Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 12:10am

Mark Shea Demonstrates Once Again That He Does Not Read What He Writes

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Socrates opined that the unexamined life is a tragedy.  The same goes for blog writing.  Let’s take a look at the lament by Mark Shea over the canning of Simcha Fisher:

 

 

Msgr. Charles Pope, has a piece warning us to prepare for persecution.

Prophetic considering that a very good Catholic woman named Simcha Fisher, faithful to the Catholic Church, a mother of *ten* children who has worked tirelessly as a witness to the greatness and goodness of our Holy Catholic Faith, a fine writer who could be making a million bucks somewhere but who is spending her prodigious gifts in the service of the gospel, has been kicked out of her job to the salacious screams of a mob, all for using the English equivalent of “skubala” (Philippians 3:8) now and then and for making a couple of bawdy dick jokes on her private FB page (you know, like when St. Paul remarks to the Galatians that he wishes the circumcision enthusiasts would castrate themselves).

Look, I *get* that I’m abrasive and I get the rejoicing over my losing a job.  Fair enough.  But don’t hand me a load of bushwah about how Simcha Fisher had this coming.  Somehow or other, the anti-abortion-but-not-prolife movement has mutated into a thing that eats its young and imagines that the unborn are being served by punishing a mother of 10 children with loss of her livelihood.

This. Was. Wrong.

Simcha Fisher is an ornament of the Church.  She has been such a gift to so many and I will be grateful to God for her till the day I die.  Punishing a mother of 10 with loss of income over something this utterly trivial is a judgment, not on her, but on the mob of bullies across St. Blog’s rejoicing over her humiliation.  She does none harm. She says none harm. She thinks none harm. Nevertheless, it is not for the bawdy jokes that this mob have sought her blood, but because she would not bend to the marriage of the Faith with a fraudulent disgrace like Donald Trump.

If you value her witness, check out her book and think about hiring this funny, earthy, humble, godly and orthodox woman to come and speak at your parish.

Let’s parse this out shall we?

1. Shea starts out by comparing the persecution of the Church with a writer losing a writing gig.

2.  He goes on to say that Fisher could be making a million bucks somewhere unnamed.  (I guess then that losing a minor writing job is not an immense tragedy for her?)

3.  Shea is unable to see why a Catholic publication would find it problematic to have a writer who makes “dick jokes” on her Facebook page.

4.   Shea utilizes the old pro-abort technique of condemning people who oppose abortion as not being pro-life.

5.  With no evidence other than his assertion he proclaims Fisher an “ornament of the Church”.

6.  Once again he laments the loss of what I assume was a fairly modest income to someone who could earn a million bucks elsewhere.

7.  Shea concludes by comparing Fisher to Saint Thomas More and Donald Trump to Henry VIII.

Having blogged here at TAC for almost eight years, and usually submitting several posts a day, I understand that blog entries are not philosophical treatises, pure in logic and perfect in argument.  However, there should be some attempt to persuade.  Shea offers his readers nothing other than the fact that he is really ticked that Simcha Fisher will have to seek employment elsewhere.  Unless you already agreed with Shea, reading what he wrote was a waste of time, and for any writer that is a cardinal sin.

 

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Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 5:33am

In spite of all his protestations to the contrary, Shea is not not upset that Fisher lost a job, but that he lost a job. He is a brat spoiled by the adulation of the diabolical legions of liberal progressives who follow him.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 6:04am

Soon they’ll blame their problems on “false attacks from right wing groups.” A.K.A. “the vast right wing conspiracy.”
.
I only hope his children don’t starve before he lands that prison guard job.

bill bannon
bill bannon
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 6:15am

. What’s missing too is that I suspect they received prior warnings which they simply ignored though it is possible that obscene language on facebook in the one case could engender a quick firing….as per the Olympic swimmer who is losing endorsements based on several days behaviour.
A real non religious job for Mark could be a Godsend. He’d grow from it. The internet is not causing growth in him but writing on scripture might since I once saw him shine brightly in an essay on the phrase “my God”…as opposed to the distant, non owned “God”.
I often felt he was verbally abusive to many but perfectly silent on criticizing any sitting Pope and that struck me as a money thing. The paid Catholic parish speaking circuit is impossible for Pope critics. If you can like Benedict and Francis with equal gusto, you just might have a motive. But he might have felt that income constraint as a betrayal of his self and then acted out by spending half his life sounding critical to everyone under the sun but the Pope while knowing he had what sailing people call “the no go zone” which direction stops the sail boat cold.

