Late last night, Fr. Richard Heilman (Christendom's Special Forces priest!) posted that he had it on good authority that the Register had cut Mark Shea loose. Here's the post for those of you with Facebook accounts.
As we are all aware, over the years, many Catholics have written about Mark's conduct and accordingly, the inappropriateness of Mother Angelica's apostolate sponsorship of him.
As Mark and Simcha's behavior worsened, more Catholics chimed in, especially over the last few months or so.
A few days ago, Jason Jones wrote a devestating op-ed at LifeSite and Mark responded with..wait for it...an article about how sorry he was Jason was mad at him, and proceeded into a screed defending his behavior with further slanderous accusations against the prolife movement. Same old - prolifers are unfaithful to Church teachings on the poor, death penalty, etc., explaining his license for his toxic conduct.
Poor Zmirak took the last bullet for the cause, but at the end of the day, it apparently was the final straw.
The Register released a statement a short time ago:
Official Statement: The Register is no longer publishing blogs or commentaries submitted by Mark Shea. Mark’s writings at the NCRegister.com or published in our print edition were within our editorial guidelines. However, his writings and engagement on other forums were irreconcilable with our editorial vision or standards of charitable discussion.
This is a very interesting development.
A few weeks back Austin Ruse wrote an article at Crisis about Simcha when she claimed St. Maria Gorretti didn't die to save her viriginity.
, Simcha's main vile argument was St. Maria Gorretti's preservation of her virginity was shameful to rape victims. This post isn't the place to theologically respond, but suffice it to say God has a plan for each of us and preserving one's life by submitting to a rapist fulfills that plan for most of us. God's plan for St. Maria Goretti was martyrdom which was an act that resulted in the salvation of the soul of her would-be rapist. It had nothing at all to do with the Church claiming submitting to a rapist is a sin. It most certainly is NOT.
Simcha's theological blindness does not even spare this saint's innocent and magnificent gift to the Church.
The Stream also published a very articulate article written by Steven Herreid, "ProLife Catholics deserve better writers at the National Catholic Register".
Register's editor Dan Burke (who impressed me as a gentleman) responded in the comments section and spoke with a few Catholics, mostly to explain Shimek had been let go prior to his infamous last post at the Register and had published the article without permission. But in further discussion, he also took the position that Shea and Simcha's offensive conduct was not occurring at the Register (something I don't think was entirely true but their writings there were certainly tempered). He tried to make the point it was acceptable practice to hire enemies of faithful Catholics so long as their writings at the Register didn't include this conduct.
Many responded with comments that no doubt gave them food for thought. At the time, I felt we got the message through.
I wrote about the dust up here.
At the end of the day, Shimek was probably the straw that broke the camel's back. They are cleaning house. A significant victory for Catholic Blogosphere.
Several Shea/Simcha followers were appalled to hear Catholics had been praying the Register would cut Shea (and Simcha) loose. I made a valid attempt to explain that our elation at this development was about the return of orthodoxy in Mother Angelica's apostolate, not rejoicing over Mark's termination. When they could not elicit any shame in Catholics who are very pleased the Register is cleaning house, they showed their tail.
One of them, on a priest's facebook no less said "Bl*w Job swastika to all of you".
When I expressed my disgust and asked her to get a hold of herself, she repeated the vulgar sexual phrase over and over.
Another called a priest an a**hole.
No good deed goes unpunished.
I don't think anyone could be any more thrilled this dynamic will have to move on from EWTN.
Of course, Simcha is still hanging on by a thread.
The writing is on the wall.
2 comments:
I knew something was up when Shea said a couple of days ago he was only going to post on his blog for the time being. Also, a few days ago, he told his fan club not to send him anything that spoke badly about him in the media, because it would just depress him. Now, I wonder if his speaking engagements and book publishing gigs will dry up. If he's not a psychopath, like many of us suspect he is, maybe this event will be the wake up call he needs to repent of his vicious behaviors toward others. Otherwise, this will be another stumble on the path to oblivion.
Mark Shea is to Catholic commentary what Ryan Lochte is to Brazilian gas stations.... ;)
Post a Comment