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{"id":90915,"date":"2015-01-07T00:22:16","date_gmt":"2015-01-07T07:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=90915"},"modified":"2015-01-08T16:15:42","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T23:15:42","slug":"as-if-to-illustrate-my-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/01\/as-if-to-illustrate-my-point.html","title":{"rendered":"As if to illustrate my point…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

about the deranged, anti-Catholic thing that so much of the \u201cfaithful conservative\u201d Catholic subculture has become<\/a>, First Things<\/em> publishes this festival of crazy contempt for Francis<\/a> in which we are instructed that \u201cFrancis is \u2026 an ideologue and a meddlesome egoist.\u201d We see the teaching office of St. Peter described as a \u201csandwich board\u201d. We learn that \u201cFrancis serves an environmentalist mindset that, unlike the traditional ethos of conservation, views man as a parasite\u201d (how the aptly named Ms. Mullarkey divines knowledge of the Pope\u2019s Human Extermination Agenda before Francis has even published a word of his encyclical is left unclear. Ours is not to inquire into the prophetic gifts of a conservatism that has so often shown itself able to peer into the future and see success in Iraq, the genius of Cliven Bundy, and the innocence of Fr. Maciel.) We learn as well that Francis is \u201conly being photographed with the right kind of sinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then it goes to Rev. Wright (culture war dog whistle!)\u2026. and ends with\u2026 BUM BUM BUMMMMMM\u2026 Satan. And Francis. Next to each other. All it needs is this <\/a>to really complete the vibe.<\/p>\n

Naturally, this revolting (in every sense) smear job is advertised as an act of massive courage by the author\u2019s fans who say: \u201cI\u2019m not a sycophantic groveller before the throne of St. Peter.\u201d The Catholic faithful at FT are accordingly granted permission to likewise stand up against this Pope of Human Extermination and defy whatever it is he has yet to actually say.<\/p>\n

Cuz that\u2019s super-duper *real* Catholic faith.<\/p>\n

The stinking, sweaty, panic-stricken hatred of the pope from the kind of \u201cfaithful conservative\u201d Catholicism represented by Maureen Mullarkey is getting more and more palpable\u2013and respectable among the increasingly deranged right wing. \u00a0This was not written on a bathroom wall where it belongs. \u00a0It was not published on some blog published from Ignatius Reilly\u2019s basement. \u00a0This was published by First Freakin\u2019 Things<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Reader John Medaille remarks, \u201cThe rhetoric of the Right-wing Catholics of today is becoming indistinguishable from that of the anti-catholics of yesterday.\u201d Indeed. A friend of mine rather impishly has sent this crazy FT screed to Shoutin\u2019 Bill Donahue at the Catholic League with a request that he denounce this bizarre Know Nothing rant. I doubt much will come of it. \u00a0But there is little to separate it from the dumbest hayseed tract from a Fundamentalist who makes Jack Chick look like a Ph.D.<\/p>\n

First Things<\/em>: What happened<\/em> to you guys?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"