It once seemed perfectly obvious to me that Catholics honored Mary too much. All those feasts, rosaries, icons, statues and whatnot were ridiculously excessive. Yes, the gospel of Luke said something about her being “blessed” and yes I thought her a good person. But that was that. People who celebrated
Long ago, when I was in 8th grade, I made a wooden sign with “The Sheas” carved into it by a router. I cut zigzag edges into it, stained it brown and gave it to my brother, Rick, for Christmas in 1972. Much to my satisfaction and honor, Rick nailed
The things we think big can be curiously small to God. We often make this mistake when watching the news, for instance. When the TV starts chattering about Washington or New York or inflation or politics, an incautious person could easily get the impression these things are important. But in
My son Matthew has recently discovered the work of a great genius named Weird Al Yankovic. Weird Al, for them what don’t know, is a musician who, for about 15 years now, has graced the pop music world with something it richly deserves and badly needs: parody. Weird Al takes
In 1996, the Pope said it’s okay to think God may have used evolution to create the body of the first humans. In other words, he said Catholics may, if they like, believe God formed Adam from the dust of the earth reeeeeally slowly rather than very quickly. This commonplace liberty
I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard my friends say “I think faith is a personal thing. I don’t believe we should force our beliefs on others. When I ask what forcing our beliefs on others actually means, the reply generally boils down to “Talking about our beliefs
I am a Washingtonian. For a great deal of our very short history, we Washingtonians have taken pride in having gotten away from the rest of the country. Indeed, we’ve grown accustomed to seeing ourselves as escapees from eastern politics, deadening Midwestern weather and, last but not least, what we
Joy, said Chesterton, is the small publicity of the pagan, but the gigantic secret of the Christian. This somewhat mysterious remark was brought into sharp clarity for me by, of all things, the memory of a Twilight Zone episode I saw long ago. A two-bit thieving murderer gets gunned down in a
I have several friends who are “X Philes” (that is, fans of The X Files). I’ve not seen the show myself, but (such is our media-soaked culture) I’m fairly familiar with the basic idea: government agents try to get at The Bottom of Things and learn The Mystery/Conspiracy is Bigger Than
A few days ago I borrowed our home movie projector from my Mom so I could show our boys some films of the old days. I am still enough of a kid to think home movies and projectors are utterly magical. There has always been something wonderful to me about
Truly Reformed[TM] Protestantism suits a particular personality type: the sort of person who likes diagrams, neat hand-writing, little lists of facts, mathematical formulae, and a certain kind of precision. In its own limited sphere, Truly Reformed Christianity is handy because its love of diagrams, rigorous logic and TRVTH tends to
The astonishing teaching of the Catholic faith is that human beings are, alone in all creation, the only creatures God has made for their own sake. All the rest of creation, good and sacred and holy as it is, does not exist for its own sake. It is, properly speaking,
Most of us modern Christians congratulate ourselves that we’re tolerant and not judgmental. All that Old Testament brimstone is old hat. We’ve advanced and evolved. We’re more forgiving than our ancestors. But then a story like this catches our eye: Shouting, “This is YouTube material!” a 27-year-old British man urinated on a
A curious teapot tempest of the sort one only finds in the hothouse of Extremely Earnest Conservative Christianity has been going on for several years, ever since the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and the subsequent popularity of the Potter phenomenon. Various concerns litter the landscape of Christian conversation
First things first: I really enjoy the Harry Potter novels and think J.K. Rowling a genuinely inventive and creative genius. I blasted through all three novels (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) last Christmas and was delighted down to
If you make the Most High your dwelling–even the LORD, who is my refuge–then no harm will befall you,no disaster will come near your tent.For he will command his angels concerning youto guard you in all your ways;they will lift you up in their hands,so that you will not strike
Rabbi Daniel Lapin has observed that God commands things we don’t naturally want to do, not things we naturally desire. The Ten Commandments don’t bid us to eat three square meals a day, or remind us to obey the law of gravity or to kiss the man or woman we
Tom Allen, president of CatholicExchange.com, and Matt Pinto, who heads Ascension Press, had a simple idea: write and publish a short book called A Guide to the Passion: 100 Questions About The Passion of The Christ. The basic premise is to walk through Mel Gibson’s new film (and basic Catholic teaching) scene by
Most Catholics have heard of St. Faustina. It was to her that Jesus entrusted the revelation of the Divine Mercy, a form of piety that has done nothing but grow in popularity over the past few decades, especially since it was clearly beloved by her fellow Pole, Karol Wojtyla, who
December is the month of Advent and Advent is about not just the First Advent at Christmas but the Second Advent on the Last Day. Accordingly, it confronts us with the reality of Judgment. Lots of folks wonder how to get ready for the Last Judgment. Everything in your life
Washingtonians like me have to cope with extremes in the weather. Whether it’s summer or winter, the weather is always extremely temperate. So, for instance, every June it rains. If you live in Washington, you know this and you know how to quell the sense of violated rights when, this
I make my living as a writer and speaker. Recently, I was invited to speak in Oklahoma City. The airlines lost my luggage, leaving me with very little to sell at the talk. For a budget as tight as ours, that was a big hit. Then, they returned the books–soaking
At the altar the priest presides. In the world, the laity presides. This is the basic principle that ought to govern all our thinking about the roles of the ordained and the laity in the mission of the Church. Unfortunately, a huge number of Catholics do not think this way,
One of the themes that sometimes pops up in Catholic reflections during Easter is the idea of the Resurrection as a sort of divine practical joke. There are grounds for it from both a human and from a supernatural perspective. As Garrison Keillor points out, the disciples on the Emmaus
G!: In your book By What Authority? and again your most recent book Making Senses Out of Scripture, you refer to Chesterton as your “hero.” How did he get to be your hero? Shea: I’ve always empathized with C.S. Lewis, who remarked that Chesterton made an “immediate conquest” of him. For me, Chesterton
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