Dave Griffey
Dave Griffey
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 6:28am

I find it interesting that Mark equates his, and Simcha’s, job loss with persecution. If you stop and think that one through, it probably says more than we can ever say. Especially since the agency that let them go is also a Catholic publication. Once again, the troubling part isn’t Mark’s assertion, but how many readers appear to agree.

DJ Hesselius
DJ Hesselius
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 6:47am

Shea lost me on the “mother of *ten* children” statement, but perhaps that is just sour grapes on my part.

Nate winchester
Nate winchester
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 7:08am
Ken
Ken
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 8:05am

These two individuals seem devoid of all humility and charity.

I do find it rather odd that someone looks at a Trump symbol and conjures up that image. Just a little unhinged. I’m sure she instructs her 10 children to be careful what they post on facebook; it can affect your employment status I’ve heard.

long-time pro-lifer
long-time pro-lifer
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 8:12am

A worker is worth their wage, said who ? (Jesus)
That being said, I’ve never been paid for pro-life work. Am I not worth much ? Or am I just more dedicated than people like Shea/Fisher and do the right things for the right reasons, not because I’m being paid ?

Murray
Murray
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 8:29am

Did Fisher write those things on her “private Facebook page”, as Shea claims, or on her Simcha Fisher public fan page? I’ve seen several complaints that Fisher and Shea shouldn’t be held accountable for Facebook posting, as if they were just noodling around with a select group of “friends”, the way most of us do. And if that were the case, I’d tentatively agree, within limits, that those posts shouldn’t be grounds for firing. But unlike the rest of us, Fisher and Shea have public fan pages with thousands of followers. Of course they should be held accountable for their behavior in a public forum.
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Note also the staggering amount of projection going on with these two and their horde of sycophants. They make their personal political opinions into a litmus test for orthodoxy, then claim that their opponents are blinded by their partisan political allegiances.

Stephen Herreid
Stephen Herreid
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 9:28am

One of the many ways in which Shea expresses his contempt for detractors: He uses minimal care and craftsmanship in his writing.

Thanks for this.

Tom
Tom
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 9:42am

The publication in question is a private concern, and as such, pretty much “owes” none of its employees a job. Not sure how one has a moral right to employment at a particular business regardless of one’s actions. One may think a hiring or firing decision to be wise or unwise, prudent or imprudent, but to suggest that an opinion writer has a vested moral right to employment such that their firing is a moral issue is a stretch at best. Ironically (or nonsensically) Shea himself tacitly admits that his own firing was not an issue of right or wrong. Why then, if NCR had a problem with Fisher’s use of crude sexual language and how that might affect their readership, and therefore their bottom line, should they not feel free to fire both muckrakers equally?

When you take a job like that, it’s understood, is it not, that if the Publisher does not like your point of view, or the way you put forth your positions (including lack of civility, smugness, imputation of all sorts of immorality and bad faith to your opponents, and finally, crude sexual references), you risk losing your job?

Shea is just reaping what he’s sown; I imagine if one of his many opponents had been fired from a Catholic publication for using crude sexual references that might reasonably be expected to offend their readers and affect the publication’s reputation, he would bloviate about the opponent’s corruption, hypocrisy, and faux religiosity.

I pity Shea, who seems a bit mentally and spiritually unhinged, and it seems a break from public disputations would be healthy for him. I’d suggest getting a job that requires getting out from behind a keyboard.

S.Armaticus
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 10:03am

The thing that just irritates these two M*ppet’s is that they can’t live off that part of the Church that is actually profitable any longer. If they go over to the the Reporter, they will have to live off the Zombie church. And that does not “grow the heretical pie”.

Joseph D'Hippolito
Joseph D'Hippolito
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 12:18pm

“I often felt he was verbally abusive to many but perfectly silent on criticizing any sitting Pope and that struck me as a money thing.”

