Mark P. Shea's Blog, page 70

Yesterday’s Gospel and the Blessed Virgin Mary

Yesterday’s gospel is often a favorite with the Jesus Constantly Rebuked Mary Crowd.  As a former member of that crowd, I discussed it in my book, Mary, Mother of the Son in connection with her supposedly “sinful unbelief” in Jesus: The Witness of the Gospels  Once I moved away from the not-as-airtight-as-I-thought passages in Romans […]

Blaming abortion supporters for the death penalty

When last we looked in on the super-duper “prolife” Catholic governor of Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, he was flashing his Christianist street cred for the nascent Party of Trump nihilists by working hard to battle the Church and the democratic will of the people of Nebraska to maintain the culture of death: Imagine you and your dad […]

Noodling the Cake Controversy

So other day, this washed up in my FB feed: It is a fairly typical specimen of conservative Christian self-pity from a nation of conservative Christians, acutely aware of the real sufferings of real martyrs throughout history and around the world today and hungry to pretend that their trivial problems are equal to that. They […]

The Gospels are Memory, Not Fiction

A reader sends along this great passage: “Textual problems have led some modern scholars to question the credibility of the Gospels and even to doubt the historical existence of Jesus. These studies provoked an intriguing reaction from an unlikely source: Julien Gracq, an old and prestigious novelist…which is all the more arresting for coming from […]

Pete Vere has an interesting argument

…with Fr. Dwight Longenecker about “Warrior” Christians that gets me thinking of a tangent. His argument is about the concept of the “warrior priest” and you can read it here. I don’t really have a dog in that fight, but it does remind me of something I’ve thought about in the past: namely, the idea […]

My son Luke kills me

“Love a good product name that sounds like something Captain Haddock would call you as an insult.” – Luke Shea

Secular Messianism is Alive and Well in the Age of King Donald I

Remember when Christianists were warning that Obama’s base thought he was the Anointed of God? What a bunch of maroons them Lefties were! What a bunch of ignoranimouses! Fast forward to now: Liberty University students and faculty are helping produce an 85-minute feature film that will be shown in over 1,000 theatres nationwide highlighting one […]

Can Somebody Give Me a Good Reason…

why American bishops are fighting to maintain the statute of limitations on sexual abuse crimes in NY, PA, and NJ? Cuz it looks an awful lot like they just don’t want to face responsibility for sexual abuse crimes committed by priests. I mean, I’m no lawyer, but….

A reader asks about predestination

She writes: I know many Catholics are critical of Calvinism and its doctrine predestination, but don’t they also believe in it? That God foreknows or ensures that whoever gets to heaven does-free will doesn’t exist when it comes to salvation. To me, this seems logical if God is all-knowing and all-powerful. I have asked Catholics […]

L’etat, c’est moi

Last week, I puzzled some people by noting that Trump’s dumb trade war against friends and allies was the thing Christianists would spend the day defending instead of defending the unborn. Some people seemed to think I have strong views on Trump’s dumb trade war and that I believed everybody must think what I think […]