Pete Vere on Phil Lawler’s Ongoing War on the Holy Father

Last updated on: May 29, 2018 at 10:55 pm By Mark Shea

The Confusion is Self-Promotional: Another day, another Phil Lawler bomb lobbed at Pope Francis. Another online article accusing the Holy Father of undermining orthodox Catholic teaching, causing confusion in the Church, and other alarmist sensationalism. Here we go… again. Oh yes, and another concluding paragraph self-promoting Lawler’s new book. A book that paints Francis as a bad pope. As I have stated on several occasions: “The self-promotion in Phil Lawler’s neverending criticism of the Holy Father? It is not incidental... Read more

The Irish Vote

Last updated on: May 29, 2018 at 1:21 pm By Mark Shea

So I’ve been on vacation since last Thursday at our Hidden Island Redoubt. As photographic evidence, I offer this picture of grand-daughterly bliss: One of the things I customarily do when I will be away is try to load various bits of Interesting Things into the hopper ahead of time. Then it feeds out on to the blog while I am sitting around the campfire with family and loved ones, singing songs and dandling adorable grand-daughters on my knees, like... Read more

This is America

Last updated on: May 29, 2018 at 10:08 am By Mark Shea

This is a bus for babies snatched away from their parents at the border by our sadistic border policies. This is happening in our country, to the orgasmic joy of Good White Christianists who now blasphemously declare Trump to be the Fulfilment of Prophecy. And while it does, the author of this policy of vindictive, sadistic cruelty perfects the diabolical lie by simultaneously inflicting the policy while blaming the opponents of this policy for it. Result: the Christianist People of... Read more

A reader objects to my distinction between Christian and Christianist

Last updated on: May 29, 2018 at 12:28 pm By Mark Shea

He writes: I am a long time reader and follower of your blog. You’re book, By What Authority, had a large part in my return to the Catholic Church. Thank you for that. Your consistent stand that we should follow all Catholic teaching has often challenged me and bright me back into alignment with our wonderful Church. Thanks be to God for your openness to the teaching of the Church! You encourage me greatly! One thing that has been troubling... Read more

Seeing as how it’s Memorial Day, Lemme Post in Honor of My Dad

Last updated on: May 22, 2018 at 11:24 pm By Mark Shea

My Dad was up for three days straight on D-Day, servicing waves of aircraft bombing Normandy. My Dad woke up in a cold sweat for years after the war, the sound of bombs in his dreams still ringing in his ears. My basic reason for wanting to destroy the GOP? My Dad put up with a lot from Nazis and I don’t want them back. Several full-fledged Nazis/white supremacists/Loony Anti-semites are running as Republicans this year and the Party of... Read more

My friend Kelly Scott Franklin has published his first book!

Last updated on: May 22, 2018 at 10:46 pm By Mark Shea

The Shattered Fountain showcases the literary genius and spiritual power of the distinguished American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne through ten of his best short stories. Featuring prominently in the American Romance movement, Hawthorne eschews the vapid optimism in the human spirit and affairs espoused by many of his contemporaries. Instead, as these selected tales show, Hawthorne honed his craft to depict as powerfully as possible the reality that the human heart is as capable of immense good as it is of indescribable... Read more

Nice to get mail like this

Last updated on: May 22, 2018 at 10:31 pm By Mark Shea

A reader writes: I have to thank you for pushing me towards embracing Pope Francis, you are the only person that I read regularly that has done that, and I think its been really beneficial to me. I’ve read all of his officially writings including his most recent Gaudete et Exsultate, which has been my favorite. The crazy thing to realize is that there hasn’t been anything to be concerned about in any of the documents, even the “footnote” that... Read more

A Royal Wedding Bad Lip Reading

Last updated on: May 23, 2018 at 11:07 am By Mark Shea

I love these things so much! Read more

What Evangelizing Culture Looks Like

Last updated on: May 22, 2018 at 4:08 pm By Mark Shea

Bishop Robert Barron continues his good work: Read more

I used to work at Fred Hutch, so this story tickles me no end

Last updated on: May 22, 2018 at 3:02 pm By Mark Shea

The Hutch Closes in on a cancer cure THE MAGIC MICROSCOPIC particles that might change the world — and in the process, permanently burnish Seattle’s spot on the big, ascent-of-man scientific map — are, at this very moment, being carted about on a medical campus one short traffic jam away from the shores of Lake Union. Their mode of transport: a thermo-molded plastic lunch cooler, of the sort one might nab at Walmart to carry a baloney sandwich and some... Read more