Mark P. Shea's Blog, page 1319

Booyah!

...to Mitch Daniels! Deeds, not words!

Goody!

Season 6 of "The Apostle of Common Sense" premiers this Sunday, May 15. Last I talked to Dale Ahlquist, he was going to be using part of a talk I gave at the 2009 American Chesterton Society conference on the relationship of drama and the faith. I suspect that will wind up in the episode on Comedy and Tragedy.

Unless, of course, he wised up and decided to just ditch me and stick with Chesterton. We'll see. Either way, should be fun.

Obama Must Destroy Libya

in order to save it.

The bishop of Tripoli begs our Nobel Peace Prize Winner and the UN to stop raining down the blessing of mass destruction on his people. All I can think of is the grim warning: "Be nice to America or we will bring democracy to your country."

Glory, hallelujah, our God King Marches on!

Patheos is reprinting...

a little piece I wrote a couple of years ago where in I try to explain the baffling relationship between my faith and my politics.

Cheap humor

Just got this brutal savaging in an email:

"You're an idoit Mark."

I will be giggling all day over that.

A reader writes:

Please pray for my close family friend (who is more like immediate family) that's been rushed to the hospital. His organs are shutting down. Tumors in liver. Kidneys failing. He had surgery yesterday and was not supposed to survive. He did survive but the problem's not fixed. He's young, too young. The family has already been crushed by the loss of one relative to cancer, and another relative is currently in hospice. The last thing they need is to lose the father of the family. They need a lot of prayer. He's not Christian and neither is his wife but they were married by a Baptist pastor (a close friend of the family) who is currently driving for hours to get out to the hospital & help counsel the family and provide support. I'm very glad the pastor will be there.

So please storm heaven with prayer.

Your prayer support in this matter is much appreciated.

Father, hear our prayer that this man and his family make his peace with you through our Lord Jesus and find grace, mercy, and a happy death. Mother Mary, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The Drama of Faith

In which we look at the relationship of theatre to the Faith.

Remember

Prolife Activists are crazy and violent but pro-choice folk are measured and reasonable.

No.  Really.

Our friends the Syrians...

...to whom we once renditioned the innocent Maher Arar (among others) in our courageous program of Bush/Cheney prisoner interrogation, practice "enhanced walking". I learned from years of discussion with extremely clever combox moral theologians that this:



...is perfectly compatible with our Faith as Catholics. In fact, it's basically impossible to tell if this is torture or abuse because neither the Catechism of the Catholic Church nor any infallible teaching instrument of the Church has ever solemnly defined "stomping on prostrate and helpless prisoners" to be torture or abuse. So Catholics of good will can disagree that this is "wrong" and God will smile in senile benevolence on any who choose to defend that proposition.

Run for Nuns Fun!

Run For Nuns helps fight debt, the vocation killer!

Pittsburgh, PA. – Taking a vow of poverty doesn't lend itself to paying off college debt. Priests, seminarians, religious sisters and friends from the Diocese of Pittsburgh will be running on May 15, 2011 in the Pittsburgh Marathon, Half Marathon or Marathon Relay as part of their 2nd Annual "Run For Nuns" campaign (see www.RunForNuns.com), an effort to eliminate the college debt of some young women so they are free to enter Roman Catholic religious communities.

Men and women who enter Religious Life -- a way of living in community focused on prayer and service -- pledge to live according to the example that Jesus Christ presented in the Gospels. Because religious live a life of Poverty, they do not own anything or receive a salary. The young women that the Run For Nuns team is supporting must eliminate their educational debt before they are permitted to fully participate in this way of life.

One of the seminarians, Patrick Caruso, was inspired to start the Run for Nuns campaign last year. "The world has seen many courageous witnesses to love in the lives of religious sisters such as Mother Theresa," Caruso said. "These young women we are trying to help are eager to offer the same selfless service for the rest of their lives."

"Men and women in our generation are looking for meaning. We desire to make a difference in the world. Religious Life and the Priesthood are really supernatural ways of living, serving our neighbor in need while acknowledging that God is the center of life," said Sr. Alicia Torres, one of the future sisters who were able to enter religious life through the help of Run For Nuns last year.

This year Run for Nuns will be teaming up with Mater Ecclesiae Fund For Vocations, a 501(c)3 non profit organization which will make donations made on behalf of Run For Nuns to Mater Ecclesiae tax-deductible. To make a donation, visit www.RunForNuns.com or mail a check payable to 'Fund For Vocations' to MEFV, P.O. Box 7433, Falls Church, VA 22040 and write "Run For Nuns" on the 'For' line.

Sr. Alicia Torres and Emily Davis, who were able to enter religious life last year through the help of Run For Nuns, will be returning to Pittsburgh to run with the Team. Davis will accompany three sisters from her religious community, the Franciscan Sisters TOR, who will run the Marathon Relay in their full-habit.