Mark P. Shea's Blog, page 1263

The Invaluable Tom Kreitzberg...

...on the graying rebellion of the Spirit of Vatican II crowd.

Some people have lived 49 years since 1962. Others have lived 1962 49 times.

"Magical Misery Tour"

Heh!

Last week I was critical of Sarah Palin's pointless bus tour (of which more in a moment).

Say what you will about her, it's her own money and those of her donors that is funding her jaunt, not $$$2.2 million extorted from taxpayers so that Obama can campaign on the public dime and call it something else.

I have absolutely zero interest in hearing the Sermon on the Bus from some apostle of the God King telling me that Happy Days are Here Again. Take the $2.2 million and the 3669% increase in personal wealth that Obama and our Ruling Classes have enjoyed while their Teflon Cronies have prospered and distribute it to the combat troops who are suffering and dying for their misbegotten policies. Obama is worried about reaching the point where he has more money than he needs? There are some military families making crap wages with permanently injured and permanently dead family members who would be happy to relieve the guilty consciences of our parasites in DC. Yet oddly, our Ruling Classes seem not to be eager to join in the sacrifices they demand others make.

YouCat Recall Petition Looks Dodgy to Me

So some press release shows up in my box announcing that "a formal petition for the recall of YOUCAT has been launched by a group of more than 25 theologians, clergy, and Catholics involved in lay apostolates." I click the link (no, I'm not providing it), but have trouble locating who these people are. That smells. Strike one.

The next thing I notice is that the only person I can find who is identifiable is somebody called John Wynne of Restoring Truth Ministries. This "ministry", as I discover from clicking on the link, is one of these peculiar hybrids which obsesses over evolution and wants to read out of the faith theistic evolutionists and people who don't have a big issue with the compatibility of evolution and Catholic teaching. It rather dishonestly quotes Cardinal Ratzinger, while failing to notice that, as Pope, Ratzinger has welcomed serious theological discussion about the reconciliation of evolutionary science and the Faith, and that this same conference rather pointedly did not take seriously either advocates of Intelligent Design nor so-called "creation scientists". Second strike.

Finally, Robert Sungenis and his readers are enthusiastically joining in the condemnation with remarks like, "Let's face it, the majority of the hierarchy (including Pope Benedict XVI) are doing all they can get away with to destroy the faith." Strike three.

More and more, there seem to be "lay apostolates" whose mission seems to be to "save" the Church from the Magisterium and replace their guidance with the dogmatisms of sectarians. On the whole, if it's choice between the teachers ordained by Christ and Some Guy with a Website, I think I will stick with the bishops and the Pope.

The Black Sheepdog Continues His Morph

...with a lousy web redesign and the continued expunging of Jesus and absolute and total neglect of that Lady who used to be so important to him. Also gone is the uber-creepy "Black Sheepdog" graphic that gave even his enthused followers the willies.

Front and center is still His Life Story, but instead of that embarrassing business about Mary that will not play with the Talk Radio crowd he is trying to market himself to...

the album cover for the new audio/video version of my life story is a picture of me riding my Harley Davidson Fatboy through the hills of Montana. We had fun shooting the pictures. I hope you'll enjoy our ride into the future.

What a tragedy this wretched man is making of his life. What a mockery of his ministry. What prey of his deluded followers. May God grant him and them the grace of repentance. But especially him, lest the millstone he is tying around his neck become so tight he cannot remove it. Father, hear our prayer through Christ our Lord. Mother Mary, treated with such cold contempt by this traitorous son, pray for him! Father, restore and save this Prodigal Son in the end, through Christ our Lord.

And God bless Bp. Mulvey for having the guts to stand up to this fraud and confront him, despite all the abuse he took for doing so. He is the real hero of this sorry business and deserves a rousing cheer of gratitude.

Prayer Requests

Sorry for the lateness of posting these. A reader wrote:

This sweet little girl, Lucy Mae,  is scheduled to have jaw replacement surgery on Monday, August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Please pray for her, her family and the medical staff caring for her. The family is fundraising to help pay for the surgery, but right now, their primary consideration is for Lucy's care, recovery and healing. Thank you!