It’s more than that, Bill. People like Shea and Fisher — and, sadly, far too many Catholics — worship the ecclesiastical bureaucracy as God instead of God as God. That’s where they placed their ultimate faith. That’s why they reacted in such a vile manner to anybody who dared challenge their opinions, especially with logic, reason and fact. The. Church. Can. Do. No. Wrong. It’s the exact same attitude that allowed clerical sex abuse to metastasize since before the days of St. Peter Damian and “Liber Gomorrahianus,” until it broke in Boston at the turn of this century.

As I said on another thread on this blog, Shea and Fisher were con artists, pure and simple. They deluded sincere yet naive Catholics with their nonsense. Now that they’ve been found out, I hope they never get another job from a major Catholic client.

The Bear
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 1:27pm

Wait. Does this mean two writing jobs are now open?

Murray
Murray
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 1:46pm

Good point. Let’s get the Register to hire both St. Corbinian’s Bear and Tim Capps!

Art Deco
Art Deco
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 1:54pm

We’ll it seems some at patheos are rallying around Mark .

His description of Mark Shea’s engagement with others reads like it was dictated by Mark Shea to someone who’s been in a coma since 2004. Shea’s signature is deleting other people’s remarks while offering follow-up posts savaging the people who made them (albeit seldom by name). That’s a ‘happy warrior’?

and it seems a break from public disputations would be healthy for him. I’d suggest getting a job that requires getting out from behind a keyboard.

I once knew a retired faculty member from RIT who, past age 60, was hired as a security guard at the University of Rochester. He usually worked evening shifts. He said it was the best job he’d ever had. Shea’s going to need to get in shape in order to qualify for that sort of work, though.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 1:59pm

If they go over to the the Reporter, they will have to live off the Zombie church.

I’m afraid the Zombie church includes most parish priests, nearly all parish musicians, the bulk of the chancery staff, college chaplaincies, the entire academic community bar Christendom College and a half-dozen others, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Chicago, various Vatican dicasteries, the entire German episcopate, and the current occupant of the Airline Seat of Peter.

bill bannon
bill bannon
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 2:08pm

Art Deco….amen to the saccharine descriptions of the Shea problem as simply “anger” rather than a panoply of untoward choices and actions.
Joe D’Hippolito….You’re a sports writer. Can’t tell you how mega thrilled I am over the UFC trilogy of fights of Nate Diaz (my fav) versus Conor McGregor…both champions in endurance….though Nate will have brain trouble in his latter years so he better save the millions he earned Saturday night.

Murray
Murray
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 2:09pm

Hahahaha. According to another Patheo$ clickbaiter, Mark’s anger is Christlike.

bill bannon
bill bannon
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 2:20pm

Murray….good one. Apparently some at Patheos feel that all anger is just and prophetic which would make ISIS even more Christlike than Mark.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 2:29pm

Hahahaha. According to another Patheo$ clickbaiter,

His previous gigs include Vox Nova, that collecting pool of quondam theology students (leavened with oddball Gerald L Campbell) looking down their noses at vulgar you. If it didn’t occur to you that Shea’s chronic incapacity to offer a minimally faithful summary of what someone utters and thinks is something other than ‘charitable’, well, the academy is here to set you simpletons straight.

bill bannon
bill bannon
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 2:55pm

Art…you might enjoy my appearing abruptly at Vox Nova in support of God actually mandating the herem massacre of the Canaanites AS A LAST RESORT which even Benedict missed when he ascribed it to men rather than God in Verbum Domini 42….while the Pontifical Biblical Commissiom said it never happened (distinct still from Benedict).
https://vox-nova.com/2015/11/12/rene-girard-and-the-literal-sense-of-scripture/#comment-176424

Dave Griffey
Dave Griffey
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 4:09pm

Murray,
I saw that. I actually commented on that post. I said after my one post that I wouldn’t say anything else but that pushed me. I can’t believe how many are rushing to his defense. They aren’t helping him , or Simhca, in the least. I wonder if they are just blind, or they really don’t think there is anything wrong with false accusations, or they don’t care and just want to keep Mark and Simcha propped up as shields and blockers to do their dirty work. I don’t know. But how can so many miss the obvious?

