their task to extend mercy and healing to a miserable sinner. And from what I can tell, the sinner lived the life of a penitent. Isn't that, well, kind of the point of Christianity? Are we going to press on until we've annihilated the doctrine of redemption entirely? I don't want a Church that coddles abusers or endangers children. But even less do I want a Church where, when I sin gravely (oh, I know *you* haven't, but I have), I must watch my back because somebody is keen to discover and publicize, not only my sin, but to expose any believer who was kind enough to have mercy on me when everybody else had written me off. I fear we are in danger of becoming a Church of Javerts from Les Miserables ("Financial Scandal engulfs French diocese: Priest admits giving priceless silver candlesticks to known escapee"). Every damn one of us has skeletons in our closets we regret and saintly people in our lives who have extended grace to us when we deserved nothing but disdain. In our zeal to find and expose the sinner, are we really doing Christ a favor when we create a climate where a penitent and the people who have tried to help him are treated as the DMN treats Groeschel and Hardon today? Sorry, but the more the DMN does this, the less over-the-top Groeschel will sound. Huh? Bush's hand-picked solicitor general to the Supreme Court -- the one who represents the opinion of the White House to the Supreme Court -- argued vehemently that sit-ins constitute extortion and that therefore Operation Rescue and Joseph Scheidler were guilty under RICO provisions intended for organized crime. What's up with this? Lileks Points the Way! The solution to the Scandal has been found. If you are a priest given to proclivities for the underaged, just become a screenwriter and you'll be lionized as a genius who does careful and realistic research! And if you are bishop, just become a director and you can overlook whatever your screenwriter does for his research. Heck! You can even win an Oscar! A friend near the Beltway writes: This book was listed on the religion page of the WaPo this morning. You might find food for thought in it-- Adventures in Missing the Point: How the Culture-Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel It is not yet available on Amazon or B&N. Did get an e-mail saying it should be available this month. I'm afraid I have an allergy to Campolo, a rather tiresome "Beyondist" who imagines himself a prophet of the Third Way between liberal and conservative, but is really just a lackey for people like Clinton (he was part of the absurd group of pastors Clinton played like fiddles while he pretended to do something repentant during Monicagate). I tend to regard Campolo as a poseur. However, that's not to say your basic point isn't sound: there is an awful lot Christianity that is really just a sort of baptized suburbanism. In our case, we decided (partly because our Archdiocese allowed it, but we would have done it anyway) to get out of our deadly suburban parish with its backslapping Kiwanis club culture of sinless smugness and sneers at the Tradition and go to Blessed Sacrament, where the liturgy is celebrated reverently and we didn't have to wonder what BS our children were being taught in Sunday school. As primary educators of our children, I could not see a minor point of canon law standing in the way of their spiritual welfare. And besides, the diocese says it's okay to go to Blessed S. So there we are. But I can certainly respect people who make other choices. May God bless your work in the Vineyard! And now a few words from a fan of the Old South A reader writes: I like Yankees. I really do. In fact, I consider myself a Yankee, having lived in Michigan virtually all my life (I was born in Canada). Nevertheless, I find Yankee sanctimony not merely annoying but historically unfounded, at least as it relates to the purportedly enlightened racial mores of the North. You might want to pick up Alex de Tocqueville's Democracy in America sometime and read what he has to way about race relations in the Old South. Contrast his account with Abraham Lincoln's racist views and his desire to relocate black people to South America or Africa. Much of what you know to be true is false. It's sort of weird to have a Canadian arguing with a Washingtonian over the virtues of the Old South. Especially since my mother is Canadian and, as a Washingtonian, I consider myself about as much a Yankee as King Kamehameha. My people didn't have much to do with the Civil War. They were too busy getting beaten up for being Irish. As a Washingtonian, my closest connection to the Civil War is the Pig War, a brief war fought on San Juan Island in Puget Sound. The commander of the American Camp was one George Pickett, later to gain a bit of notoriety at a little dustup in a place called Gettysburg, PA. I hold no brief for Abraham Lincoln's sinless perfection. And I certainly don't think