Father, hear our prayer through Jesus Christ that the surgery went well, that she swiftly heal, that her family receive grace and strength and peace, and that your Body the Church supply their needs in this trial. Mother Mary, pray for them!

Kevin O'Brien writes:

The nine days between the Feast of the Assumption and St. Genesius Day can be filled with a novena found here. [NB: Genesius is the patron of actors - MS]

Maria and I are in Duluth, Minnesota, on the shores of the beautiful Lake Superior, and although we are staying at a hotel with a water park, and performing every night this week, this does serve as a kind of retreat for me. I would, therefore, be grateful to hear suggestions from any of you as to how Theater of the Word Incorporated can better fulfill its mission of evangelizing through drama. I asked Maria this question and she surprised me by suggesting that I start offering lectures on faith and drama, particularly with the idea of encouraging the young actors out there who are so discouraged and who feel as if the only way to succeed in our business is to sell out. At any rate, if any of you have ideas of things you think might help, I will reflect on them in prayer when not at the water park or on stage this week.

We are somehow touching many lives despite having no resources, insane travel and schedule demands, and persistent resistance on all fronts. Please pray for this apostolate, of which you are all a part.

Father, hear our prayer for Kevin and the Theatre of the Word through Christ our Lord! Mother Mary and St. Genesius, pray for us!

In addition, we pray for Pansy Moss' father, who entered eternal life on the feast of the Assumption. He was a deacon for the Diocese of Albany. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Mother Mary, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Also, Infinite Grace writes:

I humbly ask for your prayers as I am a week away from the anniversary date of my abortion. The fact that I now am a little involved in the prolife ministry is both good and bad. Good for the obvious reasons. Bad because it remains a constant reminder of my past that I had buried for so long in the dark corners of my soul. I have all manner of spiritual warfare going on at the moment and need all the help I can get. Thank you and God bless you.

Father, we ask that you would bless your daughter with fresh reminders of your infinite mercy and grace and continue to make her a sign of hope for so many other women, as well as a channel of life to the unborn babies you desire to save! We ask this through Christ Lord! Mother Mary, pray for her and all to whom she will be a sacramental! Amen!

A reader writes:

I am presently in a mundane bureaucratic job that does not exactly utilize my God given skills and talents. Besides the level of dreariness, my superiors are not exactly known for their professionalism, which has made it very difficult to work for them. Unfortunately, in my reaction, I have often been less than Christ-like. Hence, I pray for both a better job in which I may be able to do "God's work" on earth in which my skills are utilized, and regarding my current job, the grace to deal with my superiors in a Christ-like fashion.

While I do feel a little guilty in asking for prayers for a "better" job, when in this current economic environment some people have no job at all, I also feel that I have a lot to contribute to the world, and that I would like to utilize my abilities to help the most people possible.

I would also like to ask for an additional prayer. I am single male in my 30s, and I believe that my vocation is marriage. However, I have found it rather difficult to find someone who appreciates and adheres to the teachings of the church (especially in matters related to the theology of the body). I pray that God may send me someone with these qualities, so that we may live, and hopefully one day raise a family, in full communion with the church's teachings.

With regards to the above-mentioned requests, I hope that God may give me the gift of wisdom so that I may make the best decisions possible.

Father, hear our prayers that your son can have life abundantly and live out fully the charisms and vocation your desire to give him to the praise of your glory and the good of his neighbors. We ask this through Christ our Lord! Mother Mary and St. Joseph, pray for him!

Bravo, All Y'all!