Penguin Fan
Penguin Fan
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 6:17pm

Well, we know that Shea and Fisher have their fans. It is not surprising to see them defended, rather than read a critique of what happened.

In the end, I care little of what Shea or Fisher or their supporters say or think. I have my own messes to clean up, two boys to educate and raise as informed, knowledgeable Catholics. I do not need Shea or Fisher. I have the examples of my grandparents, pious Catholics all, the brave Catholic history of Clan Lamont, and my ancestral connection to the Deep Catholic faith of Poland.

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 9:05pm

I take absolutely no pleasure in the news that anyone has been “fired” from or otherwise discharged from an apostolate (paid or volunteer) to which they devoted a great deal of their life, even if the discharge was necessary or for good cause. It happened to me once, and it was a cause of great sorrow for me to this day. So, include me out of the piling-on brigade for people who lose jobs, speaking gigs, or other platforms because they said or posted or tweeted something stupid, wrong or rude. That’s punishment enough for most people.

I liked both Mark and Simcha’s blogs for their quirky sense of humor and their open admission to not being Mr. or Mrs. Perfect Catholic Blogger. I have never visited either of their Facebook pages, however, so I probably missed the worst examples of the writings for which they were criticized. Political comments and memes on Facebook are a near occasion of many sins so I avoid them like the plague.

Yes, Mark’s constant hammering on the evils of Donald Trump and “The Thing That Used To Be Conservatism” were becoming tiresome and some of his regular commenters were urging him to give it a rest. I would not have conducted the “Catholic and Enjoying It” blog the way he did. But I still got plenty of useful information out of it in between the political rants. No, I’m not trying to “prop them up as shields to do (my) dirty work”, simply taking note of the good that was intertwined with the bad.

If either of them continues to write or blog somewhere else, I’ll still read them, and I’ll still politely disagree with them if they post something off the wall (I’ve done so on Mark’s blog and NEVER been banned for it).

Dave Griffey
Dave Griffey
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 9:20pm

Elaine, I’m sure many don’t take pleasure in seeing them fired. But as I and others have said countless times, it had nothing to do with being tiresome, or mean, or nasty, or angry. It has to do with making false accusations, slandering people, attacking their reputations or falsely accusing their relationship with God. Those are serious. And they represent the faith in a public setting. I know less about Simcha, but I became part of a case earlier this year where she got into an argument with a young woman about the Cincinnati Gorilla shooting. The young lady said something about the mother and Simcha immediately labeled her a racist. Then Simcha found out the young woman was a lawyer running for office. Simcha called upon her readers in the woman’s region to dig up what they could to wreck her candidacy and even encouraged some who said the young lady should be barred form practicing law. Over the gorilla story. We’re not inquisitors. That is a dark spot in Catholic history, not something to relive by social media. I don’t know if Simcha made a habit doing such things, but even one attempt to destroy a person’s career over a facebook dispute is one too many IMHO. That is what many are trying to point out. It’s far beyond obsession here or harsh language there.

S. Armaticus
S. Armaticus
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 11:40pm

At Art Deco: You write

” I’m afraid the Zombie church includes most parish priests, nearly all parish musicians, the bulk of the chancery staff, college chaplaincies, the entire academic community bar Christendom College and a half-dozen others, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Chicago, various Vatican dicasteries, the entire German episcopate, and the current occupant of the Airline Seat of Peter.”

What you forgot to mention is this…. quickly approaching Perestroika and its very own Gorbachev moment.

Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Tuesday, August 23, AD 2016 11:57pm

“7. Shea concludes by comparing Fisher to Saint Thomas More and Donald Trump to Henry VIII.”

Well, it is believed that Henry VIII died from syphillis and Trump did claim venereral diseases to be his own personal Vietnam. So Shea’s comparison is at least partly right.

trackback
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 2:16am

[…] Catholic blog titled Mark Shea Demonstrates Once Again That He Does Not Read What He Writes (see here). In this post, Donald R. McClarey makes 7 points while parsing a post written by Mark Shea […]

Tito Edwards
Admin
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 9:13am

Just a quick point of reference, the gigs over at The Reg you all are referencing to are contract jobs. Not really full time employment; and with no benefits.

