Author Archives | Mark Shea

Mark Shea - who has written 1502 posts on Catholic Exchange.


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Why Creeds?

Posted on 05 January 2011

I became a Christian with the help of a small group of believers on my college dorm floor. As is common in such circles, we believed that “the Bible alone” was sufficient to know Christ’s revelation and live as he…

Called and Chosen

Posted on 29 December 2010

The Christian faith drives ideologues crazy.  And as our ideologies change, so do the things that irritate us about the Faith.  But there’s always something.  Because, in this fallen world, we do not really progress.  We wobble.  Yesterday’s crazy ideology…

Grace is Dark Matter

Posted on 22 December 2010

It is customary this time of year for the Human Toothache Brigade to break out the ol’ secular humanist signs and try to dampen Christmas spirit while over-sensitive culture warriors over-react with War on Christmas!!!! hyperventilation. It’s all good fun,…

In Praise of Credulity

Posted on 15 December 2010

St. Thomas Aquinas was once tricked by his fellow students who cried out, “Look! A flying ox!” Thomas dutifully went to the window to look and his peers all laughed at him heartily. Thomas’ reply (and one of the many…

Through a Veil Darkly

Posted on 08 December 2010

Some time back I ran across a headline in ZENIT announcing, “Scholars Aim to Disprove Darwin”.
My thought: “Good luck with that.”
I’m highly skeptical that guys like Hugh Owen, who believe in a young earth and the co-existence of…

Saved by Christ, Not by Rules

Posted on 01 December 2010

A while bac k, the Mainstream Media (MSM) got itself all in a tizzy about “the Vatican” supposedly issuing “seven new deadly sins”.  As one particularly egregious headline put it “Recycle or go to hell, warns Vatican”.
Given this view…

Thanksgiving: An Odd Reconciliation

Posted on 24 November 2010

Mark Twain once remarked that when he was fifteen his father was the stupidest man alive, but by the time he turned twenty-five he was surprised at how much the guy had learned in ten years.
That pattern can be…

Our Culture’s Sacred Stories

Posted on 17 November 2010

I can’t help but like Kathy Shaidle    , the scrappy author of a Canadian blog called Five Feet of Fury. I’ve always had a weakness for people who tell you exactly what they think and never bother to mince words and…

Israel and Judah

Posted on 10 November 2010

For some reason, I still seem to mystify people in my views on the American political scene. Indeed, the most mysterious criticisms I get are the ones illustrated in the comments here, for instance, which say (in mixed tones of…

Freedom from Fear

Posted on 03 November 2010

Seventy years ago Franklin Roosevelt offered his vision of the Four Freedoms, including the Freedom from Fear. Roosevelt addressed what was then a largely Christian nation.
These days, our rapidly de-Christianizing nation is discovering that a Culture of Death is…