So this is pretty amazing…

Last updated on: June 29, 2019 at 7:56 am By Mark Shea

It leaves out a tiny bit of detail, but it actually does a pretty good job of giving us an overview. Yes, I’m aware he does not really get it about Jesus, but then I don’t expect unbelievers to do that. Anyway, something fun and educational for a Saturday morning. Read more

How Monks Helped Invent Sign Language

Last updated on: June 28, 2019 at 9:00 am By Mark Shea

Deacon Steven Greydanus alerted me to this interesting piece in National Geographic. Dom Pedro Ponce de León, “the first teacher for the deaf,” was a 16th-century Spanish Benedictine who hit upon the idea of teaching the deaf to communicate using a system of hand gestures similar to ones used by his fellow monks during periods of silence. Another 16th-century Spanish priest and pioneering educator for the deaf, Juan Pablo Bonet, built on Ponce de León’s work, developing the first manual... Read more

Heartwarming stories

Last updated on: June 27, 2019 at 8:47 am By Mark Shea

I’m ambivalent about a lot of heartwarming stories. No. Not the one that read “High school junior makes a dress from his prom date because she couldn’t afford her dream gown“. Grisly as that sounds, it was just a typo. He didn’t really carve up his date and turn her into a dress as punishment for being poor. He just made a dress for her because he is a nice guy. MSN unfortunately corrected later, deleting much hilarity from the... Read more

A reader struggles with scruples about remote material cooperation with evil

Last updated on: June 29, 2019 at 1:42 pm By Mark Shea

The reader writes: I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could shed some more light on the matter boycotting businesses and enterprises that in some way support something evil – and yup, that’s spurred by the recent developments in Georgia. I tried to find a conclusion on my own and, well, ended in a pretty dark place. I’ve read a fair share of respectable Catholics (you, SDG, Jimmy Akin, Dave Armstrong, Fr Angel Sotelo, Domenico Bettinelli,... Read more

A reader has a question about the notion of “penal substitutionary atonement”

Last updated on: June 7, 2019 at 5:15 pm By Mark Shea

He writes: I just read your article “Taking apart the false theory of penal substitutionary atonement” Isn’t this a direct contradiction of the teaching of the Catholic Church from the Catechism? The Catechism states the following: Jesus substitutes his obedience for our disobedience 615 “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”443 By his obedience unto death, Jesus accomplished the substitution of the suffering Servant, who “makes himself an offering for... Read more

Simcha Fisher on Catholic and Enjoying It! tonight!

Last updated on: June 19, 2019 at 1:12 pm By Mark Shea

Catholic and Enjoying It will be on the air live at 7 PM Pacific (10 PM Eastern) every Monday night. We will be discussing life, the universe, and everything from a Catholic perspective and giving ourselves up to general jollification for the hour. You can listen here and you can call into the show at 1-866-333-6279 while we are on the air to yak, argue, demand I sing, or sing yourself. My guest tonight is my old friend Simcha Fisher, author... Read more

A non-Catholic reader struggles with scandal in the Church

Last updated on: June 24, 2019 at 6:50 am By Mark Shea

They write: Mr.Shea, I want to start by saying the I appreciate your writings, especially on poverty. I was coming to the conclusion that American churches alignment with Ayn Randian economics was related to “faith alone”/antinomian theology, which claims that the Christian life ought to require no sacrifice, and you expressed these thoughts very well in your books and blogging. Some protestants have also come around to that idea, as articulated in David Platt’s book. I’m unfamiliar with Platt, but... Read more

Being as How It’s Around Graduation Time…

Last updated on: June 22, 2019 at 7:20 am By Mark Shea

…being as how I enjoyed Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens and really enjoyed his response to some white supremacist snowflake who could not cope with a depiction of Adam and Eve being black… You know, it’s when people who proclaim themselves as “white supremacists” turn off Good Omens after the first few minutes, and then come on Twitter to tell me off, that I think sometimes a negative review is a marvelous and heartwarming thing. https://t.co/AwX3oclXaZ — Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) June... Read more

The Narcissist Hijack

Last updated on: June 21, 2019 at 7:49 am By Mark Shea

When we think of ugly and unpopular social sins, we usually think of people who embody the utter worst, compare ourselves to that, and conclude that we are fine since we are not the utter worst. So the person who routinely starts sentences with “I’m not a racist, but…” and delivers himself of some racist blather typically thinks that because he has not personally put the noose around somebody’s neck at a lynching, or flown a swastika, or worn a... Read more