Judy
Judy
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 9:23am

I completely agree that Mr. Shea should get a job as a prison guard, preferably overseeing all those poor, misunderstood murderers that he feels never deserve the death penalty.
I read Fisher’s blog for a short while. I guess she was trying to be approachable and earthy, but it just came across as vulgar.
But I’m sure there will be parishes who (foolishly) continue to pay them to speak. Michael Coren kept his speaking gigs for a year before anyone figured out that he wasn’t actually Catholic anymore.

AJGSyc
AJGSyc
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 9:29am

This post and the bulk of the comments are disgusting.

Only in a polarized culture that has seduced Catholics into its false dichotomies could Mark Shea and Simcha Fisher be declared progressive con artists.

Shea and Fisher are the kinds of Christians who bring people into the Church. Y’all are the kinds that turn people away.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 10:11am

I’ll still read them, and I’ll still politely disagree with them if they post something off the wall (I’ve done so on Mark’s blog and NEVER been banned for it).

I think o’er at Patheticos the same rules apply which applied at BeliefNet. He does not have the discretion to ban you. The site moderators have that discretion, but you have to violate a menu of p’s and q’s more involved than Mark Shea’s sensibilities. He can, however, delete your remarks, and he does do that.

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 11:06am

AJGSyc has drunk his / her full of the venomous cocktail of Mark Shea’s vomitorium.

Phillip
Phillip
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 12:04pm

“Only in a polarized culture that has seduced Catholics into its false dichotomies could Mark Shea and Simcha Fisher be declared progressive con artists.”

You have to be a member of the polarized left to believe that.

Penguin Fan
Penguin Fan
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 1:57pm

How about that? WSYIWYG or whatever he/she calls him/herself says that little ol’ me and the nice group of folks at Mr. McClarey’s keep people out of the Catholic Church. Damn, never knew that!
Well, I never got paid by the Register or anyone else to badmouth Catholics I disagreed with.

For the record, the people in the Church I have criticized the most here is the heterodox hierarchy. As for Shea and Fisher, they got what they had coming.

Dave Griffey
Dave Griffey
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 2:17pm

AJGSyc. You illustrate the problem. You’re basically saying what Mark and Simcha do is no problem, only those who are doing the same to Mark and Simcha (and possibly, not as bad as what Mark or Simcha have done), are the problem. You see the problem with that?

Art Deco
Art Deco
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 2:45pm

Only in a polarized culture that has seduced Catholics into its false dichotomies could Mark Shea and Simcha Fisher be declared progressive con artists.

Shea and Fisher are the kinds of Christians who bring people into the Church.

Well, you’re right, ‘progressive con artist’ is a bad description of Mark Shea. “Vessel of free-floating aggression’ is a much better description. Some people may find that attractive, people I’ll do my best to keep my distance from.

Murray
Murray
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 3:45pm

Shea’s not a con artist. As far as I can tell, he’s wholly sincere in his beliefs, and I even believe his frequent mea culpas (invariably preceding a swift relapse) are heartfelt. But social media–and perhaps political argument itself–is a near occasion of sin for him, and it betrays his poor judgment that he can’t stay away from it.
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Mark’s rage issues, and his propensity to calumny and scandal long predate Donald Trump and Pope Francis, but have become far worse since they arrived on the scene. To make matters worse, he has driven away reasonable interlocutors during his long descent and replaced them with an echo chamber of those who appreciate his gutter rhetoric, and who seen to have great difficulty distinguishing their political beliefs from the Catholic faith.

Joseph D'Hippolito
Joseph D'Hippolito
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 3:57pm

If anybody believes that Mark Shea isn’t a con artist, read Matthew 7:18-20 and Galatians 5:22-23, then get back to me.

Tito Edwards
Admin
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 4:14pm

Murray,

A charitable and accurate analysis of the entire situation reflecting my thoughts precisely.

Dave Griffey
Dave Griffey
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 4:47pm

Murray,
My thoughts exactly. Mark wasn’t always what he became. And as I said on my own little post in the tempest, I blame those same followers who flocked to the echo chamber, urging him on and calling him out when he did apologize as much as, if not more than, I blame him.

