Mark Shea, If People Think You Are Liberal (And Frankly, That You Flat-Out Don't Like Them) You Are Earning It

All teasing aside, which I've done in several posts I don't care to link, I love your stuff. I actually like your "edge." We all know I've got one. We've got several noble friends in common, and they don't hesitate to speak well of you. In light of that, I strongly desire to speak well of you, also.

Also, I can tell that you are strongly motivated to affirm all that the Church teaches without exception. We are of the same mind and heart in this. I will not say that being involved in American political activity makes this easier. I also can't say that I have fully understood all of the implications of the social doctrine, especially as it applies to acting politically in public, for the common good.

But I'm really trying.

I need you to give Republicans a break. Honestly, give politics a break. To speak truth to power by means of the social doctrine is an important task, and an urgent one. Nor do I dare to take away satire as a means of doing it, when appropriate. Is this all we are now, though? Is that all you care to be, when you speak about issues that matter?

I think it's highly possible that a right-leaning person could conclude that you despise them, and everything they ever dared to stand for, by reading your posts lately. Are you dismayed that the present state of conservative politics and rhetoric is irreconcilable with Catholic faith, or are you simply angry?

People tell me that these open letters are lame and passive-aggressive. Well, we don't actually know each other, and you're Mark Shea, a really important public figure. I think that when a highly-public figure errs in a highly-public way, there's a certain leeway that must be granted to critics.

Politics is passionate, and intense. If people judged me for every passionate word I spoke on that subject, I would have no friends. We're 18 months out or so from the election; does whatever Donald Trump said yesterday matter? Does anyone who stopped to listen for a moment--even a moment--become suspect and defective as a Catholic? I'm asking, because I honestly don't know your answer.

The biggest thing I don't know--that I need to know--is whether you realize that a lot of us are out here, trying to be faithful, not trying to simply carry water for the GOP or whomever. I may not pick up on the faulty arguments as fast as Confirmation Sponsor Guy, but I'd like to. I'm also not going to verbally crucify someone because they liked what a libertarian said one time, or even more than that.

I'm the most partisan Republican I have ever known, for good and ill. I'm also a person who wonders if I should leave the GOP every single day. I'm not exaggerating in the slightest; I'm that same person. Take it from a friend: You need to think about giving someone some grace, because the committed and the uncertain in this game of politics are often the same people. I could give you a passionate opinion right now, knowing that a "but I don't know" hovers in my soul in most things, even if I don't say it.

Take it all before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament; if there is value in what I say, take it. If not, I'm just a keyboard-jockey who doesn't know you, anyway.

Thanks and blessings in Christ,
Jason Kettinger

My Thoughts On The Harrison Butker Commencement Speech

Update: I read the whole thing. I’m sorry, but what a weirdo. I thought you [Tom Darrow, of Denver, CO] made a trenchant case for why lockdowns are bad, and I definitely appreciated it. But a graduation speech is *not* the place for that. Secondly, this is an august event. It always is. I would never address the President of the United States in this manner. Never. Even the previous president, though he deserves it, if anyone does. Thirdly, the affirmations of Catholic identity should be more general. He has no authority to propound with specificity on all matters of great consequence. It has all the hallmarks of a culture war broadside, and again, a layman shouldn’t speak like this. The respect and reverence due the clergy is *always due,* even if they are weak, and outright wrong. We just don’t brush them aside like corrupt Mafia dons, to make a point. Fourthly, I don’t know where anyone gets the idea that the TLM is how God demands to be worshipped. The Church doesn’t teach that. ...

Dear Alyse

Today, you’re 35. Or at least you would be, in this place. You probably know this, but we’re OK. Not great, but OK. We know you wouldn’t want us moping around and weeping all the time. We try not to. Actually, I guess part of the problem is that you didn’t know how much we loved you. And that you didn’t know how to love yourself. I hope you have gotten to Love by now. Not a place, but fills everything in every way. I’m not Him, but he probably said, “Dear daughter/sister, you have been terribly hard on yourself. Rest now, and be at peace.” Anyway, teaching is going well, and I tell the kids all about you. They all say you are pretty. I usually can keep the boys from saying something gross for a few seconds. Mom and I are going to the game tonight. And like 6 more times, before I go back to South Carolina. I have seen Nicky twice, but I myself haven’t seen your younger kids. Bob took pictures of the day we said goodbye, and we did a family picture at the Abbey. I literally almost a...

A Friend I Once Had, And The Dogmatic Principle

I once had a friend, a dear friend, who helped me with personal care needs in college. Reformed Presbyterian to the core. When I was a Reformed Presbyterian, I visited their church many times. We were close. I still consider his siblings my friends. (And siblings in the Lord.) Nevertheless, when I began to consider the claims of the Catholic Church to be the Church Christ founded, he took me out to breakfast. He implied--but never quite stated--that we would not be brothers, if I sought full communion with the Catholic Church. That came true; a couple years later, I called him on his birthday, as I'd done every year for close to ten of them. He didn't recognize my number, and it was the most strained, awkward phone call I have ever had. We haven't spoken since. We were close enough that I attended the rehearsal dinner for his wedding. His wife's uncle is a Catholic priest. I remember reading a blog post of theirs, that early in their relationship, she told him of the p...

Safe Haven

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