Sheila Hughes writes:

Bryan and I want to thank you all, once again, for making Joshua's first DIR/Floortime camp experience a reality. He truly benefited from the experience and clearly made progress in the four weeks he attended camp. We are so grateful to you all and look forward to how we can apply the skills we gained in working with him ourselves and take this camp experience forward in his development. Rosemary White, her staff, including her daughters, and the Floortime Players, made an incredible experience happen for 60 children (30 kids in the morning camp and 30 in the afternoon). There was a greater than 1:1 ratio with wonderful support for each child, who was met where they are and encouraged to just be who they are, yet progress in their social development. It was truly remarkable and amazing experience. I had worked for 7 years in a week long overnight summer camps for abused and neglected kids (Royal Family Kids' Camp) and this camp was just as powerful an experience, even more so for me, as this time, I was a parent of a child who personally benefited from the camp. Bryan and I can't thank you all, enough, for ensuring that Joshua could attend.

Please check out Joshua's blog and look at the pictures and read of our hopes for him, not only for this coming school year, but for many years to come.

God bless you all and thank you, once again!

In Christ,
Sheila and Bryan Hughes
www.raisingautisticchildren.com

Thanks so much for supporting this family! The King will say to you, "Enter into the kingdom which my Father has prepared for you from the foundation of the world! For I was an autistic boy and you sent me to camp."

If only people in Hollywood could marry...

...none of this would happen!

As the reaction of our elites to Roman Polanski made clear, sexual abuse of children is fine if you are the right sort of Roman.

Speaking of which:

If a small group of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals have their way at a conference this week, pedophiles themselves could play a role in removing pedophilia from the American Psychiatric Association's bible of mental illnesses — the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), set to undergo a significant revision by 2013. Critics warn that their success could lead to the decriminalization of pedophilia.

I reiterate my prediction that the day will come when the Church is condemned, not for failing to prevent pedophilia, but for trying to prevent it.

Positive article about a large family

A rare thing in today's media. Of course, the comments are reliably nasty, but still, at least the thing got written.

Nifty!

The formidible Sandra Miesel sends this along:

Light Beyond All Shadow: Religious Experience in Tolkien's Work
Edited by Paul E. Kerry and Sandra Miesel

Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

What forms can religious experience take in a world without cult or creed? Organized religion is notably absent from J.R.R. Tolkien's Secondary Universe of elves, dwarves, men, and hobbits despite the author's own deep Catholic faith. Tolkien stated that his goal was "sub-creating" a universe whose natural form of religion would not directly contradict Catholic theology. Essays in Light Beyond All Shadow examine the full sweep of Tolkien's legendarium, not only The Lord of the Rings but also The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and The History of Middle-Earth series plus Peter Jackson's film trilogy.

Contributions to Light Beyond All Shadow probe both the mind of the maker and the world he made to uncover some of his fictional strategies, such as communicating through imagery. They suggest that Tolkien's Catholic imagination was shaped by the visual appeal of his church's worship and iconography. They seek other influences in St. Ignatius Loyola's meditation technique and St. Philip Neri's "Mediterranean" style of Catholicism. They propose that Tolkien communicates his story through Biblical typology familiar in the Middle Ages as well as mythic imagery with both Christian and pagan resonances. They defend his "comedy of grace" from charges of occultism and Manichaean dualism. They analyze Tolkien's Christian friends, the Inklings, as a supportive literary community. They show that within Tolkien's world, Nature is the Creator's first book of revelation.

Like its earlier companion volume, The Ring and the Cross, edited by Paul E. Kerry, scholarship gathered in Light Beyond All Shadow aids our appreciation of what is real, meaningful, and true in Tolkien's work.

List of Contributors

Russell W. Dalton, Matthew Dickerson, Colin Duriez, Julian Tim Morton Eilmann, Christopher Garbowski, Glen Robert Gill, Roger Ladd, Robert Lazu, Jared Lobdell, Sandra Miesel, John Warwick Montgomery, Anne C. Petty

About the Editors

Paul E. Kerry is associate professor of history at Brigham Young University, visiting fellow at the Woolf Institute, and research associate at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge at Corpus Christi College, and visiting fellow at the Woolf Institute, Cambridge.

Sandra Miesel has analyzed, written and edited science fiction and fantasy. She is a frequent contributor of essays to the Catholic press on history, hagiography, and art.

When 2/3 of Japan's Catholics Were Killed

in a split second--using the Cathedral as a siting target.