Ask Your Doctor If the Blood of a Virgin is Right for You

Last updated on: May 5, 2018 at 9:08 pm By Mark Shea

Everybody need a hobby. Reader Laura Freeburn’s odd hobby is translating medieval German texts into English. Sometimes she runs into odd things: The following is my snarky summary of the medieval story Der arme Heinrich by Hartmann von Aue. If you enjoyed the now-defunct website The Toast, you might like this too. If not…I have other posts. Go here if you’ve never seen an American pharmaceutical ad. IS THIS YOU? Are you covered in disgusting sores? Losing fingers and toes? Suffering from gangrene and blindness?... Read more

Commonweal Follows up on Austin Ruse’s Massively Stupid Attack on Common Decency

Last updated on: May 4, 2018 at 11:47 am By Mark Shea

So last week, I chronicled a bit of Austin Ruse’s anti-semitic, idiotic, and false attack on Jenn Morson, Simcha Fisher, and Rebecca Bratten Weiss and the lie that there was some “coordinated attack” happening against Catholic institutions of higher learning–all funded by the sinister ArchJew George Soros. Soros has become the bogeyman of the Right Wing Lie Machine. Mention his name and you are guaranteed a Panic of the Stupids who will take that mere mention as a proof of... Read more

My Chum Mike Drollman…

Last updated on: May 1, 2018 at 10:17 pm By Mark Shea

…got interviewed for the Servants Heart program about the Central Washington Catholic Youth Camp. If you are looking for a great Catholic Youth Camp this summer, give this a listen! Read more

Pete Vere Asks the Musical Question….

Last updated on: May 4, 2018 at 9:14 am By Mark Shea

“Is it time for a New Catholic Apologetics Movement?” He’s got a bunch of good ideas, all of which I more or less agree with. I’m mostly riffing off his piece here, not really to add or subtract or dispute, but just because he got me thinking about my own experience with that work. Other people call me an apologist, I don’t. It’s a fair cop. I have, after all, written a lot of apologetics about Catholicky stuff. But that... Read more

Mailbag: On Judging

Last updated on: May 1, 2018 at 7:39 pm By Mark Shea

A reader writes: I hope you are doing well, and that this past Lent and Easter have brought you and yours closer to Our Lord. Yes. Thank you! Ok, so I have a question that has been on my mind quite a bit of late. What exactly did Jesus mean in Luke 6:37 when He said, “Stop judging, and you will not be judged”? I mean, I think I understand what He meant when He said “Stop condemning, and you... Read more

Why Creeds?: Everything Old is New Again

Last updated on: May 1, 2018 at 1:16 am By Mark Shea

In which we continue our look at creeds in The Catholic Weekly: As we saw last time, St. Paul records a brief summary of the Faith in 1 Timothy 3:16. As a young Evangelical, that gave me pause. It meant that creeds–summaries of the Faith–were biblical, not some medieval accretion. For, of course, even in the time of the apostles, there were already all kinds of urban legends about Jesus. Diversity of opinion about Christ and his gospel is not anything... Read more

A refutation of a disgusting Right Wing Culture War Lie

Last updated on: May 1, 2018 at 2:50 am By Mark Shea

So a particularly stupid Whataboutist Gotcha from some of my readers runs thus: We should not use any murdered person as a prop for our ideas, whether he was murdered by doctors or a school shooter. Your use of gun violence victims to promote your anti-gun violence agenda is just as exploitative as the people you claim were using Alfie Evans. Let’s engage the old cranial cortex, shall we? If somebody is murdered it is entirely appropriate to want to... Read more

Christianists Cry Wolf

Last updated on: April 30, 2018 at 3:19 pm By Mark Shea

As far as I can tell from the chatter (and not having seen the whole performance), there was one joke I would actually be offended by at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, because it punched down, and viciously so: Comedy gold for Democrats… #WHCD #MichelleWolf #NetflixStar pic.twitter.com/heud9ftXze — James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) April 29, 2018 This is truly way the hell out of line and she deserves the opprobrium she is getting for it. But of course what goes unmentioned in... Read more

Austin Ruse Blows the Jewish Dogwhistle

Last updated on: April 28, 2018 at 10:49 pm By Mark Shea

Austin Ruse, who is definitely not sending out anti-semitic dogwhistles or anything, claims that Simcha Fisher, Jenn Morson, and Rebecca Bratten Weiss, all Jewish Jews of Jewishness, if you catch my meaning, if you get my drift, are somehow receiving gelt from ArchJew George Soros, Master Octopus of the Conspiracy. He also has noted elsewhere that Ms. Morson is my disciple because anybody who comments in my comboxes is my disciple. And, of course, Simcha and I are well-known collaborators... Read more

An interview with Catholic bioethicist Dr. Jacqueline Abernathy

Last updated on: April 28, 2018 at 9:16 am By Mark Shea

…on the latest Connecting the Dots. We are discussing Alfie Evans and various end-of-life issues. Very interesting. This was recorded yesterday. Today, we receive the sad news of Alfie’s death. I can add nothing to the pope’s words, except my prayers for him, his family, his caregivers, and all who have sought to help him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. I am deeply moved by the... Read more