{"id":1773,"date":"2009-07-28T15:45:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-28T15:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer\/"},"modified":"2009-07-28T15:45:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-28T15:45:00","slug":"insanity-and-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html","title":{"rendered":"Insanity and Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Mark Shea\u2019s blog is a constant source of fun and common sense and quirkiness and smart comments and holy rage.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
As a layman he can say things and use language and take extreme views that I (as a holy priest) either don\u2019t write at all on my blog or write and then delete.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Although in saying this, Mrs. Longenecker reminds me of the time I was (ahem) shall we say, somewhat short with a telemarketer on the telephone and when I hung up I said \u201cI wish I\u2019d been rude.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cFunny how wishes come true.\u201d was her droll remark.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Anyhow, here\u2019s Mark on conspiracy theories.<\/a>\u00a0I agree with him totally. G.K.Chesterton said somewhere that one of the most refreshing things about the Catholic faith is that it teaches us that usually things really are the way they appear. There are usually no obscure theories, vast conspiracies or secret plans.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Catholic Church is just as it appears, for better or for worse. We have sinners and saints. Some of the sinners try to cover up their crimes. They usually fail. We have \u2018secret archives\u2019 but if they were really secret why would we call them \u2018secret archives\u2019?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Kate Shandie\u2019s comment that Mark begins with is \u2018conspiracies are history for stupid people.\u2019 I think that\u2019s actually too generous. I think conspiracies are history for crazy people. What we forget is that people are not gathered into two groups of \u2018crazy\u2019 and \u2018sane.\u2019 Instead most people are on a continuum from the totally sane, well adjusted, compassionate, sensible and honest people (like me and my friends) to those who are genuinely bonkers.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This continuum is represented by a bell curve. If sane was on the left and insane on the right, and sane is one and insane ten, then the bell curve peaks somewhere around 3 or 4. In other words, most people are a little bit off their rocker. In some way or another they\u2019ve got an\u00a0imbalance, a kink, a distortion in their perception of reality, an emotional or spiritual or mental disorder of some kind. Conspiracy theorists are all along the continuum depending on their obsession.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Anyhow, I\u2019m not throwing stones (and the comment about me and my friends was tongue in cheek to reveal my own lunacy) I\u2019m simply standing things on their head (which is the point of this blog) asking readers to put up their hand and say, \u201cYep, father, you got me pegged! I\u2019m one of the crazies too!\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Then let\u2019s all of us fall on our knees in hilarious and humble prayer and seek healing and light and a few jokes at ourselves and realize that the only human activity which really brings light and sanity and healing and peace is true contemplative prayer, and let us long to do that more.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Then let us act on that longing.<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Shea\u2019s blog is a constant source of fun and common sense and quirkiness and smart comments and holy rage. As a layman he can say things and use language and take extreme views that I (as a holy priest) either don\u2019t write at all on my blog or write and then delete. Although in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nInsanity and Prayer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mark Shea's blog is a constant source of fun and common sense and quirkiness and smart comments and holy rage.As a layman he can say things and use\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Insanity and Prayer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mark Shea's blog is a constant source of fun and common sense and quirkiness and smart comments and holy rage.As a layman he can say things and use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-28T15:45:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html\",\"name\":\"Insanity and Prayer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-07-28T15:45:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-07-28T15:45:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\"},\"description\":\"Mark Shea's blog is a constant source of fun and common sense and quirkiness and smart comments and holy rage.As a layman he can say things and use\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Insanity and Prayer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Insanity and Prayer","description":"Mark Shea's blog is a constant source of fun and common sense and quirkiness and smart comments and holy rage.As a layman he can say things and use","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Insanity and Prayer","og_description":"Mark Shea's blog is a constant source of fun and common sense and quirkiness and smart comments and holy rage.As a layman he can say things and use","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html","og_site_name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","article_published_time":"2009-07-28T15:45:00+00:00","author":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html","name":"Insanity and Prayer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-07-28T15:45:00+00:00","dateModified":"2009-07-28T15:45:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad"},"description":"Mark Shea's blog is a constant source of fun and common sense and quirkiness and smart comments and holy rage.As a layman he can say things and use","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/07\/insanity-and-prayer.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Insanity and Prayer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","caption":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}