In the past, the problem has been that Mark makes up his own Magisterium which contradicts the one written by the Church. With his gross misunderstandings of theology and the Mystical Body of Christ, he takes pot shots at the people trying to exercise their vocation or ensure that his use of his platform is free of error and slander. Error and slander are things he -- we all are - responsible to correct.
His theology on covert operations of police, military and lay people to catch terrorists and murderers as forbidden by our faith is not Catholic theology. He has fooled himself into thinking the thoughts in his own head are Catechetical proscriptions of the Catholic Church.
The piece clearly indicates he is sorry, but I actually can't tell what conduct he is actually sorry about.
He mentions burning of Lila Rose at the stake, but his explanation led me to conclude he was sorry about his response to the stupid people who willfully refused to accept his caricature of Lila Rose as a liar whose ministry is forbidden by the Catholic Church. He seems to say that he wished he just called Lila first to get her to sign off on his mandatum.
I don't walk away with the conviction that he'll stop inciting contempt with lies and falsehoods against faithful Catholics who serve Christ through the legitimate and effective avocation (or in cases like Voris vocation) of Church Militant.
I can't sink my teeth into anything that tells me he understands how the Mystical Body works and his intentions are to cease and desist from inciting contempt with slander.
He repeatedly says it wasn't that he is wrong in his original opinion that Lila, or Voris or Fr. Wesst are lying and sinning - only that the way he expressed those opinions were ineffective and bitter and in the future, he will try to find ways to express his right opinions to be more convincing and persuasive.
Here's the irony - the fur started to fly when he wrote this excellent piece about the proper tone and conduct of an argument. How sin makes you stupid and immerses us in lies, darkens our intellect and makes us fight the light.
Wherein somebody responded:
I don't quite know how to take this. I want to assume you mean what you're saying, but it's not easy. You seem to take disagreement very personally. You also seem to have a quick fuse. Put those two together, and they produce a lot of sarcasm and insult instead of argument. I don't mind reading you when I disagree; I just brush you off. When I get really uncomfortable is when I agree with you. It's way to easy to join in your enjoyment of ridicule and belittling. I wonder if that's why a lot of people read you.
Whoah baby, did she ever hit the raw nerve.
Sometimes something comes along and changes us. That and the Sacraments - nothing is impossible with God. Time either heals all wounds or wounds the heel.
Writing about theology is incredibly convoluted. The mischief and peril can never really be understood unless you've experienced its traps.
You are in the public square like a clock that all kinds of people and principalities approach to wind up. Others fire their guns. Then, there is the crazies.
I pray God blesses his contrition and brings much fruit.
14 comments:
still not going to read his blog... It's like going to a hockey game and being surprised when a fight breaks out. By the way, go Bruins! Woo hoo!
Carol, I'd like to believe Mark is being sincere in his repentance, but I see no real evidence of any real change of heart.
One he made no real effort to privately contact and make amends to the the people whom he has gravely offended, before his great act of public contrition. Instead, he makes a grand public gesture, blowing his own horn, by making a very vague general confession of sin that's obviously for public effect. I hope he's happy with his reward.
He's still in denial about his past behaviors. In his comboxes, a gent called I Am Not Spartacus reminded Mark about his past actions of making up ugly facts about others. Mark outright lied about it by saying "No idea of what you mean about What's Wrong Wi The World." I read those articles in W4, and Mark's crazy remarks in the comboxes. There's no way he can have "no idea" about what IANS was talking about. He's lying through his teeth and enjoying it.
I'm sorry 10C readers, but I can't buy Mark Shea's so-called repentance. As far as I'm concerned, it's Pharisee shuck and jive con. (Matt. 6:1-8, 16-18)
I understand your reservations. I don't know either Stevie. It read to me that the new Mark would malign with love but he has assured me I am reading things into his piece which he did not intend to convey. I want to believe that and hope it is true.
Only time will tell.
God bless us all.
I read your comment over at CAEI, and I thought they were quite on target. Shea's statement that you read things into his statements things that he didn't intend to convey is hogwash. He's a writer, and he knows exactly what he wishes to convey. He's just trying to shuck and jive again.
As far as I'm concerned, this is just another manipulative act by a psychopathic nutcase.
For some reason religious communities nurtures these kinds of personalities, perhaps because there's less accountability. You don't want to attack someone who's doing the Lord's work and be seen as some kind of beatnik or worse.
Shea has a lot of people believing he's doing the Lord's work, and I'm sure he tugged on a lot of heartstrings from his uncritical readers by invoking the horrible AmChurch anthem "taste and see".
I wish I could say that EWTN and company only had one personality like this.
I saw Carlotta's comment to you on CAEI. What a dupe this poor lady is! To say you're "bitter" when her idol Shea is the bitterest person I've ever seen. She doesn't understand that one must bring forth fruits to prove repentance. So far, I haven't seen a bud, let alone any fruits. What I have seen is a man who's making a great public show of repentance. A truly repentant person doesn't need to do this. He would simply go to privately to the persons he offended, make amends to them, cease from doing evil works, and start doing good ones, without the public fanfare.
I disagree a bit on your last comment Steve...he did have to make a public apology, just as he offended publicly. Now, the thing is for him to live it out. He's apologized before and asked for prayers before, and then just goes right back into the same outlandish behavior.
I'm with Carol in saying, I really didn't see a 'mea culpa' in his writing...he's sorry for the tone, but hasn't begun, it would seem, to reassess any of his positions. I suppose only God knows how it will all play out, but I have and will pray for him...I hope he makes a real change and reformation of spirit this time.
Yes Susan, he did offend publicly, and he should apologize publicly, but not at the start. The way he's doing his "penance" is to toot his own horn to say look how penanced I am. Sorry, but when I read Matt 6:1-8, 16-18, his "penance sounds like a Pharisee vain show.
Shea probably wrote this "apologia maxima" because he was getting heat from EWTN and other Catholic clients for his behavior. As someone who has been defamed by him numerous times for more than a decade, I frankly don't believe the man has a conscience.
If you want to know whether Shea's "repentance" is genuine, compare his behavior from this point to Galatians 5: 22-23 and I Corinthians 13: 1-13.
Perhaps Shea is like the abusive husband whose apologies are just convincing enough to keep his wife from leaving so he can abuse her some more.
Suzy, I didn't want to be unkind, but it was strange how everyone was going along with the meme that this was the first time. I wondered if it was all new people reading. It was a little more dramatic this time. He will benefit from your prayers!
Steve, the people in the comboxes are something. Birds of a feather, I suppose.
Every now and then Mark Shea has to start something. He seems to need attention and he does have a really short fuse.
He has moved into the next phase. Poor Mark, just trying to do the right thing and is being kicked for it. It is so hard!
His vigilantes ought to spring into action to defend his hurt feelings.
I give up. If he thinks telling him breeding contempt with love is no better than what he is doing is "kicking him", leaving him in his sinking sand with those he has trained leaves the demons with less food to feast upon.
y'know...been reading the past few posts from Shea and I gotta say, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. God bless him, and I will be praying for a true, sincere, and graced ammendment....for him....and for me.
The author consummately portrayed Shea with the remark, he is his own magisterium! His latest calumny of Lila is probably due to her overflowing xup, while his just rattles for handouts constantly. Shea=yawn.
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