racism the exclusive property of the Old South. But one does get the impression from some southern afficianados that racism existed everywhere *but* the Old South. I did not mean to pick on the South in particular and I hope my southern readers will excuse me if they feel I singled them out in my post on Evangelicalism's easy prejudices. I'm well aware of the newer and more devious forms of racism the allegedly liberal Northern states have brought to a fine art. Dom Bettinelli does an interesting fisk of attempted hatchet job on Fr. Groeschel I saw this over the weekend and had my doubts about the article. Dom confirms them. Also, some good questions about what's going on in Chicago and a quick glimpse of the slithery slippery eel-like behavior of the utterly disingenuous Cdl. Mahony, a man whose uniform is the only thing I can respect anymore. I hope some judge smashes his dishonesty like a bug. When the Right Embraces the Ring Lucianne.com features this chilling little paragraph: Torture Time? The weekend apprehension of al Qaeda next-to-Mr. Biggest Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was good cause for international high-fives. It seems, at the last minute, money talked and his neighbors turned him in. His capture sent TV producers scrambling for anyone around on a bleak Sunday night who could comment on the use of torture. The general consensus was "of course, we don't do it." What they don't say is that with friends who do, we don't have to. Nod. Wink. Titter. Torture--torture!--is just fine as long as you are doing it in the defense of human rights. In fact, whatever methods we may choose to condone or contract out to our somewhat unsavory friends are fine because we are the Good Guys and we never do anything wrong. Let us do evil that good may result! It's right there in Scripture! This is disturbing. If it's accurate it raises some pretty big questions about the legitimacy of this proposed war. Anybody have any background on it? A friend in the reserves writes: I agree with you that trying to read the tea leaves regarding how the impending war will go is tough at best. I have this gut sense -- OK, mostly just a hope -- that all the Iraqi saber rattling will come to naught once the troops start surrendering. After witnessing first hand much of this sort of surrender the last time, I'm not surprised at all to hear that the poor slobs in the Iraqi trenches want no part of this war. The Latest on Al Kresta 1. Al remains in GOOD condition. 2. Al has been moved from the Step Down Unit to a General Surgical Room. 3. Al appreciated all the callers, well wishers etc, to the program yesterday. Alexis brought the CD to his room and played it for AL and Sally. We had a little revelation yesterday too. While the cards and flowers and great rush of prayers and expressions of joy for his progress are uplifting and have a positive healing effect, Al is in a very contemplative frame of mind. He ask if everything could be removed from his room except a crucifix and the CD player (he wants some Gregorian Chant in the background). Al is using this time to meditate and pray. As Alexis put it, "he wants a monastic atmosphere". Al wants to use this small amount of time to build an even deeper commitment to Jesus. He is "on retreat". He is meditating on Salvifici Doloris (On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering), by John Paul II. 4. Just this morning AL expressed his tremendous gratitude for your prayers, then, he asked for the intercession to continue as he is still in great need. Please continue to pray for Al. Make your own retreat, spend an hour with our Lord. Contemplate. Ask for an increase in Faith, Wisdom and Courage. Be assured that we continue to collect Cards, intentions and well wishes here at the station and on the website www.amcguild.org. Al will read each and every one. (after his retreat). Praise God for his mystical body and the love and affection we have for each other. The Christian Conscience on the Latest Assault on the Pledge of Allegiance ...and with some background on human toothache, Mr. Newdow. A petition to ban partial birth abortion Since we are going to war to get rid of a barbaric murderer, it might be kinda nice if we did something about our own barbarism. Future generations might be less inclined to laugh at us: the ones who survive our own culture of death, I mean. Saturday, March 01, 2003
Goodbye Charlie Harvey. I'll miss you. Envoy's blog reports that Charlie Harvey, the author of their hilarious inQUIZition feature, has died. I never knew Charlie personally, but I loved that feature and thought that the guy who wrote it must be a stitch. I mourn his passing. May God welcome his droll son into heaven through Christ our Lord and grant comfort to all who are in tears over his departure. My Latest on Catholic Exchange Just in case you were wondering about the basic difference between paganism and Christianity. |
