Mark P. Shea's Blog, page 1363

Mary the Virgin Mother

In which we conclude our series on the Perpetual Virginity of Mary and why it matters.

Coming soon to a country near you...

Sweet, good, generous Christian foster parents punished by gay-obsessed bureaucrats for Ungoodthink.

Remember, it's more important that children be punished by being deprived of a loving home than that gay narcissists have their lifestyle questioned.

Tolerance is not enough! You. MUST. approve!

Dale Ahlquist has a typically sane article

...about the family as the basis of civilization over at the Distributist Review. Speaking of Faustian Bargains, our civilization's attempt to grab at Mammon at the expense of the family is winding up giving us neither Mammon nor happiness. Once again, lose your soul and get nothing in return.

The Seattle Chesterton Society...

...has a cool new site!

Signs of Life

A reader writes:

I thought you'd be interested in some positive news from my alma mater, the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, MN. I keep tabs on happenings over there, especially news from the Center for Catholic Studies , whose undergraduate Catholic Studies program helped make me the man I am today.

Anyway, three years ago, two good friends of mine helped launch the Catholic Men's Floor in one of the men's dormitories, Ireland Hall, and the Catholic Men's Floor was recently profiled on the blog of the Center for Catholic Studies. Here's the link to the blog article about the Catholic Men's Floor: /
I thought you might want to read about it and I encourage you to check out the website of the Center for Catholic Studies. It is a very unique program and it has brought and continues to bring great renewal to the Catholic identity of the University of St. Thomas.

Excellent!

Meet the girl...

St. Edith Stein miraculously intervened to heal.

As a self-appointed evangelist...

for Mike Flynn's great novel Eifelheim (what do you mean you haven't read it?), I feel obliged to quote one of my priests at Blessed Sacrament parish, Seattle's Dominican Parish of Wonderfulness:

Howdy. Reading Eifelheim "and enjoying it." Favorite line so far--no surprise: "I should think Popes and Emperors enemies enough without taking on the Dominicans."

Team spirit!

Fr. Christopher, OP

Kudos to Luke Matheny!

for getting the Oscar for best Live Action short: God of Love. He has a great acceptance speech too!

To be young and prolife...

...is much more fun than to be bitter and dedicated to death. To wit:

Pro-Life Flash Mob in Chicago Surprises "Walk for Choice"

CHICAGO – A pro-abortion "Walk for Choice" rally was held in downtown Chicago's Daley Plaza on Saturday, February 26, 2011. Participants of the "Walk for Choice" were protesting HR Bill 3 which limits taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood.

As a response to the "Walk for Choice," anonymous teens and young adults organized a "Pro-Life Flash Mob" over the span of a few days. The goal of the event was not to counter-protest, but to give a positive message of joy and life to Chicago.

The youth assembled inconspicuously around the plaza before the rally hiding their giant yellow balloons in black trash bags. When the "Walk for Choice" had assembled, the youth prompted by music coming from a backpack sound system then proceeded to unveil the helium balloons imprinted with the word "LIFE."

These exclusive videos shows the "Pro-Life Flash Mob" taking the "pro-choicers" by surprise with Life, Spirit, and Truth!

As participants of the "Walk for Choice" were asked to wear orange for the event, so the Pro-Life flash mob jovially asks in their sign: "ORANGE YOU GLAD TO SEE US???"

Which side has more joy?

One final point: to all those who have written me saying that any questioning of Live Aid's tactics places one in the camp of the Do Nothing Pharisee, may I suggest that these people are managing to Do Something without lying to anybody. Indeed, there are literally hundreds of ways to fight for the unborn which do not entail telling any lies. And before you take umbrage at that word, please do be aware that I am only quoting the most prominent defenders of Lila Rose's tactics, who were lionized last week for the brilliance of their defense in comboxes all over St. Blog's. When even the defenders of Live Action call it lying, it's lying.

When Somebody Says "I was raised Catholic, and I can tell you..."

...expect the next words out of their mouths to be a farrago of confusion. Case in point, this utterly mixed up young thing who stands on the forefront of our nation's next generation of "abortion providers":

Raised Catholic, LaRochelle was inspired by author Alice Walker and helping poor pregnant women in Latin America. She remains spiritual; in her perfect world, free access to contraception would end abortion.

How spiritual can you get?