Mark P. Shea's Blog, page 1321

Not a Joke

HT: Mike Flynn

Catholic Lane...

is doing nifty reflections for the Sunday Readings. Check thou them out!

Barbara Nicolosi-Harrington on Christian Art Suckage

"The art made by Christians today is not only not beautiful, but tends to be among the ugliest art that mankind is producing," screenwriter and professor Barbara Nicolosi-Harrington said during her talk to the students and faculty of Christendom College on May 2.

I think it's the "Little Drummer Boy" effect. Art that sucks (Music=pa rum pa pum pum) is thought to be humble. Art that's good is fancy pants aesthetics that those damn bi-coastal Blue Staters like. So Christians make sucky art and pride themselves on their humility. Til "suck" is decoupled from "humble" the problem will continue.

I think the trick is to get Christians to look beyond the story of the Widow's Mite and remember the remark of David that "I will not offer a sacrifice that costs me nothing." The widow put two small coins into the treasury because it was all she had. She gave her all. Lots of Christians think the moral is "Put in two cents of effort and you are humble." Nope. If you put in two cents when you have $2000 to give you are not humble. You're just lazy and cheap. Same with the arts. Crappy art when we can do better is not humble, it's just crappy.

Extreme Cool Interactive Sky Survey

...done by a Seattleite! Here's the story.

And here's the awesome interactive sky photo in its splendiferous interactive awesomeness!

The Heavens declare the glory of God!

One of my favorite memories of all time was stopping last summer on the top of Grand Coulee out in the middle of nowhere about midnight and just getting out of the car and looking up on a crystal clear night in August. The most spectacular view of the Milky Way I have ever seen.

Minnesota Catholics: NOW is the time to act to protect marriage!

Tell legislative leaders to put a marriage amendment on the 2012 ballot

The Minnesota marriage amendment (HF 1613; SF 1308), which would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman in the Minnesota Constitution, has essentially finished the committee process and is ready to be voted on by both houses of the State Legislature. The Minnesota Catholic Conference is cautiously optimistic that the amendment will pass this year. But we need to encourage legislative leaders to bring it to a vote in each chamber. It does not need the Governor's signature to get on the 2012 ballot.

NOW is the time to protect marriage in Minnesota. There is a court case right now in the Minnesota Court of Appeals seeking to have traditional marriage declared unconstitutional. Five bills were introduced last year to redefine marriage into something other than the union of one man and one woman. A constitutional amendment will put marriage into the hands of the people of Minnesota.

Many of you have been working and praying to protect marriage in Minnesota since an amendment was first discussed in 2004. An amendment protecting the vital social institution of marriage is quickly becoming a reality. But we need a strong push to ensure it gets on the 2012 ballot. YOU can help by writing or calling your legislator and mobilizing your friends in support of marriage. But most of all, please PRAY that our efforts will be successful.

Thank you for your dedication to the common good, and take action NOW!

Now you know!

Dem Abortion Fanatics Displeased with Obama

A friend writes:

"Catholic" pro-choice rag says Obama's not pro-abort enough!

I chalk this up to the messianic expectations for Hope & Change: Democrats are learning that their issues are only important to pols in voting season, and that the rest of the time it's whatever personal agenda that particular pol wants to push. The sad thing is that, at least on "social" issues, Democrats tend to hold their pols more accountable, and therefore Democrats tend to make better politicians who more efficiently distort humane government. The Republican party has been able to string its constituents along for decades, as you've pointed out on numerous occasions.

It is a weird irony that Obama, like most of the GOP leadership, is content to let the abortion status quo sort of drift. He makes a few token pro-abortion gestures that drive the pro-abortion zealots mad. Ours do the same. But of course, since the US is at sub-Carthaginian levels of concern for the unborn, that's not exactly to Obama's (or the GOP leadership's) credit. Both reflect the basic attitude of the majority of American people that abortion is a terrible thing we deplore and don't want to do much of anything about if it interferes with freedom of choice.

Zac Alstin tries to talks sense...

A reader writes:

Hey Mark, longtime reader here. I'm getting married in about a month and just had two quick questions for your readers (if you ever get the comments working again ;) )

1) Both my fiancee and I are Catholic, and I was just wondering if any readers knew of any good resources for deepening our spirituality as married couple and not just as individuals.

2) This is a tough one, and I need a lot of help on it. We're going to Rome for our honeymoon, and I need a book recommendation for the flight. Do you or any of your readers know of a good first book for a newly married man?

I'm not much on marriage book recommendations, mostly because our marriage hasn't been fueled by marriage books too much. We've gotten our sustenance from other sources. However, that's just me and I know there are good ones out there. Greg Popcak has a pretty good one called For Better Forever. Also, I've heard people speak well of Fulton Sheen's Three to Get Married. And I would recommend Brave New Family, a collection of some essay's by Chesterton. Indeed, Chesterton's writings on the family (and finding and befriending as many older couples with successful marriages and families is one of the smartest things you can do.

Anyone else with answers for either 1 or 2?

577 Followers!

Today, we are talking about the curious dodgy way the Obama Administration has managed the Message of the Great Liturgy of American Justice in order to keep our focus where it belongs: on our brave troops themselves.

Next week, we will look at the equally odious ways in which the Thing That Used to be Conservatism is also trying to massage reality (i.e., lie) to muscle in the Bin Laden Slayer Luv.

Here's a shorthand version:



That is all!

Busy today!

Back tomorrow! Ciao!