Foxfier
Admin
Wednesday, August 24, AD 2016 11:41pm

I haven’t been in the loop, but as a point of general interest– if what you write on facebook is set so that someone who is not on your “friend” list can see it, it is not legally private. So if you set it so that friends of those tagged can see, it’s not legally private.
I know there are folks who disagree with the legal definition of private speech, but thought it was worth pointing out.
****
As far as Shea’s work goes– I think this might actually be pretty good for him. I haven’t read him in ages because he gets…. very heated, the longer a discussion goes, and more likely to confuse his judgement with binding teachings.
But I’d imagine that there will still be “hire Mark Shea to speak at your church” fliers around, and he’s good at that, when he can keep it from becoming personal.
*****
Fisher I don’t know, I’ve had only a tiny bit of exposure to her and could sense a personality mis-match, so I didn’t pursue reading her.

Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Thursday, August 25, AD 2016 12:33am

I think it bears repeating that Mark Shea’s biggest problem isn’t his temperament, as bad as that is, but his repeated acts of calumny. Because of this, I believe he has absolutely no business making his living as a Catholic writer, speaker, or apologist until cleans up his act, which includes making amends to those he has slandered over the years. Not only do I think he should not be hired to speak any Catholic parish, any diocesan bishop who is aware of his conduct should forbid any parish within his diocese from hiring him or anyone who conducts himself in like manner.

Joseph D'Hippolito
Joseph D'Hippolito
Thursday, August 25, AD 2016 12:44am

Bravo, Greg! Well said.

Nate Winchester
Nate Winchester
Thursday, August 25, AD 2016 9:53am

Shea and Fisher are the kinds of Christians who bring people into the Church. Y’all are the kinds that turn people away.

And with this statement we see further evidence that “conservative souls don’t matter” or at least that liberals are the only ones worth saving.

In an ideal world, both would play to their strengths. Shea would sell to the liberals, TAC would sell to the conservatives and they would do their best to avoid stepping on each others toes. Instead we have Shea intent on living down to the worst stereotypes Americans used to believe about Catholics (which TAC has documented and discussed previously).

Only in a polarized culture that has seduced Catholics into its false dichotomies could Mark Shea and Simcha Fisher be declared progressive con artists.

A handy rule of thumb: If someone tries to claim their political position based upon other people they point out as further left than them? That person is a leftist/liberal. If someone claims their political position based upon a precise nomenclature (libertarian, neo-con, paleo-con, minianarchist, etc) then they’re rightist/conservative.

Those who express honestly they never thought about it, are usually your independents/moderates.

Really the evidence that Shea’s leftist is more a drinking game than debatable, the fact he disagrees with them only 2, maybe 3 issues doesn’t change his agreement with them on the other 97-98 issues.

Foxfier
Admin
Thursday, August 25, AD 2016 10:43am

Shea is the kind of person that drove my husband out of the Church, by teaching him that it was made in Shea’s image, rather than that of God.
The folks here, for all of their flaws recognized and unrecognized, brought him back. They’ve nurtured his knowledge of the faith, as opposed to Shea and those like him who will give you good information– and then not mention when they switch to their own views.
Even if their own views are piles of personal judgments.
This gets especially bad if they end up promoting a flat-out fiction, like some of those in the Torture Debates that conflated waterboarding with a wide range of historic tortures which was less accurate than conflating a C-section and being drawn and quartered.

Foxfier
Admin
Thursday, August 25, AD 2016 10:45am

Take a wild guess how things shake out when someone of more than moderate intelligence and high curiosity discovers that what they’ve been taught is true is, factually, false.
If it had been honestly taught as being Shea’s view or that of those like him, it would be savable; when it’s been taught as The Truth By The Church, then the Church is tarred.

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Thursday, August 25, AD 2016 12:07pm

If the Church is what Shea and his leftist kind teach, then I will leave with all alacrity. But it isn’t. As far as I am concerned, Shea and his kind are heretics who if they fail to repent must be purged from the Body of Christ.
.
And no, I am NOT a Trump enthusiast but I darn sure will vote for him if that is the only way to keep that murderous pathological liar out of the White House.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, August 25, AD 2016 2:28pm

no business making his living as a Catholic writer, speaker, or apologist until cleans up his act,

He’s 59 and too heavy for any sort of employment which requires stamina. Not sure what there is for him in today’s labor force.

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