I had to unfollow Mark Shea. I have been critical of his way of speaking, directly and indirectly, before. Frankly, if I had to speak with him, I'd recommend he stop following politics at all. All he's really doing is sending a message: "I am better than you!" And a lot of people don't care.
There is extremism in politics, and social media mixed with vice makes it worse. But people like Dr. Alan Noble confront it with charity every day. You can say, "I think this suggestion is really bad/extreme/whatever" without demeaning people. Dare I say, without banning people from your comboxes for disagreeing with you. They can't all be Francis-hating sedevacantist members of the NRA. He's already apologized once for being generally uncharitable; it might be time again.
And that's what so frustrating about my frustration: I know he and I agree more than we disagree. But I don't want to agree, and that's a bad place to be. People need to hear about Jesus and His Church; I don't care what he thinks about the Republican Party. I'm a member; I don't intend to be otherwise. Hopefully it's less the "Party of Crazy" because I am there.
For those readers who question whether you, Mark, have ever actually been Republican, it simply stems from a feeling that you don't like us very much. And that's on you. This environment lately hasn't been healthy. We've got Tea Party guys being slurred as weak "establishment" figures, we've got outright bigotry and prejudice going mainstream, and all sorts of problems. But we'll be fine.
I'm in a dangerous business. God and politics have been my entire adult life to this point. I won't tell anyone not to do it. But without love, we are nothing. I am nothing.
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